Surface, Structure, Stitch at City Lit: Week 6

  Week 6 already of  Surface, Structure , Stitch  with Louise Baldwin  at  City Lit  and we were looking at  joins, seams, darts , pleats , and  tucks.  I'd done some homework   looking through some of the many books I own , especially the ones above.  We looked at the work of  Karen Nichol,  Caroline Bartlett, Joan Livingstone , Debbie Lyddon,  Tanana  Takite

 Louise had  lots and lots of samples : use of darts to give volume; pleats on different fabrics, manipulated into shapes;  joining  different fabrics( the seam of the 'back' being just as interesting); inserting small pieces  into seams; pintucks in different directions  with waxing ; working on the bias  with zigzag giving ' lettuce' effect ;  working with  various weight/types of fabric, giving different effects; smocking, suturing , faggoting  stitches  to join  edges. 

 One technique   caught the imagination of several of us  -  using  a bobbin of  tightly wound shirring elastic ( or ' knicker elastic'  as someone referred to it !)   on very taut fabric held in a hoop, stitching from the top with ordinary thread, 

  I didn't have  a chance to do a ' before' shot  as the tension  while stitching finally came too much  and it burst out of the hoop !  Nice effect but  would need a lot of practice ( and hand winding the tensioned bobbins was hard )

 Thinking of my limpet shapes, I spent  time just using  different  weights of calico and  muslin , using darts to make the shape and then using pin tucks in between to give structure ( Louise suggested I could insert kebab sticks in the pintucks to give it even more form )  

 I'd bought some of my ecoprinted fabrics with me  and started to apply  the same processes to that 

 Then  while I was in pleating   mode,  Louise suggested I use the 'Princess Pleater' smocking machine .  Caroline Bartlett  ( who also teaches at City Lit)  puts yards and yards  of it through  to make her work .  

  This is my  16 needle Read Pleater which I bought secondhand  years ago   for shibori but have used very little,  but I'm keen  to experiment  with after   seeing its potential.

 The hardest part  was threading the needles as I'd cut my left thumb badly and the plaster made it difficult  to hold.  The trick is to use long lengths of threads   to push the pleated fabrics off the needles .  I put through  strips of muslin, folding it as  I turned the handle;  cotton organdie  and the ecoprinted  linen ( which being so soft   was lovely to work with )

 This could get addictive  but I need to concentrate on sorting out what I'm going to take on my annual textile retreat   at Glenthorne in the Lake District  next week ( it'll be my 9th trip) .  As I'll be missing a class , Louise   went through what we'd be doing exploring the possibilities of using one shape in a variety of ways , manipulating and making multiples so I have homework to do !  

100 metres of thread

Yesterday I posted my entry for CQ Horizons exhibition at Festival of Quilts. I was stitching the facing and sleeve on late of Tuesday night - I'd taken time off work on Monday and Tuesday to do that but couldn't resist adding extra stitching -it's addictive!! I reckon I've used  over 100 metres of thread, estimated from  counting the lines on the back (above).

 I did the majority of the stitching (thanks Hilary for the photo of me in action!)  while on  Summer school retreat at Farncombe , a joy to be among supportive company in a peaceful, beautiful landscape, well fed and watered.

Re-purposing old textiles combined with painting with acrylics and hand stitch  brought together what I love best . I've  still got some of this old red and white strippy quilt left  and am pondering how best to use it in a similar fashion

Retreat : quilts, walks ,sketches, sun and CAKE

I made quite a lot of progress playing with the arrangements of my 2 green door quilts while on retreat last week  as well as some stitching on 3 Journal Quilts  but that stranger the sun was too much of a distraction despite the ice and frost and I spent  more time walking and sketching in the beautiful surroundings.

 Glenthorne last year  was a welcome  break but the house and setting of Rydal Hall were amazing- lovely grounds with sculptures dotted everywhere, many of them textile (more in another post)

 Rydal Falls was literally on the doorstep   and Rydal Water just on the other side of the road.

 

The light in our work room was very good ( and handily situated next to the bar which sold beers from microbreweries) . The food supplied was excellent  as were the cakes which we'd each brought for morning  and afternoon breaks (photo above taken on the first day through the window with 12+ stacked up). Despite a valiant effort, there was still a large spread left at the end of the week which we divided up to take home (below). 



The company too was excellent - a lot of laughs and exchange of ideas while still giving space for personal time, as expressed in this carved plaque  in a quiet spot :
" You must come away to some lonely space all by yourselves and rest for a while"

Textile Sensory Overload: Jammers and Weft

It's been quite a while since I've been to any exhibitions so fitting in 2 yesterday afternoon left me with my head buzzing. Having read the review in the Guardian a couple of weeks ago about the Rauschenberg exhibits at the Barbican and Gagosian Gallery, I decided to do a combined trip to Bloomsbury  to  see 'Jammers'  and  the World Eco-Fiber and Textile Art exhibition at the Brunei Gallery, SOAS (thanks Margaret for flagging this up)

 

 

 

First time at the Gagosian - such a large, light space shows the  pieces up to great effect.
I was particularly struck by 'Mirage' with  it's overlapping gauze over a pieced red and yellow background, the gauze have a pieced section on the top, playing with transparency/opacity.
Slubbed silks were used to good effect in 'Gull ' with the touch of red on the rattan pole and the frayed blue-grey silk in 'Pollen'  partially revealed  the yellow silk beneath.
My favourite piece however was 'Vow', a 3D triangle of naturally coloured fabric, sown at the bottom, weighted with a short rattan pole (with that touch of red again)

Than onto WEFT at SOAS - such richness of textile techniques after the sparceness of the Rauschenberg!  I love 'ethnic' textiles and have acquired a variety of pieces from John Gillow over the years: ikat; kantha; indigo (tho' the  Chinese  shibori above, very like a length exhibited, was bought fairly recently from Changs)  This exhibition is an absolute joy in  its variety and quality and it was good to see  contemporary intepretations of traditional forms.

 

The  double faced Suzhou embroidery on organza  by Liang Xuefang of lotus shoots and their relections was stunning -  so graphic its looked like it had been drawn with ink but  composed of tiny stitches. 

Made me think of some paintings I did a while ago of posts and their reflections in Derwent Water and thinking how I might intepret them ( with much  larger stiches, naturally!)

Thinking of the Lake District,  I'm having a creative weekend while Ian is at his parents choosing what to take with me to  NWCQ retreat  next week at Rydal Hall : indigo journal quilts; watercolours and sketchbooks; colourcatchers and scraps for daily(ish) art project and depending on my printer co-operating, inkjet prints of green doors to play around with for Sue Ridgewell challenge at QG AGM. Meanwhile I've made an apple cake and washed my walking socks and thermals!