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







Monday, November 28, 2011

my pocket






A few close ups today of embroidery so far on my pocket. These pictures show very clearly how old the fragment of cloth from my Great Grandmothers nightgown is. The marked and worn areas are very visible in the third image. I don't mind them at all, I actually like them. This piece is formed from more than one layer of cloth. The base layer is Egyptian cotton. I then have a vintage handkerchief with a lace edge followed by the floral fragment and a piece of vintage Schiffli lace. It is quite lovely to embroider this surface, the contrast between the different surfaces feels lovely in my hands. I worked some more on this last night and hope to damp stretch later today. There is quite a large area of plain cotton to embellish and I am trying to give a lot of thought to each area......
The latest button class is off to a flying start...check out the work created so far over here...we are still in our first week so it is quite amazing to see what has been achieved already. It isn't too late if you want to join in either as all resources are available until March 2012. There are no deadlines and there is definitely no pressure to complete anything in my little school. Stress is forbidden and detentions very rarely given so if you are curious then just have a look here for more information.

9 comments:

Elizabeth said...

The whole looks so very fragile but really lovely.

Claire said...

Beautiful.

Jane said...

just beautiful.
Some lovely buttons from your new class too

deanna7trees said...

your pocket is looking gorgeous. will you protect the worn parts with netting or just leave it alone? it does add 'flavor' to the piece. and your students are doing fabulously.

Anonymous said...

I love the contrast between the soft fabric textures and the crispness of the paper!

Lois Evensen said...

How beautiful to have your great grandmother's night gown incorporated into your work. Gorgeous!

Tammie Lee said...

exquisite Karen~

Suztats said...

Adding a loved piece of the old to the new, and creating something unique, but with its own story. It's lovely, Karen.

Sheeprustler said...

It is exquisite :)