Guardian Cushion 4: Colcha Angel

The last of my Guardian Cushions is rather different in style. I really wanted to work one of Esther Vigil's colcha angels - from her Colcha book. Somehow, batik didn't seem to suit and I searched my stash for something more suitable, coming up with a piece of rusty red dupion silk.This set me thinking, so, rather than stitching the figure in the colcha stitch, I made a pile of my silk fabric pieces and chose some that I thought would look well on the dupion.
I then traced the pattern, cut some pieces and played around. I used an adhesive backing to attach the silk cut-outs to a cheese-cloth backing.


I decided this would look better if machine-appliqued rather than hand-stitched (I am stepping well outside my comfort-zone here!) so set to work using some gold synthetic thread.




When I had the pieces outlined and stitched together I plunged into stitching it to the background silk. The gold thread was clearly designed for use in an overlocker, or machine that held the reel upright, so I had many breakages and rethreading but got into a pattern of intervening in the thread feed to minimise the problem.

I modified the halo shape as it seemed a bit small. I'm not sure this was the best idea - but I stuck with it. The original shape was more in keeping with the oval stylised head, whereas the round shape halo might be better with more flowing angel hair.

Although I love the Dijanne Cevaal panels and the challenge of finding the right thread and embellishment, I was pleased to turn to the purity and vibrancy of silk for this final cushion. It's as an angel should be.

During January, while I have been posting these Guardian cushions (which could not be posted until after Christmas) I have been to the SA Embroiderers' Guild Summer Week - and also on holiday. I will begin posting those projects towards the end of this week.