Surface, Structure, Stitch at City Lit: Week 5

 This week the focus of Surface, Structure, Stitch  at City Lit was on machine covered cords  " A line in space" .  For homework I'd looked  through my copy of  Stitch and Structure    by Jean Draper (  and also Janet Edmonds Three Dimensional Embroidery )   but had misread the instructions  on bringing  an image with strong mood , texture and colour.

  I'd remembered the 'colour' bit   and on a lovely sunny day  had drawn some of my shell collections   -  as  my daily drawings ( love the serendipity of  the combined drawings when backlit)  

  And on a sheet of watercolour paper  divided as we'd done for black and white studies in week 1.  I used neocolour crayons and W&N Watercolour Markers which I've had for ages ( and was reminded why  I still don't like them , back in the drawer they go! )

  I'd cut my thumb badly with a breadknife, tacking pebbles on my trainstitching piece on the way to class  was trickier than you'd expect!

What  we were doing with the images   we had ( or hadn't!)  brought in  was to describe in  words some of the qualities  of our image  then interpret the words in  drawn/collaged  lines . These examples Louise shared were based on a photo of a  cactus with red flowers, 

 These drawn  lines were then  translated into  stitched cords of fabric or thread wrapped string  

  I  did have some photos of shells with me  but  to more accurately  describe their qualities  used some of the  items  available in the class. 

 I was struggling to capture the true colours using the art materials  available so Louise suggested I construct ' moodsticks' ,  covering a stick/piece of card with scraps of fabric and winding threads  around them  from the exciting range of fibres available.  Similar  to  swatches prepared for weaving  but freer , with overlapping threads and colours giving more texture and optical colour mixing. This could get addictive!

 Then  an attempt  to make some machine wrapped cords : laying a string under free embroidery foot with feed dogs down  and using a wide zig zag   stitch and  pulling it  through. My poorly thumb hampered me somewhat as I couldn't hold it taut enough so  didn't have enough control.  

 Still , enough  to see the potential, discussing with Louise how they   could be coiled  or joined  together  to make circles  or stitched into a network .  I spent  the rest of the session gathering  bits to bring home  and try out on my own machine.
Enough  writing for now, time to go and play ! I could be some time...

Surface, Structure, Stitch at City Lit: Week 4

 Week  4  of Surface, Structure, Stitch   was on Kantha and Boro , definately  in my comfort zone !  And with a week away , I'd been making good progress reconnecting with my  #trainstitching  of #wrapmeintheshore   with  the addition of precious fragments  from the City Lit Textile  Studio scrap box 

The notes  that Louise  supplied    recommended reading  of books  by Ahmad, Gillow, Morrell  and Zaman  - I have  them all (!)  plus the catalogue from the Boro exhibition at Somerset house  which  she also showed.  Apart from an example of a kantha stitched sari silk scarf ( of which I too own several), her  own samples  showed how kantha could be used in  reversible 3d forms, either a  spiral stitched bowl or a strip that could be manipulated in different  ways. 

 I had a go first using  circles of felt and  linen furnishing fabrics  -  another time I wouldn't start right in the centre and would add a coin in the bottom between the layers to  produce a base.

The second one   was a small strip of layered creams and blues with crude running stitches, pulled up  into a shell shape. Lots of possibilities.  Louise  suggested I  make  a much larger piece  of layered fabrics and incorporate ' lumps'  of buttons between the layers  to add further distortions and texture 

 I finished the stitching on the way  home on the train  and  spend quite a while manipulating it into different shapes

 Then , deep breath,  I started pulling up some of the stitching, taking photos as I went along 

 I love the potential of inside and outside  being  equally important

  Finally for my' daily drawing' I did a small patched stitched sample  showing the effect of the rippling from pulling up the running stitch. 

Surface, Structure, Stitch at Cit Lit: Week 3 ( on vacation)

 I missed the 3rd session of  Surface, Structure, Stitch   at City Lit as  I was on holiday for the week in Weymouth( our 13th visit).   I'd had a discussion  with Louise the previous week on  how I might approach adding handstitch to my   machine quilted piece so I'd brought lots of supplies with me to do my homework, spreading out on the dining room table  in the cottage.  My mum was an embroiderer  but my stitching so far has been  very plain, variations on straight stitch,   so  I spent time on the train studying  my mum's copy of  Anchor pamphlet ' 100 Embroidery Stitches' ( Price  6p!)  and a more recent purchase of  Constance Howard's  Book of Stitches ( which  cost rather more  than  secondhand )   

 A lot  of restaurants and pubs were closed during our  stay for either holidays or refurbishment  so we had several meals  at old favourites the Cove House Inn in Chiswell, Portland and the  Taste Cafe at Chesil Beach Visitor Centre overlooking the Fleet lagoon.  Spending nearly a whole day there   on  Ian's Birthday, we were aware of the tides and the effect on the screened views from the underwater cameras ( which I drew  in my sketchbook)

 On the Wednesday when I would have been in my class, somebody posted work on Instagram  at lunchtime  so I could share  in what  other students were doing  . Several were using embroidery hoops so   I had a practice on a bit of old shirt sleeve  of some  new stitches - I particularly  like the 'wave' stitch in different  types of thread .

