Patterning from the piece I showed you yesterdayhas been altered, rearranged and a new piece has been created to live alongside the first piece. As I said in yesterday's post, this work will inform the embroidered surfaces which I will use to create all manner of things in my next class.
Up to now I have a hankering for a drawstring type pouch with an accompanying pin pillow and some hand embroidered buttons. (you wouldn't believe how much the pouch idea excites me...really) The embroidered cloth in these images won't be used, I have plans for further developments of these surfaces. These pieces will be mounted in their own swatch book (scroll down, there's lots of images on that link)....the swatch book which is another recent obsession. You can see a videohere, some of you will have seen it already but others may not have.
Along with excitement for my new class......I got very giddy yesterday putting my book together for my ''artist book'' class. I can't wait for the girls in class to see those videos and once they have I will share images of progress on my book with you and talking of artist books.....once my ironing is done this afternoon I will be stitching pages for the next one.
This piece has been on my mind and in progress for a couple of days now. It's finished as a piece of embroidery but it hasn't yet served its purpose. This is the start of exploration for my new class, the beginning of the sampling process. The next step is to take elements from this and use them in a different way. I have discounted the ''domestic cloth'', the embroidered motif on the left. The patchwork, the hexagons and the flowers however will be staying as I hope to take those further.
The next step is to adapt this layout with the aim of developing a surface pattern I am happy with which I can then use as the basis for the finished pieces I hope to create in ''studies in stitch''.
This design process does not form part of the new class. This process is my way of easing myself into the new class, creating space for thought and ideas.
My collection of hand stitched pages for my next ''artist book'' is slowly growing. These pieces are being created in class and next week we begin to put our books together, it's all getting very exciting. There is a mix here of fabric, beads, lace, stitched paper, folded paper, sequins and hand stitch directly onto pages.
When my little book is actually put together I have a collection of hand embroidered samples to draw on for more page titivation, for overlays and compositions. This little artist book is going to be crammed.
Yesterday was a sewing machine day....well, maybe not a day but a couple of hours. Paper strips were stitched along with fabric strips. The paper strips will be for my stash, nothing will happen with those yet. The fabric strips? I couldn't help myself, I was drooling....really.
So last night, when I had finished some outstanding school work I added a little bit of hand stitch to the fabric strip piece. There are no ''set in stone'' plans for this piece. For now it will be my ''relaxation'' piece, to pick up and put down when I am between other things. In truth I want to add more now, this very minute. I will control myself though, there are other more pressing things to attend to (otherwise known as housework)
Then......then I am planning a piece of cross stitch in preparation for my new class.....less than three weeks, yikes! You can read more about that here....
Slowly but surely my latest collection of embroidered swatches are getting nearer to completion. These two pieces have new edge embellishments, soft Suffolk puffs for one and a double hankie edge adorned with beads for the other.
I have four swatches ''in progress'' at the moment, I want five. There are decisions to be made about headers.....as yet I don't have a clue what to do about those. I am hoping it will come to me in a blinding flash, I'm nothing if not optimistic.
My ''sample. swatch, cloth'' books are going to be invaluable in the future. They will become a collection of stitch and design ideas, prompting and inspiring.
The reverse, the side which shows all the knots, the loose threads, the mistakes if there are any (there usually are). Back it, cover it with cloth and create beautiful edges? Or not. The swatch books I have been working on over the past couple of months have had unlined pages, no backings. The first swatch book I made, this one, all the pieces in this one have completely untouched reverses, they're raw, knots, mistakes, loose threads all visible.
My second swatch book, the one in progress which this piece is for still has those knots, loose threads and mistakes visible on the back only with this one I am embellishing the reverse, not hiding the knots and things, just creating a more aesthetically pleasing home for them.
A new class.....all things cloth, all things embroidery, beginning in less than 3 weeks. You can read more here.
