Poof!

Ok, so it has been a long time since I have written anything here! Other parts of life have become much much busier and I am once again logging lots of air miles. But, new friends bring new subjects for pet portraits ;)…in this case, a little tribute to a much-loved and recently lost companion.

Poof was quite a beautiful (and fashion forward) girl, as shown on in this starting point photo:

First step, run the photo through one of my favorite apps to turn in the image into a more usable image:

Then, select fabrics. This was easy because I had a small but spectacular piece of Carol Eaton’s ice-dyed fabric that was perfect for Poof’s fur…and a light grey print from Janine’s first collection was just right for the sweatshirt. (We pause for a moment to consider how many of our cats would allow us to dress them…) The only real question for me was, which background fabric? Since her fur would be variegated, I wanted a simpler backdrop…

…and opted for a rich blue Grunge fat quarter. Time to MistyFuse!

I traced the outlines of Poof and her sweatshirt on freezer paper, then decided the fabric was light enough to trace in the features directly on the fabric before fusing to the background…

The marvelous thing about ice-dyed fabrics is the variation in color…it was easy to position the pieces to mimic lighter and darker fur. Then, of course, lots and lots of thread! Glossy polyester for her fur…Aurifil cotton for sweatshirt, background and whiskers ;).

I recalled – from a class I took years ago – a very simple alternative to a hanging sleeve, and stitched corners onto the back of the piece…the pencil shows where to put a bamboo skewer or similar thin piece for easy hanging:

I must admit I fell in love with this face while working on this piece! (In the studio now, a portrait of the incredibly cute Burrito…next post :)…)