Stitched containers and bleach printing

I have joined the new Stitch Club being organised by TextileArtist.org  https://www.textileartist.org/. The first workshop was led by Debbie Lyddon and the challenge was to make a container for a meaningful object that reflects what is inside. We were encouraged to include a grommet in the container to reveal a glimpse of what was inside.

I made 2 responses to this challenge - a practical container for some gardening snips and a book cover to hold my Mom's school exercise book from her sewing class that I have inherited.

I started by finding some firm fabrics - navy-blue cotton drill and some denim cut off the bottom of a pairs of jeans from my Mom's old fabric stash. I experimented with decorating them by printing with bleach and painting freehand with bleach.

I used ordinary thick household bleach painted on leaves pressed down with a plastic box. I wore gloves and glasses and laid the fabric on an old board covered with a bin liner.

This worked really well and I was amazed by the detail you could get on the leaf structure just using this crude method.

I loved this but it didn't reflect anything about the contents of the sewing book so I decided to try printing with sewing objects out of an old inherited sewing basket.

The ends of cotton reels worked quite well as did thick needles and bodkins. Overall I thought it might not be very impactful so I also printed some objects with acrylic paint. The larger scissors in the picture were a cardboard template I made from drawing round my small Fiskars scissors. I hoped that the thin card would absorb the bleach and then print a good image when held against the fabric. This didn't really work out.

Having had this useful trial run I then printed my final fabric. The exercise book has a round logo on the front so that seemed perfect for the grommet element to reveal. I cut this out first and then printed the fabric. I wanted to use the hem of the jeans as the top of the cover.

The bleach printed scissors on the front didn't turn out quite this well so I touched them up with the paint brush but all the other things worked fairly well.

I particularly liked the buttons with bleach and acrylic.

Yes - the jeans really are this dirty. My Mom could be quite impulsive and must have chopped the bottoms off to make shorts before they made it to the wash basket!

To practice sewing the grommets I started on the smaller container. First I created a pattern - see above. I used jewellery wire to make the small grommet to make a hole to hang the pouch up in the greenhouse. I used 3 rounds of wire - it was thicker than recommended but was fairly easy to sew. I used some old cotton thread found in the inherited sewing basket, which was maybe not thick enough but was all I had. It seemed to sew ok with a big needle.

I then assembled the pouch using the sewing machine to attach the front and back before cutting off the dip on the front to show the snips when in use.

I then strengthened the top edge with a similar technique but this time using kitchen string.

This was more difficult and I had to solve a number of problems like what to do about the seam allowance inside and should the string sit on the front edge or the back?

You can see from the photo that I tied the string together with a bit of thread to ensure it kept its shape. In addition, a tip we were given for these grommets was to always cut the hole in the fabric smaller than the finished size as the hole stretches as you stitch it.

Overall it came out fine and feels quite strong.

Having practised both methods I decided to use thinner garden wire to make the grommet on the book cover as it was important that it made a strong round shape. Sewing this in went ok - you need a lot more thread than you think! We were advised to sew in the grommet before making up the container.

I then had to decide how to finish it off. I didn't want to lose the character of the jeans so I decided to sew the bottom hem on the machine and then finish the right hand side with satin stitch in orange thread to match the top-stitching on the jeans. Finally I added some press studs to close off the side and retain the original fell and lap seam of the jeans.

Getting the hole and the logo to line up was difficult and I had to undo the bottom seam a couple of times to get it right but overall I am pleased with it.

Here is one of the pages from inside the book - when you read this you realise how hard it is to write instructions for what we do instinctively. (She didn't always get an 'A'!)

Folk Art Challenge

This piece of textile art was inspired by a stitch challenge set via TextileArtist.org by Anne Kelly. The challenge was to cut out flowers, stems and a vase from existing fabrics, arrange them in a typical folk art arrangement and then either handstitch the background in Kantha style or machine stitch all over in a type of netting pattern.

I had originally planned to use vintage linen and traditional style fabrics but when I went hunting for fabrics I found the black and white sprigged flower background, a couple of really bright vintage handkerchiefs and old child's sundress with modern flowers. These inspired the colour scheme and modern vibe.

To get the layout right I searched images of traditional fold art and liked the Polish kind. I noticed that many of the designs were in a diamond layout so that inspired me to set the pink handkerchief on the diagonal with the blue and white one inside to provide more of a neutral background.

