Couching

I decided to take the chance with this week's TAST to return to some of the stitches we have done in previous weeks and to use them to attach various threads on to a background.

A while ago I went to the Art Gallery of New South Wales exhibition "Goddess". It was a wonderful exhibition of art of the goddesses from India - sculptures, paintings, printing - a bit of everything. It was a inspiring exhibition. Since I went I have had a bit of a thing about the hot colours that they painted the walls of the exhibition - particularly hot orange with hot pink. So this week, I didn't feel I could put that off any longer.

As usual I had far too many ideas but settled on a postcard with a hot orange and pink background. This was fuchsia pink linen with bright orange and fuchsia pink sheer ribbons fused onto it. I thought that this shiny background would show off the matt wools I wanted to attach. Echoing the grid of the ribbons I used a variety of stitches to attach the wools. (chevron, single short tailed fly, cross stitch, buttonhole and couching stitch.)

My favourite is the contrast of the chevron stitch in pink and red over the purple wool, but I also like the orange buttonhole over the pink knobbly yarn - I like the texture produced. I think that I will also be using the background style for future fabric postcards.

Up and Down Buttonhole

This felt like a fun stitch to me and needed to be treated that way. It also seemed a stitch to cover lines or seams.

I have this old T-shirt that I loved - it just didn't love me. It didn't flatter me. I bought it because I loved the colours and patterns on it. So I just couldn't throw it out. It's been in my fabric stash for a while now. Today was it's day!


The T-shirt material was pretty stretchy - so I fused interfacing onto it to stop it going completely our of shape as I stitched. I eventually got the hand of up and down buttonhole and decided to fill the shapes of the fabric. I didn't use a frame and there are a few areas where the tension is a little iffy. I began to think of landscape - a patchwork of furrowed fields with hedgerows between stretching to the hills. The church shape was unintentional; it's just where I stopped stitching - but is a similar shape to many village churches where I grew up, which were a part of our landscape.


This was a fun piece to produce!

Barred Chain and Alternating Barred Chain

I wanted to produce a thickly textured woollen piece in this stitch.

I often doodle swirls and then echo the shapes with ripple lines - this design came from one of my doodles. I guess the influence of Aboriginal art has also deepened my enjoyment of this type of pattern.

I decided to stick to the wools in my stash - some dating back to unfinished tapestry kits that I had as a child! I stitched on linen - next time I will use a darker background colour as I had trouble with the ugly muddy green showing throw between the rows in places.

I didn't find this an easy stitch - the bars of the stitches got drowned under the thicker wools. Next time I will rework this stitch to show them better. However, this time I decided not to redo it - as I was happy with what came out.

I really liked the rich texture that was created and was pleased with the singing colours. This has become a patch for my denim bag!

Cross Stitch

I wanted to use Week 9's TAST cross stitch in an unconventional way. Whilst I love the effect of lots of cross stitches in a large piece - I wanted to experiment and try them in a different way.

I decided to use natural materials - on hessian and to stitch cassurina needles onto the background to create shapes. Sharon B (In A Minute Ago) had referred us to the cross stitch article by Jean Draper (Pattern Making with Cross Stitch). These pieces are beautiful and I will try some of these ideas out another time.

For this piece I used Jean Drapers' folded tissue paper squares (in gold) and stitched them into the spaces. I am very influenced by the art nouveau movement and Sydney has many fabulous buildings from that period. I was thinking of that feel as I stitched the cassurina needles in place. I was aiming to convey a sophisticated simplicity of a bygone era and hope that I have captured that in this piece.

Fly Stitch and Fly Fishing

Fly Stitch - TAST - Week 8

This is one stitch that didn't give me a clear idea. In the end I decided to use some of my monoprinted fabric and follow the curves marked on it with flows of stitches in similar colours. I used short-tailed fly, closed fly stitch and reversed fly stitch.