I then had the confidence to add  these to the machine quilted  piece I'd started  the previous  week 

When I got home, I cut it down to 9"  square, the format for this year CQ Journal Quilts  which has to contain a piece of  something repurposed , having had a previous  life.  My theme was going to be  " Assemblage"  but " Scavenged Scraps"  might be more appropriate since most of the fabrics came from the wondrous  collections of  dressmaking offcuts  and recycled  materials in the  City Lit textile studio  scrap boxes.   

 I'm also taking  part in an invited   Facebook group  challenge posting  a year  of  daily black and white photos " Small Reflections  2020" which  certainly  makes you look at the world differently. 

Surface, Structure, Stitch at City Lit: Week 2

 It's several weeks ago now , but the second  class with Louise Baldwin  at City Lit was just as  exciting as the first .  The focus was on machine quilting/stitching  and as predicted , my major challenge was getting used to the  machines ( Bernina 1008 )  and  how they worked.  The dedicated  textile studio is very well equiped - I was looking around for where the power sockets were , they descend from the ceiling on pulleys ! 

 The session started with a review seated around a table of what we'd done the previous week  and  any  images or samples  we'd done for homework, a very useful  process. 

 We  then started off drawing shapes  and creating    designs for quilting 

 Louise had a variety of samples  showing the effect of  different  thicknesses  of waddings/ felt, slashing ( faux chenille) ; layering and making holes;  different fabrics.  

In a Powerpoint she showed work by Michael James, Penny Beres, Diana Harrison , Ester Bornemisza , Judith Denito Brown. Tim Harding, Vashali Oak

My first sample I used orange felt as the  wadding  and raided the scrap basket  for pieces of fabric  with colours and textures of shells,  using free motion quilting foot  to stitch lines

 For the 2nd sample  I used both the felt and  a very thick polyester wadding,  with scrim  and  upholstery samples, doing ' twiddles'  in different areas   leaving long threads  between them   

 She  demonstrated for me other properties of scrim - stretching it in a hoop then free machining  causing fabric to distort  like drawn thread work - definately one to try!  Other people were using a cording foot  to make corded lines and  a tailor tacking foot to make interesting large stitches and loops.  Definately  ones to add to my list  (  I've  checked and they  do them for my Bernina Activa 125) 

 I like to combine machine and hand stitching  so prepared a  more traditional sandwich of thin cotton wadding  with a calico backing and   applied some scrap fabric 'limpets'    and did some machine quilting  to secure them .   As I knew  I would miss the class the following week  , I had a chat with  Louise about  how I might  add hand stitching  ( basically try lots and cover the whole thing! )   

Daily Drawing : 30DaySketchbookChallenge2020 Part 2

Well I completed the #30daysketchbookchallenge2020   and stuck to the prompts ( mostly) although some of my interpretations  were  a bit  off piste. With the confidence of have drawn for a year, I didn't count it as cheating that some were done in collage, Photoshop, a piece of fabric or a copy of  some artwork done previously rather than   conventional art materials , it was more important that  what I  did   meant something to me or came from my own images . 

Like last year, for January 31st  I did a page of thumbnail sketches ( above) showing my responses to the prompts.  It was great to share my work and to see the imaginative  interpretations  of over 5000 participants (  and several of my friends also took part )     

 Day 15  'Something that Floats'    Day 16 'Something that smells good' 

Day 17 ' Something that smells bad'  Day  18 'Supermarket' 

Day 19 'Technology'           Day   20 'The Four Seasons'

 Day 21 'Reflections'  Day   22 'Cartoon'

Day 23 ' My Hobbies'    Day 24 ' The Zoo' ( woodlice in my compost bin and all the vernacular names for them) 

 Day 25 'Famous People' ( Zandra Rhodes in fluorescent markers)   Day  26 'Fairies and Goblins'  ( ancient goddesses )

Day 27 ' Weird Science'    Day 28 ' Favourite Place' ( Fleet Lagoon while I was there! )

 Day 29 ' Film'  ( Chesil Beach)     Day  30 'Goals'  ( Stitch Samples )

 1 and 2  February  :  Views from underwater camera at Fleet Lagoon;  Streets of Chiswell  

 The prompt for ' My Favourite Place'  was excellently timed for when I was actually at my favourite place, the Chesil Beach visitor centre overlooking  Fleet Lagoon !  And  I made a  good start continuing  in February drawing   while on  holiday in Weymouth.