It always feels great to finish a portrait or any project, for that matter, doesn’t it? The latest portrait off the design wall is this black lab. It’s the second time I’ve used this lab’s photo. The first version was done in brown. This time I wanted to reduce the number of pieces to see how few I could use but still have a decent portrait. I also wanted to try making it in white, black and grey fabrics, to be more representative of the actual midnight black lab. I was pleased with the result but I think I am going to try adding more detail for better results in my next portrait.

The background fabric you see in the photo below is not pieced. It is a navy blue/cream striped fabric. I quilted it horizontally along the dark stripes. After quilting the background, I attached the portrait by zigzagging around the perimeter with an invisible thread. I free motion straight stitched, through all the layers, just inside the edge of each piece of fabric using a matching colour of thread. The final step was fusing and stitching down the internal border, a 1/2″ black strip.

This piece is 15” x 15” and has triangular tabs on the top back corners to hold a 15” long 1/8” dowel for hanging on the wall.