As I was stitching I began to think of water weed and sea weed moving in the current and it reminded me of going fly fishing with my Dad when I was a child and being mesmerised watching the weed moving in the trout stream. Dad used to make his own fishing flies and had quite a collection. He died a few years ago now and on our last trip back to the UK to visit Mum we started to sort out his fishing gear, including lots of hand-tied flies and hand made fishing rods. Sadly none of us knew enough about it and wished he had been there to share his enthusiasm and knowledge with us.

So perhaps the stitch was telling me what to do with it after all!

Shibori Shadows and Feather Stitch

Feather stitch was again new to me, but it had a rhythm that I enjoyed.

I again tried to think of how I felt that the stitch could be best shown off and to say something more about it.

It stirred in me nostalgic memories of smocking, feather beds... - so a neutral palate felt the right way to go. I had recently attended a class on shibori dyeing and was more attracted to the plain cloth with its sculptural tied elements before it was dyed than after! I had some pieces that I had tied and not dyed which had kept their shape and so decided to use the shadow spaces to stitch with the feather stitch.

The shapes were made with white shirt buttons - like the buttons on old mattresses. I love this piece's purity, simplicity and sculptural elements.

I didn't use anyway of stiffening the fabric to retain its shape and again it may become an ephemeral piece that remains only as a memory and through the photographs.

Palm Fibres and Rusty Washers

Algerian eye and eyelet stitch were set for week 6 of TAST.

Influenced by this macro photo of barnacles on a rusty sleeper on the beach at Bundeena, I wanted to use natural materials with rusty colours to recreate the essence and feeling of the photo. Decomposition and rusting are themes that I love.

I pick up the palm fibres every time I see them. They seem to come from the base of the palm frond, once it has broken down by the elements. The fibres make a beautiful natural weave and I like the way the layer below shows through the gaps.

The rusty washers came from a tin of rusty bits thrown out by one of my neighbours clearing out their workshop. I love the use of recycling found materials. For me it adds another dimension and history to a piece.

The wooden bead was from my friend, Fi, a great source of creative inspiration. The bead was left over from our last holiday art challenge (the barmy bag of bits holiday art challenge) which I will probably write about here at some point.

I was pleased with how this worked out.

Chevron Stitch

Week 5 - Chevron stitch is actually where I joined the TAST Challenge. I had seen it mentioned on DownUnderDale's blog from The Thread Studio. All of a sudden the pieces of the jigsaw started falling into place. This could be a vehicle for me to start my first few tentative steps into textile arts. I knew it was a direction I wanted to go into - just I didn't really have the basics or a support network who could help me. All of a sudden here was a helping hand...

So I raided my stash; the things I'd bought and accumulated because I felt a need to - but had no idea how or when to use! It was my first tentative steps at stitching for a long time, so I kept it simple. My favourite colours - teracottas and teal blues with a hint of lime green to give it a lift. My favourite stitches are the varying geometric squares in the middle row; for me I feel that they have potential elsewhere. Interesting effects all round. I will definately be using this stitch again.

Cretan Stitch - TAST Week 4

It's Cretan Stitch this week. Entry to follow...

Detached Chain - TAST

Week 3 of the Take a Stitch Tuesday Challenge is detached chain stitch...
Entry to follow!

Gum Leaves and Buttonholes

TAST Week 2 was Buttonhole stitch. Again, being new to this, I didn't know even this stitch!

Some months ago I was working on monoprinting papers and decided to see what would happen if I used my techniques with acrylics onto fabric. At the time I wasn't so pleased with the results - on fabric the colours and textures of the paint don't show up as strongly as they do on paper. I guess that the fabric is just not quite as absorbent.

The fabric was printed with layers of reds, purples and yellow - some with just paint and some with very watery washes. I like to use a stiff paintbrush for monoprints as I like the movement of the brushstrokes. One of the pieces I produced is shown above. (I do like it now!)

I ask myself each week what I can do with the stitch to show it off in its best capacity. I am also thinking about how I can use it as an excuse to experiment and learn new techniques. As I am at the very beginning of this process that leaves plenty of scope!

