Another Portrait Quilt

This is the inspiration paper collage for the next quilt.  I rarely make quilts that have a face that is not directly looking out because it is much trickier to get the features where they belong.  But this face made me want to try.

I'm going to post the finished quilt below and then unfold the story of how she grew....

Here she is.  I wanted you to be able to see the difference between the inspiration piece and the finished quilt.  Definite proof that the characters in a quilt take on their own personality and decide WHO to be.  The character in the quilt is definitely older and maybe even a bit tougher than I thought she would be.  I like her but she was a bit of a surprise.

Now for the path she traveled.....

This is the paper pattern that I draw.  It has to be opposite of the real face because I use fusible web on the back of the fabric and then flip it over.  It is the size of the finished face.  I have a wonderful computer program that takes my drawing or tracing of the original and makes it any size that I need.  Lucky me to have that program.

These are the original fabrics that I selected - not all of them made the final quilt.  And that is not unusual.  You can't really tell how the fabrics will play together until they are in place.

Every quilt goes thru an UGLY stage.  This is my lady in one of the early stages.  

I made the entire face a single piece of fabric to see if I could use paint to add the features - like the nose.But the hair looks pretty good.  Notice the color of the eyes. It seemed like a good idea for a while - but they change color later.

She looks a little better on the background fabric.  I do like the center background being black because it adds depth to the final piece.  

 And now she has a dress!  I got this fabric years ago at a rummage sale and have always liked the crazy combination of colors.

So I added paint.  For shadows and for highlights.  To make the face look rounder - less flat.  

Even the lips have dimension.  But the eyes still look "buggy".  And she need an eyebrow over her left eye.

And the designs around her eyes needs more oomph.... more color and definition.

But she is getting a personality....

Note the changes to the fabric surrounding the eyes - it makes a definite difference.

And all of this happens before she is quilted.  So a lot of the dimension to her face is not yet there.  

But the photo below is the final quilt.  Notice the eye color.  And the addition of lighter fabric to the area around her eyes.  And the new eyebrow peeking out. 

She has become who she was determined to be.  How lucky am I that get to play with fabric and find these people.