Embellishment examples

I have used a number of embellishment techniques over the years in my fiber arts projects, and thought I would share some of them here in keeping with Quilter Beth’s wonderful tutorials for January.

In this example, I used beading to represent the bumps on the cactus, 

and hand stitched the ‘stickers’.

This is an art quilt I did for our annual ‘Recycled Art’ exhibit. It consists of hand

dyed fabric scraps, buttons, couched chenille yarn, bark and vintage beads.

In this piece, I used metallic thread, embroidery and beads as my Embellishments.

Here, I did a lot of embroidery, applique and beading to accent this 'Crazy Quilt' vest.

This is a framed  piece with two fiber  post cards created with various Surface design techniques, including couched eyelash yarn and beading.

And finally, this is a beaded butterfly purse I made several years ago using mostly vintage bugle beads.

What I like about using embellishments in my work is the personality they add.  They can transform a good piece into one with much more visual interest.  My only caution would be to use embellishments as you would icing on a cake.  I try to use them sparingly so they do not overpower the piece.  Thanks to Quilter Beth for her wonderful posts... I'm inspired to take some time to try some of the techniques she shared that I haven't yet tried!