My "Float Along Quietly" Mixed Media Slow Stitching Collage Picture

As you all know over the years I have bought a lot of craft related items and tend to prefer craft kits as I just don't have a lot of time to peruse fabric or craft stores.  That's what makes shopping on the internet a problem for me.  I can't just buy one kit.  I have to buy more than enough figuring I'm saving time in the long run.  

If you remember some of my stories about making dolls and crafts that I always made things in a factory line way.  I'd design a whole bunch of items, cut all the wood for all of them, sand all of them, put the kits together for all of them and then save them in contains for future assembling.

I also wanted to try every single craft there was and have been endeavoring to do this for the past sixty+ years.  The problem is with numerous kits for each craft you want to try you end up with a LOT of containers filled with items waiting to be made....LOL

So, when I read about "Slow Stitching" I couldn't just buy one kit.  I bought MANY of them.

I was particularly interested in ocean and summer themed kits and found several kits that I liked on Etsy.  I should clarify that - I found "many that I liked.....LOL

Four of the kits I bought came from from the YardsofJoy shop on Etsy. I've already showed you what I made with the "Slow Stitch Kit, Into the Sea Fabric Pack" that I bought.  The one I'm going to tell you about in this post is the "Slow Stitch Kit, Dreaming of the Shore."

As was the case with the "Slow Stitch Kit, Into the Sea Fabric Pack" I was pleasantly surprised that the this slow stitching kit was just as amply filled with more than enough fabrics and embellishments to create one large 12" by15" picture or several smaller ones.  

I opted for a 10" by 10" picture and using the left over supplies for another smaller picture as the area of the wall I wanted to hang the picture on was conducive to a 10" by 10" canvas art board.  

Included in the kit were the following:

- 12” x 15” inch muslin backing 

- 12” x 17” piece of Heat n Bond Lite

- 25+ generous cuts of fabric, notions, laces, ribbons, buttons,

printed fabric sentiments and more. 

- 3 yards of embroidery thread 

- Fabric words. Please put your sentiment in the personalization field.

Also included was a minimal explanation sheet of what products were included in the kit with a few suggestions on what to do with some of them. 

Since there is no right or wrong way to do "Slow Stitching" there was no picture of what the designer who put this kit together thought the final textile art collage should look like.  You had to design your own - which, of course, I did.

After looking at the fabrics I decided to utilize some of the images in the various fabrics to create a relaxing, old-fashioned, country, gardening, ocean scene.  Something reminiscent of a old-fashioned farm house on the coast of New England.  The words "Float Along Quietly" which was included in this kit were perfect for what I had in mind.

Two of the fabrics that I really liked included an old-fashioned farmhouse and a high seas scene with a frigate.  The farmhouse became the focal point on the left side and the frigate the focal point on the right side of the picture.

While there were plenty of embellishments and fabrics included with this kit I decided to add several mixed media embellishments from my own supply stash as well as a few fabrics of my own as I had a particular teal blue color scheme and picture sequence in mind.

Here too I decided to create a hand sewn mixed media slow stitching applique collage art board wall art picture.  

I don't like to leave the back of my art board pictures unfinished so I decided to finish the sides and back of my pictures with fabrics - all of which I hand sewed.

As there is no right or wrong in slow stitching you are free to create and finish your project as you see fit.  Some crafters like to use iron on fusible double-sided adhesive paper.  It is used for bonding your fabric without the need for a stretcher frame or pinning. It definitely enhances your ability to create smooth appliqued collages. 

Other crafters like the natural look of creating a fabric collage without using fusing backing and stretching of their fabrics.  Some combine their hand sewn fabrics without fusing backing but opt to use a stretcher frame to enhance their hand sewing.

Since I was going to hang my picture on a wall I decided to use the fusible bonding and a stretcher frame.  I also decided to apply the fusible backing to the back of the whole fabric pieces that were included in the kit instead of just applying it to the individual fabric sections and images I was going to use for this picture.

Plus, for me, applying the bonding to the entire fabric piece was a win-win for future projects as I could save the sections I didn't use and not have to take the time to apply it when I started that project.  

Like the last two pictures I did, at times it was hard pushing the needle through several layers of overlapping fabrics that had a fusible backing.   However, once again, I managed to do so with minimal cuts to my fingers. 

Here too I decided that like the first couple of pictures I finished I would be creating this one with straight stitched or blind hem stitching along the seams or edges of my fabric images.  The only exceptions I made were that I would be adding long straight stitching to emphasize and outline the farmhouse and its' porch. Plus, after straight stitching the edges of the triangle fabric I decided to add long straight stitching fiber underneath the stitching along the sides of the four triangles to emphasize them as well.

I also decided to stitch some of the various fiber trims from my enormous stash along some of the overlapping fabric edges and along the side edge of the art boards. Of course, this would cover up my hand sewn stitches along the edges,  but I had no problem with that as I felt the embellishments really added to the picture.

It took me awhile to decided exactly which fabrics were going where but after looking at my finished art board picture I was pleased with the result.  I definitely got the feeling of a relaxing, old-fashioned, country, gardening, ocean scene.  It was definitely something reminiscent of a old-fashioned farm house on the coast of New England 

I thoroughly enjoyed making my old-fashioned hand sewn mixed media "Slow Stitching" applique collage wall art picture and hope you like it too.  Hopefully it takes you back to a time long ago as it does for me.

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