Lace, paper, collage, stitch, beads, pages and a safety pin. Not bad ingredients for a little bit of play are they? Can you tell I am in ''artist book'' mode today? I am gathering, thinking, stitching, tearing, titivating. You wouldn't believe the number of pages I have to fill, each page needing a special little stitched composition or a scrap of collaged paper.
I had my ''up to now'' pages in front of me earlier and although they are looking crammed, looking embellished to death, when you look closely there are spaces, gaps and I have more pages to cut too. I am hoping it will all come together quickly, that the spaces will fill with ease once the final pages are cut and the pages are stitched within the cover.
In other news.....I had planned to visit a couple of exhibitions in London earlier in the year. Because of family stuff however, because I was playing nurse of the year too I didn't get there. Hopefully I will rectify that in July because this morning I have booked tickets to see this and this......I am very excited.
Yesterday I spoke about how useful my sewing machine is to me, how it has become an integral part of what I do. Today I can show you exactly what I mean with these images. This surface was created on my sewing machine in much the same way as the pieces shown yesterday. This piece has areas of hand stitch worked on it, applique, bullion knots, French knots, beads buttonhole stitch.....I won't be embroidering on the pieces from yesterday though, those pieces aren't for me.
I have a new online embroidery class beginning three weeks from tomorrow.....here is all the information.
Studies in Stitch
Begins Monday June 5 for 12 weeks.
***Please note there will be a two week break after week 2 from June 19 to July 3 which means this online class will run for a duration of 14 weeks. (12 weeks learning, 2 weeks break)***
Access to all resources (videos, private blog, private Flickr forum) unlimited, forever.
You do not need to have participated in any of my other online learning programmes to enrol for ''studies in stitch''.
Suitable for the beginner and the more experienced.
Suggested materials list sent upon registration.
Join a group of like minded individuals with a love of stitch and handling cloth.
''Studies in Stitch''. Cross stitch, bullion knots, French knots, applique, padded applique, cutwork, half cutwork, beads, sequins, corded knots and on and on. Take a stitch, take a process and develop it in as many ways as you can.
Cross stitch a pillow top, then cross stitch a button, cross stitch a binding....... Embroider bullion knots with thread, add beads, stitch a pocket top with beaded knots and plain knots, stitch a button with bullion loops and sequins.......and much, much more.
Using traditional embroidery process and stitch we will create a collection of embroidered items, pockets, pin pillows, buttons, swatches, fabric panels, patchwork pieces......
For example, we may create a cross stitch pin pillow and six accompanying hand embroidered cross stitch buttons. Bullion knots could be used to embroider a small, delicate pocket with bullion knot button fastenings along with an accompanying beaded bullion knot pin pillow. A fabric swatch embellished with applique motifs could be complimented by a selection of hexagon pieces worked in a similar manner. Collections, all related through process and stitch.
The size of your final collection, the number of stitch variations you use is entirely up to you. It is perfectly OK for you to pursue one idea through to the completion of our 12 weeks. There are no set tasks, nothing is compulsory.
I never used to be a huge fan of the sewing machine, it was avoided at all costs. Then I discovered what an amazing tool it could be if I used it to suit me, for very specific process. Now I must spend at least two hours each week on it, creating various surfaces which I then use as a base for hand embroidery, surfaces you couldn't go out and buy.
I'm still on edges, swatches, seams, adornments. Yesterday I raided my stash of hand embroidered buttons, puffs, fastenings. (last image) The four buttons on the edge of the narrow swatch won. I tried buttons and puffs on the edges of my other swatches but they didn't quite fit the bill. It just goes to show though, it never hurts to have stashes all over the house to call on when the moment strikes.
One edge of the swatch today has been embellished with French knots and silver beads, the other with simple buttonhole stitch, a good contrast I think. I will be turning this one over later today, thinking over my options for embellishing the reverse.....
I'm making good progress with this work, with these 7 inch embroidered squares for a new cloth book of embroidery. The paper piece featured in my last post and I...
