Monday Crazy Patchwork

Today we have been playing with the most lovely fabrics and trims. We have hand painted lace and bonded and cut up beautiful embroidered silks

We have been making Crazy Patchwork and just like the Victorian originals we have made ours using snippets of lovely precious fabrics and all kinds of little treasures: broken jewellery, beads, velvet flowers, lace. 

We will be embellishing them next month with hand stitching using silk and hand dyed threads.

I just wanted to show you Dawn's finished and framed piece from last Month's workshop.

And Stella's Work in progress from last month. This is painted tissue with applied silk papers.

She has started to hand embroider it.

Isn't that an amazing texture? And we were all drooling at the gorgeous colours.

I can't wait to see what they do next with all my stash. Sharing and inspiring each other is just the most fun you can have on a dreary old Monday!

Back to my Arty Roots

I recently heard my much loved and first  textiles and embroidery tutor talking about my work and heard her say that she didn't think I did much hand stitching these days. Well I do have a needle in my hand most days, but what she meant was that I used to do work that was so stitched that the work was all about the stitching and the layers of texture and colour that it gave to the pieces.

Well, it made me yearn a bit for some of that stuff that I seem to be too busy to do these days. It made me abandon all the housework once again and I spent every spare moment of a whole week working on this!

It is based on the study of Lichen in the landscape; on branches and old walls. The textures and colours of moss and lichen, when you look closely at them, are so surprising and beautiful that I have been known to stop in my tracks and stare. Trying to absorb and remember them for capturing in stitch or in some arty adventure.

Below are some closer details that show the stitchery a bit more clearly. You can also see the colours of the gorgeous space dyed silk and wool threads and the hand dyed silk laps that give it even more dimension.

You can also see the stitches. There are just about 5 different stitches in this piece but when they are used with a variety of different thickness of thread and in all kinds of scale they are enough to give amazing texture.

My learners seem to be craving hand stitching more and more these days. I have had to alter some of my lesson plans to include whole sessions that are devoted to just learning and playing with stitch. Yay! Welcome back stitchery! I have missed you and will be doing more soon!