Well have I had a busy few days. I managed to get all the tape embroidered with text and applied to the silk panel last night, phew! Unfortunately the light for photographs is DREADFUL today..those of you who live in the northern hemisphere will know what I mean. So I hope these are not too bad to show you, they are the best out of approx 80 pictures that I have taken this morning. I did initially think that there wasn't enough going on with this panel that has the tape, but after I placed it next to the applique/embroidered panel I think it is probably just enough, a nice contrast. I now have to give some thought to how I am going to secure the pleats. I am thinking maybe buttons, maybe hooks and eyes, it will depend on wether I am up for hand stitched butonholes or not. Actually, I think I know the answer to that one already, almost certainly not. So, next time you stop by there may be some metal going on here, not a first for me but definitely a first for the blog, I will be interested in your reaction when and if it happens.




I have really had fun using colour in cloth eight and this has led to my being on a bit of a mission the past couple of days. I have embroidered another 'fragment' with silk and paper and also some little paper and silk brooches for the shop. They really are lovely (well I think so anyway) and remind me of antique keepsakes. I think I have found something new to do whilst work in progress is damp stretching!




My son is home from uni at the moment and my daughter is coming home for the weekend so it is busy busy around here, not much room to work either, but I am really looking forward to all the family being together again, if only for a few days. My untidy house is about to get a whole lot worse! I will definitely find a little corner for myself to work in though, it's essential for my sanity!

Diverted Yet Again!!

I know I am making a habit of this but please bear with me. I have a house full this week and it is really difficult to work on large pieces, (wrapping cloths) when you are vying for room with your offspring and all their related ephemera! Following on from the amazing response I have had to the little piece I made for Ulla, both here and on flickr, I decided that as these were small pieces, easy to pick up, that don't necessitate my taking over the whole house, I would play with them some more. It really is a pleasure to make these little things, and have you noticed, more of the dreaded colour!! I think I am overcoming my fear........ Well anyway, two of these have gone in the shop today and I may have more tomorrow.

I want to thank everyone who wished me a happy birthday, ta very much, and I received a lovely present from Gunnel in the form of an award. Thanks Gunnel!! As you know though, it will take me forever to pass this on so don't think I have forgotten about it, I am just deciding.

I have big plans for the rest of today, unfortunately these are in the form of housework. I can't put it off any longer...I will have environmental health round slapping a condemned order on me!

I have made some progress with the second part of cloth eight. I would guess that I have approximately half of the embroidered cotton tape finished so I decided to attach this to the silk panel brefore I did anymore, mainly so I had new pictures but also to get a break from all the text I am embroidering.


I decided to apply the tape with running stitch. I always try to stay true to my motivation where I can and I think running stitch is one of our most basic utility stitches, it's also a favourite one of mine to do, really relaxing and not at all challenging.


There will be five strips of this in all to apply to the silk and again I am using the colours which match the vintage cloth I have appliqued. Just to get a sense of how it will look when it's finished I have placed both unfinished sections together. I think they will compliment each other really well, with the all over floral design of the first panel next to the more regimented linear pattern of the second.

On another subject....It was my birthday yesterday!! Happy birthday to me!! and I wanted to share some of the lovely presents I got, look, aren't they gorgeous!
Thanks everyone, I am really happy!

Sampling

I have been doing a bit of sampling recently. Inspired by the piece I made for Ulla I have looked at past sketchbook pages and tried to move some things on a bit. This work is done mostly by working on paper, stitching into it, folding it, piecing it with fabric. I worked on paper quite a lot whilst I was doing my degree but had forgotten what a nice medium it could be to work on.

I am still embroidering text onto cotton tape for the next panel of cloth eight. This is a very time consuming process and I thought it would be nice to give you a totally different set of samples to look at. It's also good to pick up something small to work on every so often. I am really excited about cloth eight though and how it will look. I am really looking forward to having more of that to show you, soon hopefully.

A Promise is a Promise!

I promised you images of the progress of cloth eight on tuesday and I know it's late but a promise is a promise! I have had such a hectic day... I had to go into town this morning to run an errand which took so much longer than I expected. I had my hair cut after lunch, a real trauma! I kid you not, I absolutely loath and detest getting my hair cut. I have a phobia of the salon so have someone come to the house to do it, then the hair gets all over the floor, my husband works night shifts and sleeps through the day so I can't vaccuum until he gets up, I get a headache just thinking about it. When my son was a very little boy he cried every time he had his hair cut, all the way through the process, it must be my fault, I must have passed something to him subliminally in the womb. So now I have convinced myself I am a terrible mother, passing my wierd fears to my offspring.
Then, as if that wasn't enough, I have had soooooo much paperwork to do! The day did get better though. I have had friends come round bearing gifts, I am so excited, more of that later in the week.
Back to cloth eight, eventually.... It was gloriously damp stretched when I got up this morning.

I have taken it off the board and now need to apply the cotton tape with text to this piece. I have decided for the next section to pleat and use more cotton tape. That is going to take a while as I have to embroider text onto approximately 5 metres of tape, so don't hold your breath!


I hope you like how it's coming on. It was really difficult to get good images today, the sun couldn't make it's mind up, the colours are a lot brighter in 'real life'.

Changes

Wrapping Cloth Five and Wrapping Cloth Six have been listed in my etsy shop today. To make life a little bit easier I have decided to sell only from etsy or by personal contact, (e-mail me with any orders or queries).




I have cloth eight damp stretching as we speak and I will do my very best to update you on that some time on tuesday, light for photographs permitting.

