In January 2014 I made a resolution to quilt a dragon wall-hanging that I have been promising John. At thirty-inches wide and six-feet tall this dragon is no small thing! John first found the pattern while we were at a quilt show in Lancaster, PA back in 2009. He fell in love with it and we decided to purchase it. Between 2009 and 2011 we ran across the pattern at other shows or stores. If John was with me he would always ask "Did we buy this one?" I would usually answer, "Yes, I think so", or "I'm not sure," and then he would decide to buy another copy. We eventually had three copies. I liked the pattern but was not in love with it. He has a fancy for all things "Asian," so I was not surprised at his affinity for the dragon. From time to time he would ask, "How is my dragon coming?" My stock answer was "I'm thinking about it" or "Maybe after I finish...." The excitement just wasn't there for me.
Well, John is so good to me and supports me in all my quilting fancies. He never says, "No you can't spend that much money on a sewing machine" or "Don't you have enough fabric?" In fact, it's just the opposite. He encourages me. Since we moved to The Villages in 2011, I began to feel guilty that I would not take the time to make his dragon. I began taking the pattern out and looking at it, reading the directions, thinking and planning to work on it but my heart wasn't in it. Still dragging my feet in January 2013, I finally drug the pattern out again and determined I would make the dragon. The first step was to trace the pattern. This step took quite a bit of time, then there had to be a selection of colors to use with varying shades. This seemed to defeat me and I once again tabled the project. During 2013 I pulled it out, looked at it several times, and selected a few more pieces of fabric, but still did not start quilting.
January 2014 dawned and I decided this was the year the dreaded dragon had to me made! So began the process. This was to be an applique project. The dragon pattern I had so carefully traced was spread across the table and each of the more than three-hundred pieces were carefully numbered and color coded. My fabric selections were prepared with fusible web. The pattern was transferred to a background. Each pattern piece was carefully cut and fused into place following the color coding.
As I finally started fusing the pieces into place, I began to get really excited. The dragon was taking on a personality and I could see the potential for a really stunning wall hanging. I fell in love with the dragon and could hardly stop working on it. After over thirty hours the pieces were fused into place. It was ready for the final stage. The dragon was to resemble stained glass and needed black around the pieces to finish off the "look". I had planned to use black bias tape to separate the pieces, but as I started putting it on to the dragon two things happened. I realized it would cause lumps where the ends either folded over or ended under another piece of tape making the overall result look bumpy and uneven. The other problem was that excessive handling was making the fused pieces curl and come away from the backing.
I had to develop a "plan b"! I first stitched around each individual piece so that it would not separate from the back. Then I revisisted the idea of using the bias tape and again rejected it. I decided that a maximum width satin stitch might work. I made a small prototype of the dragon's head with both large and very small pieces and tried my satin stitch idea. It looked pretty good and I decided this was my best bet. So it began, after forty hours and six spools of thread, I finished the painstakingly slow satin stitching.
Blocking, adding a border, backing, and hanging sleeve and the dragon is complete! It is hanging in my entry way and I absolutely love it.
Dragon before the black stitching was done:
Dragon after black stitching and borders were added:
