Lace edging

I have been away for a bit and started back at working today.  I did some work on my sampler for my wallhanging

The black part is the main part of the wallhanging which has several layers of sheers beneath to become visible when I slash the top fabric.  The black will have a variety of stitches and couched threads.  These will continue (as straight stitch) down into the white area which will become machine lace and a fringe.  At present I am sewing this on two layers of water soluble stabilizer.  As you can see, I did not get far. 

A week or so ago, I hurt my back and it has come back to haunt me.  I will probably have to spend a few days flat on my back, which is not conducive to sewing on a machine.  The cats, however, think it's a great idea!  Oh well, i do need to catch up on my reading.  At present I am making my way through The Encyclopedia of Machine Embroidery by Val Holmes and Freestyle Machine Embroidery by Carol Shinn As they are quite large books, both full of really great information, I am sure they will keep me occupied.

vicki

a wallhanging and a bag

No embroidery to show you.  Only some designs.
I have been doing a lot of research and mulling over some design ideas in my head.  I have also been looking a student work.

Here are two designs in my sketchbook

 

The left one is my outline of a design for a large wall hanging and the other is for a bag

I will go through each bit by bit

 This is the layer that is underneath everything.  At this stage It will only be visible at the bottom of slashed circles, so I am not really sure about it yet.

This is the plan for the second layer which will form the insides of the slashes.  It will be composed of several layers of blue and silver sheers topped by black velvet.

This is the embroidery for the second layer and it is quite dense in red, orange, yellow and brown threads, with a variety of decorative stitches forming the lines.  The ovals inside the curves will be slashed to show the fabrics underneath.

the bottom border is actually a lace extension of the layer 2 embroidery.  The threads from the embroidery will be arranged in a water soluble stabilizer sandwich and free motion embroidered into a lace extension with black thread.  Also, the final oval on the main piece will be cut out and included in the lace, with a spider web.

the final layer is a free motion lace overlay which will be embroidered over an invisible grid, previously sewn into water soluble stabiliser.  This will not be sewn down, but will be tacked and allowed to move freely.  I have also considered making it longer in certain sections so that it will project out of the piece.

Wow, that was a lot, wasn't it?  Of course at this stage these are still preliminary plans.  I need to get rid of the urge to put every single technique in every single piece and ask myself "Does it add to the piece?"

Now, the bag, perhaps a little simpler to explain.

I saw a program on Talking Threads Christmas Show Pt 3 with Mary Gamester (here, you will have to type  talking threads into the search box to find the program) The bag is made with strips in sets of three, two of which  which are pleated in one direction on the top and the other on the bottom.

The pictures above show  the strip repeat and the number of strips and a sketch of the finished bag.  Below is my design for the strips, however as you can see above, only part of each strip's pattern will be visible so i will probably only do the top or bottom third on each strip.

The design is inspired by moorcroft pottery.  I saw an article many years ago about moorcroft's centenary in Country craft and Decorating v7 no 2 and it has stuck with me.  The relief or dimensional nature of the designs is so beautiful.  This is based on a design by Kerry Goodwin called wisteria flutter  You can find the design at Moorcroft.com and as you will see, my design is not much like it.

The wisteria will be appliqued in a paler silk or satin and FME will be used to shade to dark at the edges. There will be some dimensional blossoms at the top using fabric folding.  The dimensional nature of moorcroft pottery will be imitated by couching around each piece of applique in a gold thread (?) At this stage the background is to be black, although the real thing is cream, with window frames and butterflies.  I have thought to put a butterfly on one of the drawstrings, but.... we'll see

Go give your brain a rest after all that!

some stitches

One of the things I am working on is increasing my repertoire of FME stitches.
I have worked up some samples.  I have used different colour thread in the top and bottom to help show the stitches in all their glory.  The first sample is me fiddling round with the bobbin tension, to see how the stitches will turn out.








Next, is the first stitch, feather stitch.

This is made by tightening the upper tension and having a loose lower tension.  when done in a circular fashion, the bobbin thread shows like red feathers.  I am looking forward to doing some of this with metallic in the bobbin.
The next stitch is closely related - Whip stitch

 

Like feather stitch, the upper tension is tight and the lower is loose (perhaps not quite as loose) and when you stitch in a straight line or a very smooth curve, the bobbin thread wraps around the upper thread.

