This morning I went into my sewing room and noticed these seed pods had been placed on a cloth by my cleaning lady – now I know, I think, why seed stitch is named so!
A week ago these were green and closed – from a nearby liquid amber tree, courtesy Mike.
It’s a lovely filler, and the finer the thread the lovelier, so not one I use much! But of course, everything is relative, so in, say, the heavy neon thread of which I still have about 5750m, on a largish piece it could be very dramatic – and I’m thinking about that. I last used it in this sample piece from Richard McVetis’ workshop last year:
Segmented landscape featuring seed stitch, 10cm x 10cm
Following up on yesterday’s experiment, I hand cut a new template, less regimented – and again using gold paint, this time on black. Again the template was stitched into place with wandering horizontal lines. I used a much bigger machine needle knowing that with bigger holes a line of tiny dots would be left once I removed the template. And I used a cotton thread, figuring this might help wicking the slightly watered down paint through to the fabric beneath. Great result.
I could even use the very very blunt large needle I have (to puncture holes in leather) to get even more pronouced dots, and it’s not inconcievable that I could texture a whole area with masses of lines of dots… that might be useful some time.
The results speak for themselves – a really great result. I think I’ll do some hand stitching on this and mount it on a 20cmx20cm canvas stretcher, of which I have several sitting around.
Back in 2012 I did some stencilling samples for a work “Tidelines 8-12” that was exhibited in an Australian exhibition, “Golden Textures” the following year. I cannot believe I have been carrying this little image around in my mind since then, and can’t find the actual sample anywhere, but I’ve been pinning grids, and yesterday decided I needed to do something with this idea.
A 2012 sample of metallic gold paint and machine stitch ...
Neon orange nylon cut to form a grid template, gold paint brushed over
I’ve now realised the hole in the fabric template I used was much larger than I remember; but I’m liking the idea of a small, intimate grid, with holes more oval than this first lot I made today, and much more irregularity, too.
So I did some free machine embroidery with matching gold thread, and comparing it to the sample I remember but can’t find, and clearly that one was not free machine stitching, and I think that first effect is nicer.
Overall, a pleasing effect for a first foray, with more to come.
Still thinking about landscape segments and how to applique them, hoping to work out a process of using fusing to avoid hand basting of such little pieces into place before oversewing.
I fused silk segments onto the green polyester – and they stuck together long enough to go in and out of a spring loaded machine embroidery hoop a couple of times – but by then, in places the silk had started to lift, so on this fabric I wouldn’t be able to set them all out and fuse them all before starting the oversewing.
In the upper row of segments, I varied the sitchery and really loved the third/right end one, which I then repeated in the square.
If the two bonded fabrics were natural fibres, not synthetic, laying them all out and bonding into place before stitching should work well.
I also found leather bonded onto cotton really well, but held the iron in place too long, so the edges of the leather curled a bit, so tomorrow/soon I’ll do some serious samples using those materials.
Neon green polyester fabric and neon green polyester thread … might as well for the sample, especially – I just have so much of that stuff, probably still about 2.8km 🙂
My regular readers know I browse with Pinterest probably weekly, and most times upload a few pins. Particular things that inspire me, and when they do, I pin them, not to copy but be some kind of reminder of something that struck me. I might save something for example on my ‘Holes’ board, but it doesn’t mean the image is necessarily one of actual holes, just that it made me think of holes of some kind, and set me thinking about what I could do in fabric and stitch with this idea.
I’m also trying to establish the habit of doing something, a small sample or a quick diagram aide de memoire, creative but quick, every day before I do other things in the studio. So here are several more:
The iron was a bit hot even using the teflon sheet, so both nylon fabrics wrinkled.
Pressing hard did not smoothe anything out and set wrinkles around the stitching in the orange.
So was this a failure? Definitely not – I’ve learned more about how this material handles, and there’s interesting potential in that.
A number of the presentations I’ve saved on my pinterest board are some style of 3D fabric form, and in the Clarissa Calleson workshop in Stitch Club last year, I was reminded of how stitch texture can be added to them.
These 3 small rolls ~8cm to which I added a little stitchery, were enough to tell me the stuffing needs to be much firmer so that the shape doesn’t collapse.
The non-fray edge is nice to work with – but frayed edges are interesting, too …
Rolled fine leather shapes might be good to try.
And the third for this week is an exploration of an interesting texture I pinned, of what I think is a paper+stitch work, by mixed media artist Takahiko Hayashi:
Parts of the stitchery suggest vertical rows of fly stitches, but now I’ve done this next sample, I’m not so sur. I am sure the thread wasn’t polyester, from the way it’s sitting, but I feel ironing it would flatten it down.
Upper – fly stitched, very loose. Lower – very loose straight stitches formed wefts across which I stitched, knotting at each one, a technique I haven’t used for ages, and never that loose.
