Dijanne Cevaal Figure 3: First Dragon Cushion Finish

 As the dragon panels were a little smaller than the two Medieval project pieces (queen and king) I had worked, I had chosen and purchased, from Batik Fabrics Online a piece of batik that was slightly smaller than the previous ones.  the batik was overprinted with interesting paisley patterns.

When the panel was finished I decided not to cut the batik to edge the panel, but to applique the panel to the background fabric. This however, required a transition fabric on which to mount the panel. A friend and I paid a visit to Riverlea Cottage Quilts on Unley Road, not far from me to enrol in a class for next year, and I took the panel along to find an edging fabric. Paige, who was in charge of the shop at the time found the perfect fabric - a blended stripe in gold-brown.

Once I had mounted it, my plans for another Kantha border melted away. The fabric dictated a different approach. I had been considering embroidering some of the paisleys on the batik fabric, but once I saw the mounted piece I decided to continue some of the paisleys into the border using embroidery.


It seemed to work. I had a bit of trouble finding thread that worked. Silk thread had the best texture but not the best colour match. I found an almost perfect colour variegation amongst the Embroiderers' Guild over-dyed thread collection, but it was a fairly course and heavy texture.

over-dyed thread

silk thread

In the end, a combination of the two, plus care not to overfill the border had me happy.



I made the cushion cover up using an overlap at the back. It is still fairly large but not enormous. It looks rich and sumptuous.




I don't have a cushion of the right size as yet and this may end up as a gift, so I have placed it, temporarily, on a cushion a little smaller than the cover.


I have another dragon and a Sentinelle to go in my Dijanne Cevaal binge!

Dijanne Cevaal: Figure 2, King.

The second of my Dijanne Cevaal Medieval figures has been hugely enjoyable to work on. The figure was printed onto a brown hand-dyed cotton and I decided to work it in a predominantly red palette with gold highlights. I used a range of red silks for the body of his cloak and an Embroiderers' Guild overdyed red-gold stranded cotton on the piece folded over his arm.

I had originally intended to insert shisha mirrors in the circles decorating his cloak, and what looks rather like a sporran, but thought better of it when I remembered my collection of operculum (or cats' eyes.  I have collected these since I was a child and a much-loved uncle gave me a jar of them that he had collected in New Guinea during World War II. These are not from my Uncle's collection, but from a collection I bought at an Antique Fair a few years ago. I attached them using a metallic gold thread and the simplest shisha attachment method.

I treated the cloak a bit like a sampler, working each section, as far as possible, with a different Kantha stitch.

The pouch, or sporran challenged me, until I remembered a tanned cane toad skin I had bought a couple of years ago from Alison Cole. Cane toads are an introduced invasive species causing considerable damage to Australian wildlife and tanning their leathery skin seems a fitting response.

I'm pleased to have found a use for mine!







It seemed to me that the King should also have some fur on his cloak, so made it from Madeira stranded silk and Giordes Knots.

The scroll that he is holding in his hands I worked in a black running stitch, in Kantha style, using black stranded cotton.



I used the same stitch for his beard, but found a Madeira synthetic with a bit of sparkle that worked well. I beaded the crown in gold, jewelled with some coral pieces. A couple of dark purple crystal beads give his eyes a bit of regal flash.





The batik background fabric is quite spectacular with a greeny-gold lifting the red. To link it together, I used a variegated green and gold machine thread to quilt the background and some green over-dyed Embroiderers' Guild stranded thread to work a border that links it to the panel.












I think these panels are improving as I go along, and get braver at experimenting with embellishment.

Dijanne Cevaal figure1

I have four large woven Ottoman pouffes in my lounge room. They are lovely, and good for storage and as footstools but I don't use them much and they take up room. When full of fabric (as one is) or packed tight with polystyrene balls they are also useful as tables, or at a pinch, to sit on. They are not much use for relaxing. I thought I might replace at least two of them with large cushions that can go on the floor. 

After the success of my Kantha cushion, I remembered some Dijanne Cevaal panels I had bought at last year's Adelaide Craft Fair. I loved the panels, but hadn't thought of a practical thing to do with them. One of the panels looked quite good on the second batik fabric I had bought as backup when purchasing for the Kantha piece. I thought it would be good to have a couple more large cushions, so I backed the panel with wadding and old sheeting and got to work.                      

Because the panel was so vibrant in colour I thought it needed to be matched with rich and vibrant threads, as well, perhaps, as a few beads. I found some vibrant blue beads left over from some Christmas angels and added them to the crown. I outlined the crown in a dull gold silk.

I dug out all the rich blue, purple and gold silk threads I had, bought a few more and began to improvise.



I worked the halo in running stitch in Kantha style with a slightly stronger gold. I wanted it to be subtle rather than shiny. I used a yellower gold silk for the necklace.

The hair I worked in a strong brown (partly because the print was quite strong and dark here) in Bokhara stitch.

The face presented a challenge. I don't much like the lips, and will probably change them.

The cape (coat?) I wanted in blue and purple. I settled for a strong darkish blue and a range of purple/mauves for the decorative effect - using the striped design a bit like a sampler.






I had envisaged a needle-lace jerkin in gold to pick up on the halo. I agonised  over this but couldn't decide without actually doing it so went ahead

While I like the needle-lace effect, it did not look like chain mail. I probably can't get that effect without using a metallic, which I didn't want to do. The effect ended up rather more modern than I intended.

I worked the background quilting in a variegated machine thread slightly darker than the fabric, working around and around the outline.

Once I had added the batik  border around the panel, I thought it needed a transition, so I worked a Kantha border in the blue and purple silks of the clothing.






Here is the finished cushion, resting on the pouffes!

In the meantime, I had backed all my other Dijanne Cevaal medieval pieces, prepared them for stitching, and ordered more batik from Chrissy at Batik Fabrics Online. 

It was exciting when the fabric arrived, laying the out to see how well I had done, choosing from a website. I think I did quite well - and have given myself some really interesting work to do over the coming months!

Visit to Craft and Quilt Fair

I don't usually write about craft shows I go to, but this year's Adelaide Craft and Quilt Fair has an exhibition that I couldn't resist sharing. This was the exhibition of the Sentinelles, a textile design originally stitched by Dijanne Sevaal, then expanded to include others who bought and stitched her hand printed and dyed panels.

I really loved them. They have given me so many ideas. A sentinelle  is one who watches, observes, remains faithful.



It is a project I would really have liked to have been involved in.

It has been touring the craft fairs in Australia this year.

My photos are not the greatest - but give the idea.