Since moving to Sydney, I have been enchanted by the eucalyptus trees (gum trees). They are the most beautiful trees. The bark, flowers and leaves never cease to intrigue me. I now have a house full of bits - piles of leaves and bark pieces on the bookshelves and gum nuts in our drinking glasses on the shelf! Fortunately, James loves them as much as me - and is also very tolerant!

I noticed that the colours of the fabric were pretty close to those of my latest leaf collection and decided to use buttonhole stitch to attach them. The scarlet red of the monoprint was just too bright though, so I fused gold sheer fabric over it to tone it down. It also acted as a beautiful contrast to the matt of the gum leaves. From a big pile I chose the two most ragged ones and stuck them to the backing with double sided tape to hold them in place while I stitched.

The buttonhole stitch came fairly easily and I found that I could get a good rhythm with it. I had originally thought to stitch all the way around the outside of the leaves, but they were so brittle that I changed my mind. A practical "what is the minimum I can stitch to hold them in place" approach followed. It was also a mistake to have the stitches facing in and out on the leaves - but I liked it and think it added to the effect. Stitching around the holes was also from a practical approach, both to hold the stitch down and to learn how to do buttonhole in a circle! My work tends to evolve through process. I have an idea to start with - a feeling of where I want to end up and then let the process find a way there. The creative process is a great mystery to me - but I know when I am there!

After finishing it is fused to dark red felt. I did think about doing red buttonhole stitch around the edge. I wondered if more buttonhole might detract from the design in the centre - so I have left it.

You just can't beat the wonders of nature, can you? I haven't done anything to preserve the leaves. I like the idea of work that is ephemeral. Just like real life - nothing is forever. But the memory can be preserved through a photograph...

Catching up - TAST - Week 1 Herringbone

So now I want to back track a bit and catch up with what I have been putting on Flickr. I like things to link up and for my own record.

TAST - Take a Stitch Tuesday - is run by Sharon B of In a Minute Ago. Each week we are set a different stitch to take away and play with. It is all about our learning in a non-judgemental supportive environment.

I have been accumulating a stash of fabrics, threads, beads and stuff - just because I felt the need too. I didn't really know what to do with them or how to get started! This challenge is great for me, because it allows me the reason to create one piece of work a week. I am mainly working small - postcard size, because I feel that that is achievable for me to stitch in one evening. That obviously doesn't take into account my thinking time and sorting through the fabrics time and looking at my threads time....but it makes me actually produce something - rather than hundreds of ideas!

Week 1 Herringbone stitch - This first piece was stitched in a variety of threads, over hand dyed muslin on a backing of hand dyed felt. I was pleased with the textures and the way the colours worked out. It wasn't intended to be anything in particular - just abstract - but a shell shape evolved I think. I particularly love the textures of the close up photo.

A new beginning

I think that I have know for a long time that I want to move into a new creative direction and to work with textiles. I have been itching to stitch into paintings and mixed media pieces. This blog heralds the start of the "giving myself permission" stage of this process.

Sharon B's Take a Stitch Tuesday (TAST) Challenge has been an enabler. As has my art teacher Catherine. Together they are encouraging me into a direction that I wanted to go in - but was too scared to take the first step. I did start with posting photos from TAST onto Flickr...but somehow that hasn't felt like enough. So it is time to start a blog.

I haven't really done any textile work since I was a child and then what I did was limited. My Mum was always stitching - whether making us clothes or working on something for the embroider's guild. I was interested, but just didn't take it up then. My Dad was a research scientist and loved to experiment. I seem to be evolving into a combination of them both. Now the experimental creativity has become an internal need to be expressed.

Hopefully this blog will provide the momentum to encourage me to keep going through the barriers that I put up for myself.

I have been so inspired by seeing other artists work on the web, and that they are having so much fun doing it, that I am now feeling brave enough to launch off...a new beginning.

At this stage I think that this blog will be about my inspirations and my creations (some textiles and some other things)...it will be interesting to see how it evolves. Watch this space...