Then I started carefully cutting out various flowers, stems and other elements to build up the design.

To make the birds I drew a circle on card and then drew the bird inside it. I could then draw round the template and flip it to make a pair of matching birds. I did the same with the wings and tail feathers.

Once I had settled on the design of the central panel I have to fix all the pieces down using Bondaweb. Although this was very fiddly because I effectively had to cut all the pieces out again to cut off the excess glue webbing, I thought it would be the only way to ensure I could do the overstitching on the machine without the pieces shifting around.

I then focused on the background and corner designs and how I might finish the piece off.

I found these triangular sections on some African fabric that I thought would add interest without detracting from the central panel. In the final assembly I added some additional plain fabric behind the triangles in bright colours to make these stand out further from the background.

Finally I found some black crochet edging to frame the central panel. In this photo it is just pinned on to check the effect.

Next came the important decision about how to complete the overstitching. Advice from the stitch community on TextileArtist.org was to make a sample and try out various stitches and colours of thread.

I used scraps of fabrics from the piece to make a sample. This was backed with thick calico as I intended to back my main piece with the same to ensure it did not pucker under so much machine stitching.

First I experimented with various stitches on my machine at the bottom to get the width and length right. I ended up choosing a box stitch in length 2 and width 5.

I tried out white, cream, pale grey, pale blue and pale pink. I decided to use pale pink as a good compromise colour in the central panel and cream on the white corner sections to add bit of warmth.

Once I had assembled the final piece with the calico backing I started the overstitching on the corner sections to get my eye in. My machine started making a loud noise quite soon so I had to dismantle it and clean any lint out. I did this every time I had to wind a new bobbin and didn't have any more problems.

This photo shows the overstitching started on the lower half of the central panel. It was quite hard to sew on the diagonal - you had to look at the previous row of stitching and use the edge of the presser foot as a guide rather than the fabric.

To complete it I added the black crochet lace trim with a narrow pink ribbon threaded through.

Finally I added bead and sequin embellishments in the centre of the flowers, on the butterflies and on the birds, including their legs.

I loved making this piece. I think it was the colour scheme and it just seemed to work from the start.

Paper Picture - Winter Stems

Here is my latest and most complicated collage yet:

It is based on a jug of stems and seed heads cut from my garden, including Witch Hazel, Winter Jasmine, Vibernum, Ivy and seeds heads of Nigella and Japanese Anemone. 

I started this one by creating a pencil drawing to simplify the image. This proved invaluable later when some of the blossoms had faded in the warmth of the house.

Then I painted up sections of lining paper with acrylics in the colours and textures I thought I would need. The paper for the jug was a particular challenge. I painted an off white background and then used a 'comb' cut from old cereal box dipped in black to drag the lines down it. I had kept my scraps from previous collages too so could use some of these. This project really highlighted to me the usefulness of the sections of paper containing the accidental boundaries between the different colours so I was glad that I had lots of these although I wasn't conscious of this when I was doing the painting stage. 

Again I chose a black background, ordinary A4 card, particularly to show off the Witch Hazel flowers. I started with the jug and the stems, arranging them on the background before sticking them down with PVA. Then it was a matter of working my way through the different stems,  starting with the ones at the back and gradually working forwards. 

Some of the leaves are double layered to give an impression of depth, with a lighter colour behind. The same applies to the Nigella seed heads where I cut out the holes and then stuck a dark brown layer behind. 

Another challenge was because I was working in A4 size,  some of the flowers and buds are tiny - fiddly to cut, hold and glue down neatly. It would probably drive most people mad but I could see the result was worth it so I persevered! Decent tweezers were essential. 

Finally I tweaked some of the areas with some Inktense pencils e.g. where the area was too light or not defined enough. I am really pleased with the overall piece.  I was worried that it was too 'painterly' but I think the fairly stylised flowers have just about pulled it back.

Paper Pictures - Camellias

I have a wonderful red camellia in the garden and they are so striking when in full bloom so that inspired my next paper picture.

I was still very much inspired by Clover Robin's version in her book 'Cut Paper Pictures':

I began by painting lining paper with various colours and textures to suit the flowers, stems, leaves and buds. I am just using cheap acrylic paints and tried to mix up colours and leave unpainted parts to give a variety of textures as I have learned that this technique is all about happy accidents. Here are the papers I ended up with.

