For centuries women have used cloth as a tool of comfort and as an expression of beauty within their homes. Creating cloth for warmth, cloth for shelter, our female predecessors embellished these linens with hand stitch using laborious and time consuming techniques thereby enhancing the functional beauty of objects which enveloped and protected their families. Inspired by these women I hope my creations pay tribute to and recognise the devotion expressed in cloth by our female ancestors .







''the use of traditional often time consuming process alludes to the devotion of a mother''. c K. A. Ruane 2007







Friday, January 7, 2011

happier........ish..

Progress...of sorts. I am so much happier with this one. Alhtough I'm not necessarily a huge fan of these colours they kind of ''lift'' me and of course there is the little problem of art supplies...I have very few. A limited colour range and an even smaller equipment range. I am not about to go out and buy loads of stuff though, I may get fed up of this ''drawing'' business in an instant, in a heart beat. I nearly tossed it all last night until I made the tiny stitched sample on here. That encounter with my needle fed the craving, for now at least. The large inspiration image is from Christian Lacroix, sadly there is no name on the smaller picture, the dress, so I can't credit that artist. If you happen to know whose work it is can you let me know. Suffice to say it isn't mine, sadly, as it is such a precious piece of needlework.
My favourite part of the whole sheet is this section above, kind of looks a bit like ice cream. That was the final piece of painting I did and that is the section which inspired the embroidered swatch. It feels good that the angst and doubt has led to embroidery. Well I suppose that is the whole purpose of design work, to come up with a design...
I really am gratefull for all the feedback on my last efforts. I actually had a pack of fine liner pens that I had forgotten about. Not a huge colour range but they were usefull on this sheet and I have started another...(yes, I have started another!) using the black pen, which is inspired by a Vivienne Westwood book. Very different from this and dare I say it...a little better. Hopefully it will avoid the rubbish bin and I will show you next time.
Now I'm a little scared, feel as if I am about to get a detention or something....If you have enlarged the top picture you will see that I used pinking shears on my cloth...oh dear. Very much frowned upon by the embroidery teachers I encountered so I hope none of you are looking but if you are can I just say in my defence that I never normally use them and I have banished them to the back of the cupboard again, honest! Rap on the nuckles accepted, ouch!!

19 comments:

Jane said...

Looking good, and great to see the journey from drawing to stitching. This book is going to be very interesting to look through by the time you finish

Anonymous said...

Yummy colours!
What's wrong with pinking shears? Haven't come across that view before.

jill said...

This is stunning he colours look good and your work is still very you and also very neat, which is as yous know something I would love to aspire to but never manage to acheive.

sylviesgarden said...

Lovely, really lovely.
x

Elizabeth said...

You are getting me curious about where you wanna go. Lacroix, Westwood????

deanna7trees said...

lovely. i always use pinking sheers...i tend to listen to the beat of my own drum, not the drum of others...

Gina said...

Nothing wrong with pinking shears... it is a sample after all! These explorations look lovely.

Suztats said...

Keep on, Karen. Sometimes it's painful to stretch our wings, but I think we grow in ways not imagined. Love the sample!

Miriam Weaver said...

I like the colours, it's interesting to see where you are going with this.

Carol said...

This is just lovely, and with your inspiration underneath like that it is even better. I really look forward to seeing more, your making me want to do some work!

Carrie said...

It's your book and you're not being assessed so use what you like to cut your fabrics! Thanks for visiting my little space on the net.

Helena said...

Really beautiful. Congratulations!!!

Gina said...

See? Such beauty does come from all that and who knows where it will lead to!

Why not pinking shears? I always thought they were desirable to have around....helps prevent fraying and unraveling on certain fabrics

Victoria said...

Hmm... Karen, I do believe you were instructed by some very strict teachers. By all means use pinking shears... use whatever you want in any way you want. Once you know the rules, (and my dear you know them!) you have permission to break them!

As for the image of that dress... wish I knew who did it as well, as I have the same image up on my design wall, and adore it!

Jorin said...

I love your work very much and it's nice to let us throw an eye in your sketchbook. Thank you so much for it.
Jorin

Magpie's Mumblings said...

Pinking shears? PINKING shears?...clutching my heart and nearly swooning away. Seriously, who knew that pinking shears were taboo - certainly not moi!!

**EYE-SNACKS** said...

Love your book with colors.it's a kind of treasure book..it makes me curious..

vintagerockchick said...

Lovely sketches Karen. I too remember sewing teachers saying not to use pinking shears for cutting out when dressmaking because you couldn't then accurately measure the seam - but you're not dressmaking, and I think it looks great!

Anonymous said...

It's true those colours lift the heart!