Once I had all of my fabrics and trimmings together it was time to set out my idea, to see if I had enough materials and to see if the design was workable. I started by laying fabrics and trimmings randomly onto my photo (computer printed onto fabric from my eBay shop ), so as to create a border. I then cut into some of the fabrics to create a foliage effect to compliment the scallop edges at the top and bottom of the frame.Once I was happy with a look I placed A4 paper around the outside to get an idea of what the finished work would look like when framed. Only then did I start to cut my vintage pieces to size.
I initially started by hand working the details as separate pieces of work. For example the date plaque needed several detail embellishments, from foliage backgrounds, to beading and date embroidering.I wanted to expand upon the nostalgic idea that I had had for this piece and felt that I could achieve this by creating raw edges to some of the border pieces. I did this by carefully running a pair of scissors on their side along the raw edges of the fabrics. I also continued the vintage idea by working in the vintage-look beads I had purchased I used these to create floral features and to echo the scallop edges at the top and bottom of the frame.
Each separate piece was then hand applied onto the photo background to create the layered border effect. Once applied I would recheck the final picture with my frame, to make sure that areas of details were inside the frame dimensions and could be visibly seen.Before framing I worked on cutting the photo down, after I had rechecked my sizing against the original frame. By doing this at the later stage, I didn't fray the cotton background during the applique of finer details.
The final touch was framing...
Happy Anniversary Nan and Granddad! ( I hope they like it!)
