Chapter 7: colour and texture in stitch

This is a very delayed posting from July 2018.  

Prior to summer school I completed this chapter but didn't get around to posting the work, so here it is...

For working the ideas in this chapter I used fabric and threads that I had dyed in the colour schemes previously described, plus additional threads from my stash of DMC stranded cotton floss etc.  I have tried to include some of the ideas developed from chapter 4.  Some of the samples are better than others.  Some I was very ashamed to show Sian as they were truly awful. They are described below but I have not included photos...

Sample 1:  

1: digital print with hand stitching

Space dyed fabric from the orange/turquoise mix as background.  Digitally enhanced image printed onto fabric, trapped sisal threads, with space dyed threads couched to edges of shape.  A quick and simple technique to get me started with this exercise: I chose the background fabric as it has a strong contrast to the colours in the seed head image used here.   There was a printing flaw in the image, so I cut the image along the lines accidentally created.  An orange silk thread couched to the edges of each section help provide a contrast.  

I like this sample as the shape is broken up, the idea of the seed head is still there but not so obvious.  The trapped sisal provides a subtle texture to the surface.  Two hours to complete.

Sample 2:

2: digital print with machine and hand stitching

Space dyed dark blue fabric, with a digital printed image of the seed head appliquéd to background.  Machine scribble stitch with tapped sisal threads to created texture.  Hand stitching to emphasise segments of the seed head. 

Not as successful as the previous sample; I added the hand stitching as the machine stitching was not as strong as I hoped. However, the stitching is rather clumsy.   Two hours to complete.

Sample 3:

3: stacked rectangles of dyed fabrics

Space dyed fabric rectangles from the mix of turquoise + lemon bag of fabrics and the turquoise fabrics.  Textures from painted lutradur, textured papers, with calico, cotton, scrim, muslin, and velvet.  Rectangles stacked and machine stitched.

The textures are interesting, but the geometric effect hasn't worked! Two hours to complete.

Sample 4: 

4:  Machine stitching over layers of fabric, paper and tyvek

Pre-dyed and printed fabric background using turquoise and orange fabrics. Layers of dyed scrim, organza, silk paper, painted Tyvek.  Machine stitching outlines of seed heads with dyed threads in turquoise and orange hues, stitched from the reverse with coloured threads on the bobbin. Tyvek and organza partially melted with heat gun to reveal lower layers of fabric.  

Sample 5: (Photo not included)

Space dyed cotton fabric from the turquoise bag.  Over printed  using an embossing folder with acrylic paints (cerulean and lemon) for texture.  A mask of shape to centre with Markal paint stick rubbed to edges of fabric.  Hand stitched with running stitch, lemon dyed linen thread. Four hours to complete.

Sample 6: (Photo not included)

Space dyed dark blue fabric background with appliqué rectangles from painted bondaweb and waxed tissue paper with cut out painted shape.  Overlaid with mulberry bark manipulated to form outline shape of seed head.  Hand stitching with running stitch and fly stitch in turquoise and orange threads. Six hours to complete. This sample is such an awful mess it has not been included for display.

Sample 7: 

7: Hand stitching on embossed painted fabric

Calico coloured with markal paint sticks in green, blue and yellow, rubbed over the eggshell rubbing plate (from previous chapter). Dried, then a colour wash of dilute lemon acrylic paint added.  Fabric put through the embossing machine with cerulean acrylic paint added to an embossing folder – a resist of my shape used at the same time as the embossing folder. Black machine stitching added to outline.  One hour to complete. 

Sample 8: (Photo not included)

Orange background fabric and organza, needle felted using an embellishing machine, blue cord added, Blue Faced Leicester wool fibres added. One hour to complete. This sample was such a travesty it has not been included for display and was binned!

Having been so despondent about the experimental pieces described above, I returned to ideas that included hand stitching and cutouts of my simplified shape.

Sample 9:

9:  applique shape with seeding and herringbone stitch

Using fabric from 'bag 3' of the dye mix Emerald & Violet as background and from 'bag 1' of the same mix for cutouts.  Threads from the same bags of dye. Simplified shapes cut out and arranged on background.  Attached with seeding.  The herringbone was supposed to add a layer of texture.

I like the idea of this and it has potential to take further with layers of semi-transparent fabrics. However, the pale green fabric shapes are 'lost' on the background. The herringbone has come loose so the effect is not as it should be.  

Sample 10:

10:  applique shape with blanket stitch and seeding

A similar arrangement with the fabric colour reversed.  shapes are painted lutradur attached with blanket stitch, then background covered with seeding.  

The colour arrangement works better than the previous sample, but the blanket stitch is too heavy for the shape, a small stab stitch may have been better.  I like the seeding as it helps to emphasise the shape outline.

Summary:

This chapter tested me rather more than expected.  My comfort zone is hand stitching, hence samples 1, 9 and 10 are the ones I like most. Taking the abstracted design and using different ideas were not so successful for me.  I have kept them in my folder so I can refer back to them later to see if they can be improved.  My attempt at felting a background with the shape pattern in it using the embellishing machine was so awful I threw it away after Sian had seen it.  However, Sian suggested I use one of the painted pages from my sketchbook to have another attempt at interpreting the ideas.  I am still pondering how to do this – perhaps I will start by printing the page onto calico…

11:  painted page for embellishing trial

During this chapter I spent about 36 hours on the stitching.  I will come back to some of the ideas in due course.  It is now late January 2019, I would like to start work on the options from Chapters 8 – 11 so that I can progress to the end of this module.