Using Ripped and Torn Fabric in Strip Quilts

I love to listen to two quilters discuss or argue about the merits or disadvantages of a ripping fabric. I love the sound of ripping fabric, but I only use really high end fabrics that I've hand died, or boutiques. A tightly woven fabric rips really well, whereas a loosely woven fabric doesn't so much. So it's not about whether or not we should rip fabric, it's whether or not we should rip certain fabrics. The reason I like a ripped fabric is because it makes the edge interesting, and I can use that edge in my artwork. I've been playing a lot with using long strips of fabric in my background areas rather than using it in foreground. So I've made these wonderful stripy backgrounds for some of these small daily art pieces that I've been playing with. When we look at this one, I've ripped a whole bunch of strips that are in the brown and gray families, and some of them I've even left the salvage on, and others I've just got the ripped edge showing. And you can see that it just adds this wonderful texture in there that wouldn't be there otherwise. It's just such a nice effect. Now, if you're afraid of fraying edges, this may not be the method for you, but I'll show you one that is. And that would be using ribbons or any type of a fabric that has an edge to it instead of using ripped fabric. So here, not necessarily in the background but in the mid ground, behind the focal point, I've used these rayon ribbons that act as long strips. And they're wonderful and they've got that finished edge so I don't have to worry about them fraying. And this is a very similar look to the last one, only these are ripped strips. So they're sitting in the mid ground also above our black background, but below our wonderful painted focal points, and they make fabulous, fabulous mid ground. They're directing the eye and adding all kinds of interest. Here, we've got a stripey background that has big, wide strips rather than a whole bunch of narrow ones. And they're just laid on top of each other with a little bit of overlap, and, yes, there's going to be some fraying, but I have a quilt on my bed that's done in the same technique that I've laundered several times, and that fraying just gets more interesting all the time. And as long as you overlap enough, then even if it frays, it's not gonna damage the piece in the long run. In this background, you can see that every other strip is quilted in a different way to sort of highlight the strips rather than making them all act as one. I love this one, these horizontal strips are just a beautiful, beautiful way to show off all these wonderful warm-colored circles. And these are all just ripped strips of fabric, and again, here is some salvaged edges, and that salvaged edge is all fuzzy and fun. And it's just a beautiful, beautiful background. This one doesn't have a whole lot of quilting, the strips are just stitched on either side using my walking foot. And then this one, for those of you who can't fathom the idea of a bunch of raw edges, this is that wonderful rayon ribbon, and it's simply been laid down on top of a piece of batting that had Mistyfuse on it and ironed in place and then stitched, and what a beautiful background that makes. So the next time you're starting a small art piece or any type of quilt that you think could use a really interesting background, think about making that background from strips of fabric or strips of ribbon. It's a lot of fun.