Making a Gaggle of Geese!

Today's post is about the method I used to make the geese in my "Gaggle of Geese" art quilt. This piece was made for a Flying Geese Quilters Guild challenge - "All Creatures Great and Small".

detail of "Gaggle of Geese"

I used a fabric collage technique for the geese, with a little blending between the fabrics using colored pencil.

Fabric collage requires the use of several fabrics to depict value changes and create interest in a subject. My first step was to create piles of light, medium and dark valued fabrics for the geese.

dark valued fabrics, mostly

light valued fabrics

The challenge had a couple of required fabrics that were tan and brownish, and those drove the colors that I made the geese.

challenge fabrics

These fabrics have tan, brown and blues. 

Each goose had it's own paper “pattern” that depicted the shape of the goose and the major value areas on the goose, ie: light, medium and dark shapes within the goose. 

Each goose also had its own solid brown fabric shape for a background. Here is the brown fabric with the geese patterns on it. Each brown goose shape was cut out. I used brown because it blended with the goose colors well. If the collage fabrics didn't cover every last bit, the brown showing through would be fine.

The collage pieces were placed on the brown background in a trial and error fashion until I got the look I was after. Here are some pictures of the geese showing the fabrics used in them:

My favorite goose is the one on the right. I think the expression on the face is great, and the blending with the colored pencil added a lot on this one. Thanks for visiting my blog!