fabric manipulation.

fabric manipulation with second hand fabric;

 i have collaged pieces togetger with stitch, applique, wadding and fringing:

 

 

hand stitch manipulation; experimenting with layers, pleats, colour gradients and changes in texture.

types of stitch.

a variety of stitches i used in this stitch project; french knots, straight stitch, back stitch, cross stitch, couching, pekinese and the chain loop stitch.

hand stitch samples.

i created these hand stitch sample from looking at the lines made in my photographs and translating them onto fabric. i achieved this by looking at the colour and form and varying the stitch type.

fabric painting.

 

by painting onto fabric directly you can stitch over the top to highlight details. i like this method of sampling, because it's quick and effective. i have embellished with beads and varied the thread type.

pleating, folding and smocking.

 this is my sample from the princess pleater. (a smocking and pleating machine)
way to take further - embroider and print onto pleated fabric.

 this was one of a few fabric manipulation samples from a few workshops. i thought about experimenting with pleating, but decided to stitch instead :)

this is a direct smocking samples of 'honeycomb' stitching. it adds texture and interest to any fabric.

alison willoughby.

  http://www.alisonwilloughby.com/

we had a stitch workshop today with the lovely alison willoughby. what an inspirational, talented woman. dressed in all black, teamed with a trendy hair cut and giant bangles she gave an introduction to hand stitching and how she uses it in her work (£900 skirts... covered in everything!) she came round the group one by one to talk to and find out how we were getting on with the project. she seemed to like my sketch book; laughing at the button heads.
she suggested i shuold;
- look at line and colour gradient; striping down my photos to their simplistic form - like the doodble i do over the top and then translate this into stitch and knit.
- work in a more sophisticated way with stitch, but allowing myself to work over the top in a more messy manner.
- she said to choose a few favourite photos. disect them and translate into needle and thread.

this feedback led me stitching till one in the morning. i was on a inspirational, creative roleeee!

what i need to think about;
- types of thread and wool.
- colour gradients
- knit
- panels, folds
- lines
-blocks
- machine and hand stitch
- more controlled style
- keep having fun
- layout
- scale
- beads, buttons and other embellishments.
- look at jacobean style embroidery and crewel work.

button heads

i thought that as well as working alongside landscapes and nature, i could experiment with my photographs of people; who are after all organic.

i initially played with sticking buttons over peoples faces, translating this into a drawing and then embroidering. but realised that i had to focus on this three week project rather than trying to look and manipulate every photo i've ever taken. i need to focus and sustain projects better! stop trying to do everything emily!

inspiration.

a couple of artists i studied whilst experimenting with stitch and photography.

stitched photographs.

 

Looking,Seeing,Documenting ,Evaluating.

i take photographs all the time. not 'good' ones, but i document the places i go, what i see, what i do, people i'm with and the general things that stick out and interest me the most. alot of my photos are of natural places; the countryside, the beach, rivers, parks etc. most being photographed from the car or train window. as i have chosen natural and organic as my theme; i have got together i range of my photos to work into; stitch, knit, collage and paint - to experiment and produce mixed media work.

FMP prep

i have been busy preparing my pieces for my final project. 

i aim to create a number of machine and hand stitched illustrative images influenced by the theme of dream & fantasy; fairy tales and nursery rhymes. The two main pieces are inspired by a LadyBird book of hansel and gretel, but the main inspiration is the setting and creatures of a fairy tale story; normally woodland and forests.

 one of the main pieces will be machine stitched and the other by hand. 

sustainability project.

i experimented with a range of materials for this project to develop my understanding of recycling and reusing. 

i made recycled dream catchers, lace pebbles and a jewellery board.

recycled dream catchers;

i made these out of second hand material and crochet samples and took them to the south downs to photograph.

lace pebbles;

these are simply pebbles from the beach wrapped in old lace and stitched in place. i think they're really effective for decorative ornaments.

jewellery board;

this was my 'final' outcome for this short project. it consisted, initially, of stitching a crochet circle onto a found pillow case and experimenting with different types of stitches over the top. then, i found my mother's old laura ashley patchwork and decided to stitch my pillow case over the top. i added lots of lace to work as loops for earrings and broaches. and finally mounted it onto a piece of wood with a stuck down old clock face to make the middle raised.

 my handmade jewellery.