{"id":10492,"date":"2026-06-16T13:02:15","date_gmt":"2026-06-16T18:02:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.alisonschwabe.com\/weblog\/?p=10492"},"modified":"2026-06-16T13:02:15","modified_gmt":"2026-06-16T18:02:15","slug":"eruptions-in-stitch","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.alisonschwabe.com\/weblog\/?p=10492","title":{"rendered":"Eruptions in Stitch"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Recently I posted some of the time-saving benefits of making samples, but samples are also memory savers, just like taking brief notes<\/strong> or making a list on a page in your artist diary.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I’ve been stitching over and around ‘donut shapes’ for some years, and they feature in a large section of my “Abstract Landscape Textures”<\/em>, for example.<\/p>\n\n\n

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detail – “Abstract Landscape Textures” 2022. 95cm x 180cm. Quilt National ’23.<\/em><\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

The most recent works in my Out of Order<\/em> series feature damaged, disorderly grids that become progressively more distorted, and recently I came up with constructing rougher looking raised 3D elements to go with\/on them – think ‘donuts’. Far more interesting than just overstitching flat rings are stitching over raised ones, and the stemmed french knots I used in these next two works really pleased me with how they seemed to burst out of the centre of the rings as if erupting or leaping outwards. <\/p>\n\n\n

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The whole process was helped by using my 6″ springloaded machine embroidery hoop (blue) that<\/strong><\/em>‘s been indispensible for 50+ years<\/strong><\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

I tore fabric into narrow strips and formed them into raised rings which I held in place with a pin while sewed a few carefully placed tiny invisible stitches in toning thread, and once the pin was removed the overstitching was much easier. As the circle is held in place by the invisible stitches in toning thread, there is the freedom to place the overstitching as close or far apart as I like, without worrying whether it will be enough to hold it all together…. And as I wrote that sentence, a sudden thought popped out – if some of the coils were to appear to unravel, that would fit the theme of disintegration – right? … and that demonstrates another value associated with making samples – <\/strong> just writing about them invites more ideas to emerge…<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n

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Stemmed french knots are one of my all time fav stiches – but stemmed fly and chain stitches would also work well, I think. The fabric and thread on the red one are synthetic – so hold their profile, but the brown ones are natural fibre, so would flatten if rolled\/folded for a long time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Where did this idea come from?<\/strong> Since beginning my Out of Order<\/em> series, I’ve been exploring textural elements to place on or within the grid lines. Certainly I’ve been influenced\/inspired by things I’ve seen on line – such as the very textural embroidery of Jennifer Jones<\/a> or Penny Behrens’ <\/a> frequent use of stitched down vaguely circular rings as a texture, and I guess my method emerged from experimenting on the best way to make a ring without too much tedious cutting out. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Torn strip constructions are an exciting thing I’m keen to take further in my stitched reactions to the rough, ragged state of the world today. <\/mark> <\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Recently I posted some of the time-saving benefits of making samples, but samples are also memory savers, just like taking brief notes or making a list on a page in your artist diary. I’ve been stitching over and around ‘donut shapes’ for some years, and they feature in a large section of my “Abstract Landscape […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10492","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6uxpF-2Je","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.alisonschwabe.com\/weblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10492","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.alisonschwabe.com\/weblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.alisonschwabe.com\/weblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.alisonschwabe.com\/weblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.alisonschwabe.com\/weblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10492"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/www.alisonschwabe.com\/weblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10492\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10517,"href":"https:\/\/www.alisonschwabe.com\/weblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10492\/revisions\/10517"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.alisonschwabe.com\/weblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10492"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.alisonschwabe.com\/weblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10492"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.alisonschwabe.com\/weblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10492"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}