Porthole Finish and Corduroy Qulting

Porthole Finish  - This is the back!

Rather than figuring out how to make facings, I cut a hole and finished it with bias silk and then made a pillow case finish with it.   Now you can see the quilting lines, but also have a nice finished look.  Heck, if I wanted to; I could even hang them this way - it looks that good!!  

Corduroy Quilting

Helene Davis  is a master dyer and a very talented fiber artist.  She pointed out to me that the problem with quilting is that sometimes the stitch line hides the beauty of the cloth. So she developed the corduroy stitching. I listen to her very carefully because she "sees" so much more than I do. 

Not only that, but she sets her mind to solving problems, and then she is generous enough to share her "secrets" with me.

Here are two companion pieces.  The one on the left has not been quilted at all.  The shibori stitches resisted the dye and create lovely and subtle patterns.  But if I quilted along with the design, you would lose the subtleties of the shibori. The piece on the right has been corduroy quilted. You can see the quilting lines, but you can also still see the subtle dye shifts of the shibori.