As with many a piece of fabric from my bedroom of fabrics and craft supplies, a small piece of mermaid - print fabric had been sitting around waiting for just the right moment to be used for just the right thing.
Just the right moment and just the right thing came after a lesson last year in "trapunto", a style of quilting and then stuffing the quilted picture from the back, in effect making the picture 3 - d
It took many an hour to trapunto (painstakingkly stitch around each outline for each creature, and then stuff tiny piece by tiny piece at the back) the mermaids, dolphin, shells and seahorse, but in typical renay - fashion i was not happy with JUST trapunto so i ended up combining several more crafting / sewing techniques to finish the cushion and get the desired effect.
I used at least three beading techniques to highlight and enhance the shells, as well as adorn the mermaid's hair, create mer-jewellery, and outline most things in the picture.
Sequins were sewn on one by one to make the mermaid's tails appear to glisten like wet fish tails; and I used a method called "vermicelli" to attatch some pretty shiny braid in squiggly lines to appear like the water for the background.
In all it took 4 solid days of work to finish, but with almighty results.......
The Mermaid Cushion complete, I entered it into the 2009 Nowra Show, and was well justified in my time - to - make - it - and - wreck - my - wrists - and - arms - in - doing - so , by winning first place in it's section!
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