Trompe l'oeil: French for "deceive the eye," this is how Marinda Stewart describes her kimono quilt, "Shimmering Kimono," made using the Shimmering Bouquets collection.
Why? Because the quilt looks like the back of an actual kimono spread out, complete with the illusion of depth and a dimensional folded collar.
"Shimmering Kimono" by Marinda Stewart; featured in Quilt Trends magazine, Summer 2013 issue |
Q. What
inspired you to make this art quilt?
Marinda: I've always
liked a kimono as an art object and I thought it'd be interesting to do what
looks like a real kimono hung but is actually a 2-D quilt. It's a fun format to
play with—you could do a whole series of kimonos.
Q. Talk to
us about the Shimmering Bouquets fabrics.
Marinda: Shimmering
Bouquets struck me as being kind of an Asian sensibility. With large-scale
prints, the last thing you want to do is cut them up. The line has large
tropical florals, and then a print that reminded me of a men's ties. Another
print with bias curves reminded me of the work of Koos van den Akker. And then
there were tonal florals. The kimono idea seemed like a perfect way to pull
these prints together into a cohesive design.
Q. What
makes the construction of this quilt unique?
Marinda: I prefer
projects without templates. In this project, you're freehand drawing serpentine
lines, laying one fabric on top of another, turning it under and topstitching.
It looks more complicated than it really is. The hardest part is creating the
triangular pieces [the ''front'' edges of the kimono]; you just have to align
your edges so it looks like a kimono hung from the back with the front edges
showing.
Q. What made you choose yellow as the background color?
Marinda: I've always
loved gray and yellow—like pussy willows and forsythia. Or birch bark and
daffodils—the cool/warm playoff. The yellow lightens and brightens the quilt
up.
Q. How do you envision this quilt being displayed?
Marinda: When I designed it, I thought this quilt could be really handsome. I could see it hung in a very modern room as an art piece with a low table and a single orchid plant in bloom, plus a few pieces of mercury glass.
Marinda: When I designed it, I thought this quilt could be really handsome. I could see it hung in a very modern room as an art piece with a low table and a single orchid plant in bloom, plus a few pieces of mercury glass.
Find the kit for the project here.
See the entire Shimmering Bouquets collection here.
Find Quilt Trends here.
Really interesting project. I love the colors used.
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