The final piece is below. I deliberately tried to be more 'graphic' in my approach compared with the snowdrops in my last blog post. I think I achieved this but some parts of the picture are more successful than others. The leaves, for example, are possibly still too 'painterly'. I ended up adding the veins on them with Inktense pencils, rather than cutting out paper, so that may have added to this feeling. This piece is A4 laid on ordinary white card.

Paper picture - Snowdrops

I had the most inspiring book for Christmas - Cut Paper Pictures by Clover Robin.

Her method is very simple - paint the collage paper yourself in the colours and style to match the picture you want to create. Don't know why I didn't think if this before. A lot of the ideas in the book are flowers, foliage, birds and insects as well as landscapes so this inspired me to make some pictures of the flowers growing in my garden.

I tried out her technique by more or less copying her image of astrolamaria:

As I had some orange ones in a vase on the table I copied their colouring and used Inktense pencils to add the speckles:

I was quite pleased with it but the stamens and pollen specs were so fiddly. I realised that my tendency is to work small.

So onto my next piece - I choose snowdrops as they were looking lovely in the garden:

I chose to paint the papers on lining paper - a trick I picked up from my City and Guilds course as it absorbs paint easily without wrinkling. For snowdrops I only really had to paint a variety of greens as I used ordinary white card for the flowers. 

I took inspiration from another botanical artist I came across - Mary Delaney - and chose to collage onto a black background. Mary Delaney lived in the 18th Century and created nearly 1000 'paper mosaicks' using tissue paper layered up on a board coloured with india ink. Here is one of her lilies:

So here is the final picture, which I am very pleased with. It is A4 size to force myself to work bigger and hopefully it bears some resemblance to the photo from my garden.

Backstitch patterns 2.1

Now in my course we are moving on to focus on the versatility of backstitch. Sue Stone, the tutor, says she likes backstitch as it gives a raised line unlike running stitch. The challenge was to divide each square into smaller areas and make patterns with backstitch.

In the first square we were advised to make a simple design to get the feel for the backstitch. I marked out the 4x4 grid and backstitched that first in a stone embroidery floss (3 strands). Then I filled them in with circles in stone, grey and white floss for a neutral textural effect. It was surprisingly hard to sew neat circles!

Next I had sketched out this pattern in my book. I decided to stitch it all in black floss, again 3 strands. Although the design was clear in my book, it wasn't that clear on the fabric so I decided to emphasise it by colouring in the shapes I wanted to portray with orange Inktense pencil. The background furnishing fabric I am using took the colour surprisingly well and I didn't have to add any water to make an even wash.

For the third square I looked back at my City and Guilds pattern book again and tried sewing a less precise grid in 2 strands of grey floss on the diagonal. To fill in I mixed several colours of floss in the needle and backstitched some 'roses'. These weren't that effective even though I tried different ways of stitching them.

For the final square I found a geometric design on the internet and practiced marking it out in my notebook first. To make it work I had to mark the diagonals and centre lines even though none of these would be stitched. When it came to marking it on the fabric I used an air-ereasable pen to mark these. I used the full 6 strands of floss and chose lighter colours in the centre and darker at the edge to emphasise the design. It was hard to get the design precise so that the star in the centre looked even so I am very pleased with my efforts. I think this could be really interesting over a larger piece, although it would be very time consuming to make.

Layering stitches 1.4

I was looking forward to this challenge -using running stitch in different directions and different threads to create 6 different effects.

In the first square I tried horizontal and vertical stitches in a space dyed thread. The 3cm square wasn't really big enough to show off the colours in the thread.

In the next square I stitched the same thread in a rainbowshaped pattern and then overlayed it with straight lines radiating out from the bottom centre in aqua and pink dressmaking cotton in the same needle.

I used dressmaking cotton mixed in the needle again for the third square top right. This time it was 2 strands each of pink and black. I stitched even rows vertically and then stitched over them horizontally, catching them in groups of 3, with 2 strands of blue dressmaking cotton. I added the rows in between to add to the decorative effect.

For the next square bottom left, I again used a space dyed thread, stitching each direction on an angle to cross over in places. Again due to the small size of square I don't thi k the effect is very clear.

The final 2 squares combined thick and thin threads at different angles. The one bottom right is more successful as the combination of pink and blue in the same needle over the white gives an interesting colour effect.

I can see that a large area covered in different directions of layered running stitch would be very interesting and an exciting background perhaps. The scale of these samples just didn't bring that out. One to come back to.