Starry Night Over the Rhone (thread painting) [Art with Fabric Blog Hop]

Starry Night Over the Rhone thread painting mini quilt, measures 10" x 8"

I was recently invited to participate in the Art with Fabric Blog Hop and only agreed because this project had been on my mind since last year when I made the Starry Night thread painting!  

Here are two versions of the original Starry Night Over the Rhone painting by Vincent Van Gogh:

I used both pictures for color inspiration and placement.  Here is the process I went through to create my thread painting:

I printed out a version of the painting on fabric that had been pre-treated with Bubble Jet Set (google "how to print on fabric" for numerous tutorials), and then basted it with one layer of poly batting (though any thin batting works, it's just what I had in the right size) and a layer of home dec fabric for stability:

Starry Night Over the Rhone: printed on fabric and basted.  Ready to start quilting! 

Next I went through my Aurifil thread stash (I really like using the Aurifil 50wt because you can layer and blend it nicely without breaks) and picked out the colors I thought would work best:

Starry Night Over the Rhone: thread pull.

Then I started quilting!  I try to anchor the quilt down and then fill in larger areas with whatever color I'm working with at the time.  I took a photo after each bobbin of thread to show the progression:

Starry Night Over the Rhone: 1 bobbin of quilting.  Worked with very dark grey and navy.

It was around this time I realized that I needed more blue and antique-greenish thread colors and put in a quick order!  When they arrived I continued, starting in the puffy areas in the above area.  I put down a base layer (like in the sky, water and reflections) and then add more dense quilting and layers of colors as the quilt progressed.

Starry Night Over the Rhone: 3 bobbins of quilting (I forgot to take a photo after the second bobbin!).  Worked on the horizon/shore line and getting the some quilting down everywhere to avoid super puffy-ness issues that would occur later.

I like to start with the shadows/darker colors and work my way up to the highlights/lighter colors and details.  Then if something in the shadows isn't quite right I can fix it or blend it with later layers to make it look correct.  Also then I can make sure the bright and/or lighter details won't be overwhelmed by the darker areas.

Starry Night Over the Rhone: 4 bobbins of quilting.  Filled in a lot on the ground, water, reflections and sky.

Working on those little people (Van Gogh referred to them as lovers! but I call them the Van Gogh people) was really gratifying!  Though you will notice that the man's hat changes a little on the final quilt.

Starry Night Over the Rhone: 5 bobbins of quilting.  More sky and water.

The last bobbin worth of quilting was used on filing in the last of the sky and details: stars, ship masts and lines, bridge, and other things I've already forgotten!

Starry Night Over the Rhone: 6 bobbins worth of quilting.

I spent over 8 hours just on quilting this!  I think the quilt back really shows just how dense the quilting is (the backing fabric is very blue):

Starry Night Over the Rhone: quilt back, all Aurifil #5004

Here are all of the thread colors I ended up using:

Starry Night Over the Rhone: Aurifil threads actually used!

 Let's see some of my favorites parts of the quilt!

Starry Night Over the Rhone: the lovers. 

Starry Night Over the Rhone: the boat and reflections.

Starry Night Over the Rhone: the big dipper

Making this little quilt made me really miss the Starry Night thread painting I made last year!  They are similar, yet completely different styles.  The good news is this Starry Night Over the Rhone is all mine to keep!

Now, definitely go check out the other Art with Fabric blog hop stops today!

Monday, May 9th, 2016

• Maartje (http://quiltinginamsterdam.blogspot.com)
• Lee Anna (http://lapaylor.blogspot.com/)
• Andrée (http://quiltinglearningcombo.blogspot.com)
• Renee (http://www.quiltsofafeather.com/) (That's me!)