The next stitch is my favourite, probably because it is so easy to do, moss stitch

 

Moss stitch is basically using a tight or balanced lower tension and loosening the upper tension  almost to zero and scribbling in little circles.  If you do it on wash away stabilizer, it will stand on it's own and look like.....moss.

The next stitch is really a set of stitches and is related to moss stitch and to pebble quilting.  It is called garnet stitch

This is just a scribble, really, but it is used a lot in landscapes to fill in and change colours

 

This is a heavier one

Bull's eye is just what it says and is used for putting dots for things like..... eyes!

Seed stitch, (this sample is not quite correct) is a circle with a tail

Spray stitch is the same, but has more than one tail.

I also try do do a bit of scribbling each time I sit down, so here is  some of my scribbling

Tension......................

Well after a few tries I have my second sample done.  This one, I think I will redo later with some fabric and coloured thread.  At this stage I am just experimenting with lines, being very patient because my fingers are itching to get on with more interesting stitching.
Here is my inspiration for this piece.

 

Here is my sketch

 

And here is my stitched sample

It doesn't look like much, but I'm only practicing at the moment and you would not believe the troubles I had today.  I ended up pulling the whole machine apart and cleaning out the tension assembly, but before that, I
changed the thread
changed the bobbin
adjusted the tension top and bottom
changed the needle.
each about  five to ten times. and this is the result!

Underneath, you can see where I originally started this sample before everything went pear shaped!
When I finally got my tension fixed, and finished the horizontal lines in the sample, I decided I needed to do something a little less like work, so I started doing some scribbling on a small landscape I had fused a few days ago as a stitch sampler.  In the sky I have just done some straight stitching and on the top of the first green layer, I have done garnet stitch, which is a technical way of saying I just scribbled in little circles to create the effect of trees or shrubs.

Obviously I was just using scraps for this and my cutting wasn't particularly tidy. but I must say I am much happier with this result than with my other sample.  I just have to keep reminding myself that later on I will redo these samples with lots more techniques and then they will be something to look at.

Visual diary

Here are a few of the pictures in my visual diary

Glacier flow lines

This is my first sample completed.

A picture of glacier flow

My sketch

My sewn sample.

This image is an example of sharp, parallel lines creating the illusion of fuzzy, uneven curved lines, it creates a texture reminiscent of taffeta.  In my sample, the lines create several art elements.   Firstly, the smaller, parallel lines create the illusion of larger, undulating lines, as well as the shape of the uneven lines.  The lines themselves create a texture.  Overall, the main principle in this work is the movement created by the lines.

Line type sampler

I have half finished this sample, been having all those problems you have with machines, especially when not using a foot.  I have also started a visual journal, where I am drawing lots of flow pictures and have been fiddling with demonstration videos.  I also have started another thread painted quilt.  This one is a floral one a close up of a cosmos flower taken by my cousin Jenny.

Here are two pictures, first of my pattern on my design wall and the first bits of my background on my table after being fused

 

Of course this has a long way to go but it is going.  I am looking forward to embroidering it.

On the track at last

Well, here is a postcard that I thread painted.  I did actually have some fused fabric underneath, but it is not really visible any more.  This is called "Bushfire Moon" and is a memory of the sky after the victorian bushfires.  It has stuck in my head until I just had to do it.
I have decided that I need to have a purpose to my work, so I am following (very loosely) the city & guilds syllabus for machine embroidery with a view to actually doing the course in a year or two.


My theme or purpose in my study is outlined in my portfolio introduction:

Machine embroidery and indeed all embroidery has its basis in the element of line.  Embroidery uses as it’s medium an actual, physical line which defines and creates the other design elements of shape, space, texture, form, tone and colour. In this project in two parts exploring machine embroidery in textile art, my theme centres around the natural flows and crystalline structures of matter.  In this theme, line will have precedence over other elements, however I will use all of the other elements and principles of art to develop depth in the work.

My initial inspirations came from two references in Textile magazine (vol 4 no 100 2010) on natural flow patterns and lace in fashion.  My intent is to concentrate on natual flows as inspiration in the first phase of the work and to expand into crystalline structure, with its links to lace and nets, webs as second stage of research.

The first stage is to look into the theory of line and I have  done abrief overview and hope to work up the sample tomorrow.  I also have used flow inspiration to design six patterns which will be next on my work up list.  Here is my outline of the types of line I will produce for my first sampler.

Anyway, on I go