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







Thursday, January 19, 2012

pleats......





I have been working a little more on my ''fiddly sampler''. Pleated silk has been added to the mirror section and is in the process of being bound with needle weaving....I love it! At the moment I am half way done with this process but I am going to have to put it away for a while...slacking on class work I'm afraid and must catch up....No hardship though, it will just mean more white, a different kind of white but equally as wonderful to work on....

14 comments:

Jane said...

love the woven bars on the pleated section, brilliant

Elizabeth said...

Looks beautiful!

deanna7trees said...

nice woven effect.

barbara l. hale said...

Love the pleating!

connie said...

Spectacular! I love pleats but what you have done sets these above the rest!

Iceni UK said...

Karen, what can I say that I haven't said time and again.....brilliant, beautiful, exqusite white work. I love the embroidery on the top picture with the woven bands.
Thank you for sharing your journey in stitch.
A Journal of Discovery that I read each day.
x

Peggy Holt said...

I like the term "journey of discovery", Iceni....that is exactly what this is.

That pleating adds such spectacular texture, and the woven bars.....well, that is just genius!

Every morning I come to the computer with anticipation to see what jewel has surfaced during the night.

No pressure or anything, Karen....just keep doing what you do so that my day starts with a dose of elegant beauty.

Anonymous said...

It looks so beautifully crisp and elegant!

Doreen G said...

I love the effect of the woven bars Karen.

Linda Carole Bloom said...

Hi Karen,
I have finally started my cloth! Between the 12 hr shifts and sewing for my etsy store I'm a little behind, I'm also blogging about it and I uploaded some photos to flickr (I think!) I haven't put the prairie points or loops on yet, but here's the link.
http://houseofbeautifuldogs.blogspot.com/2012/01/contemporary-embroidery-class.html
By the way I love the pleats. I couldn't find your email right away so wrote here. In a hurry - apple pie in oven. Will try new stitch tonight, Love, Linda

Suztats said...

Love the pleating, and the bars that hold it....are they woven picot stitch? I love that stitch!

sharon young said...

The pleats are the perfect foil for the rest of the piece and holding them in place with the beautiful bars was inspired. Your work is truely inspirational.

The Crafty Mugwump said...

Such exciting work!

Magpie's Mumblings said...

The first picture made me think of a corset - but a very elegant one! Very Gibson girl-ish.