From Mermaid Shawl to Mermaid Quilt

Yesterday I was rummaging around in a box of cotton fabric left over from my quilting days when I came across this. It is an unfinished wall-hanging/quilt of a mermaid stitched from cotton fabric using a combination of piecing and applique work. I had completely forgotten about this.

I've written before about how the idea for my Mermaid Shawl, the subject of my knitting book, The Mermaid Shawl and other Beauties, came to me when I was writing my novel, The Old Mermaid's Tale. For me handwork has always been a good accompaniment to writing because when I'm “stuck”, as writers tend to get, spending time working with my hands often solves the problem. I've knitted all my life but I only quilted for a few years and some years back decided my quilting days were over and I packed up much of my quilting fabric and gave it to the nuns at Notre Dame in Ipswich. They had lots of use for it.

Yesterday my neighbor Clare mentioned she was making doll clothes for her nieces' American Girl dolls. I knew I had some patterns from doing the same thing when my nieces were little and, when I found the patterns, I also found an overlooked box of quilting fabric. In it was this piece. It pre-dates the Mermaid Shawl by several years.

I had just started writing The Old Mermaid's Tale and was in the process of creating the inn that is the focal point of the story. In the story the heroine Clair (interesting coincidence!) is fascinated by a mysterious waterfront tavern and flop house called The Old Mermaid Inn. It has a terrible reputation and there is a sign with a huge, golden-haired mermaid over the door. As I was creating the world of Port Presque Isle's Canal Street where The Old Mermaid Inn was located, I also began work on this piece. In my mind I was envisioning the sign over the door.

I pieced the background out of strips of dark brown fabrics to mimic wood. Then I used the techniques used in impressionistic quilting to create the sky and the sea that form the background of the painting. As you can see in a closeup of the tail, I pieced diamond-shaped green fabrics and then cut the tail out and appliqued it to the background. The rocks she sits on are appliqued in gray fabric.

The most fun part was shaping the mermaid's body using three shades of peachy-beige fabric and her hair using two yellow fabrics. Her bra is in a seashell shape. Quite a few of the fabrics are batiks purchased from Loom and Shuttle in Ipswich. I embroidered her eyelash in black thread.

As I recall, my intention was to create a little ship on the horizon and then add the letters cut from burgundy fabric to make it look like I envisioned the sign to be. Below I've added letters in Photoshop but I just might try to do it in actual fabric and then finish the piece for a wall-hanging. I think it is rather pretty.

So, well, I certainly don't need another project but what the heck... It will give me time to dream up a new tale and who knows where that might go.

Thanks for reading.