A Slight Diversion

I am still embroidering onto the surface of my applique panel. It is such a large area to cover but I hope to have it damp stretching tommorrow and then I will have more images of it to show you. I also have to collect some of my work this week from a gallery where it has been exhibited for a few weeks. As soon as I get it back I am going to list it in the shop. I will keep you updated on that. In the meantime I thought you might want to see this little piece I made for a friend of mine. I was playing with the pin tick foot on my sewing machine with some silk that had text embroidered onto it by hand. I added some paper flowers to the edge, a little scrap of vintage cloth and the bottom edge was left unfinished with tangled threads. As you know, I don't normally do 'unfinished' edges, being obsessively neat and everything, but I'm glad I did with this one I am really pleased with it.





Last year I was fortunate enough to be selected for the 'One Year On' showcase at New Designers. New Designers is a massive graduate show in London with the best graduates from universities across the country getting to exhibit their work. I had been lucky enough to get to show there the year before, when I graduated, and to be invited back as one of maybe only fifity people for 'One Year On' was amazing. Anyway the reason I am telling you this is because it is nearly that time again and as I was looking at the promotional stuff for this years show I noticed that an image of my work from last year was being used. Check it out here, the image is a bit wierd, like they have tried to make it hazy, mysterious or something, but you can definitely see seven of my cloths hanging on the right. I don't know who those ghost like figures are but I am not one of them, I see anyone coming near me with a camera and I am off!! While you are there have a look around the site, there are some fantstic artists on there and it's good to 'check out' the upcoming competition!!

I was hugely distracted from my embroidery yesterday after the postman had been. I received these wonderful transfers from Paula, so many of them and absolutely fantastic designs. There's enough here to keep me going for a long time!! Many, many, many thanks Paula, you're a star! All the way from Australia too!




Back to the latest piece...I have started to embroider on the applique panel. I am working this from the back so I can mark it out first. It will be backed with silk so these tailors chalk lines won't show on the finished cloth.



There is quite a big area to cover here so it may take some time. I am also thinking about what I am going to put with this panel to complete the cloth. I would quite like some kind of pocket, maybe a panel which folds over and fastens, I am going to have to play with some fabric to see what I can come up with. Then I have to decide on embellishment for the pocket or fold, obviously something which compliments this applique/embroidered piece.



Hopefully, (fingers crossed) I will have this piece finished by monday, it will then need damp stretching again, and if I am really lucky and work extra hard the next section will be underway.

More Decisions

I have finished embroidering the text onto cotton tape and it is now damp stretched. Now I need to decide on placement, number of tape strips, which stitch to use to attach it to the applique panel, one that won't detract from the overall surface embellishment of the cloth.



Here I pinned two strips of tape to the applique. I have placed them in this position, where they cross at the bottom, as it reminds me of the borders you find on kitchen cloths. I think the long strip of tape on the left needs to move further left though. It had been my intention to apply the tape and then add more surface stitching to the whole piece. Looking at this though I now think I will apply the tape last, after all the surface embroidery is complete. The white of the tape is so refreshing and pure that I don't want it to be lost under a mass of embroidery. I also think it will 'make a statement' if the text is clearly visible and readable. This morning I am going to mark out my design for the embroidery, on the reverse in tailors chalk.

If you look at this last picture you can see the difference in the applique after damp stretching. In the images from my last post the petals look less raised and less 'finished'. They look so much nicer now!

I'm Scared!

Don't worry, you haven't come to the wrong blog. My oh my look at all this colour! Someone told me once that I was afraid of colour......well I think they were right because this terrifies me!! Apart from sampling I don't think I have ever used this much colour in one of my projects. I always have to justify to myself the reason why I do x and y, why that pattern, why that colour, I can't function if I can't do that. The silk I use because it is a precious fabric, like the precious relationship between mother and child. The white I use because it symbolises purity in the same relationship. Part of the thinking behind my work is also the history of domestic cloth, how it was used, how it was constructed, why different surface patterns were used. Most importantly, how mothers through time have used cloth in different ways to decorate their homes, nurture and protect their families.
So, for my latest piece I have used a colourful vintage cloth as my starting point. I have decided to add surface embroidery in colours that match as closely as possible those in the old cloth.


After edging each applique petal with running stitch I am going to apply text to cotton tape and stitch this to the surface. Then I will add more surface embroidery on top of that, again in colours which match the vintage cloth. I am so far out of my comfort zone here that I may have sleepless nights. Oh well, nothing ventured nothing gained.

Yesterday I finished the applique and edging the petals with running stitch, this panel is now damp stretching whilst I embroider text onto the cotton tape.

Please let me have your thoughts, I really would appreciate feedback on this one. Yikes.......help!

Inspired!

I found this sample the other day whilst I was scavaging around in my very untidy spare bedroom, very untidy because all my stuff gets put in there out of the way. I always have the best of intentions to tidy it, sort it out, even make the bed accessible.....I always fail miserably, it's a tip! Oh, the longing for a tidy, organised workroom! Anyway, I made this sample for part of my degree course. It made me realise how long I have been using this floral pattern in my work. This is a photo of the sample that I already had on my computer, again taken for my degree course, no doubt by a professional at the university, it is such a good quality image that it can't be one of mine. There are prairie points at the edge constructed with vintage cloth, can you see the pattern in there? That explains where the flower I always use came from.


For my next cloth I am going to build on this sample. I washed and ironed these old cloths, the flower is there again see? And have decided on applique petals, similar to the mini cloth in the shop, with text on cotton tape applied on top of the applique. I think I will also add colour to the surface embroidery, which will be a big change for me as I work with white so much. It's quite scary actually!!

I have got as far as cutting out my petals, there is a long way still to go. More pics at the weekend hopefully. I intend to stitch my fingers to the bone!

Have a lovely weekend and don't forget the sale in the shop until may 14th. xx