ATC swap for June

Here are two ATCs made for a Facebook swop on the theme of 'things with wings'. I digitised a drawing of a dragonfly and stitched it out in different ways. The one on the left is scrumpled tissue on pelmet vilene painted with layers of Moonshadow mist. On the right is hand-dyed fabric topped with silk paper and then stitched.

More Module 3 Chapter 8

Experimenting with various way of edging fabric, starting with a batch using fraying. From the top we have

1) edge cut at 45 degrees and frayed on left, threads withdrawn on right with running stitch added.

2) horizontal threads withdrawn part way up the fabric, machining over vertical threads into bars, fabric folded and twisted to leave machined bars at the edge.

3) bottom edge frayed for about 2 inches then folded to the back and the frayed ends pulled through and stitched down in bunches.

4) bottom edge frayed as before and threads withdrawn further up. Folded back and machine stitched to make a hem with the area of withdrawn threads at the edge and the loose frayed ends hanging behind. A strip of dyed scrim is slotted through the loops.

Stitch explorer - A Bit More Needleweaving

A little sample for the May challenge, trying out weaving without withdrawing any threads.

Edges for Cog Design

Another good afternoon for getting work done today. I decided to pick up the design work for the assessment piece again now I have moved on a bit in module 3 - I am trying to balance the two. The cardboard model I made here has been sitting on the sideboard all this time and each time I walk past I have been thinking about how to make the cogs. Today I sat down with various bits and the kitchen scales and decided that the best option will be to replicate the card versions in pelmet vilene with paint and metallic stitching. I had hoped to use metal shim but found the various pieces were either too floppy or too heavy to work properly (now you understand about the scales). I retrieved the copper sheet from the garden where it has been quietly sitting getting distressed (and we all know how that feels) and took a photo of the card cogs in place.


I set myelf the task of coming up with a series of ideas for the edges of the metal and also to think about the background in case I do not want to use the ideas from my earlier post. I figured the easiest way to do this was to print out lots of copies of the photo, stick them in my sketchbook and doodle away. I came up with the 6 possibilities below before running out of time. This project is the first time I have put my notes directly into a bound book and I think it is doing me good as I can't just bin or hide the ones I don't like, and it is much harder to tear out pages.

Now to sleep on them over the weekend.

Module 3, Chapter 8

Investigating edges - for this exercise, I have taken strips from this fabric and come up with some alternative edge designs, based on what is on the strip.

1) Felt tip and pastels. I enjoyed drawing this but then realised I had created a new repeating pattern rather than an edge.

2) Coloured pencils
3) Brusho ink and koh-i-noor dyes.

4) Felt tips and pastels. Not sure if these are pea-pods or teeth.

Stitch Explorer - May

I have slipped behind with the stitch explorer challenge on Pintangle, but as June is going to be a catch up month, it should sort itself out. May's challenge is needleweaving so while I think about it, here is one I made earlier for the City and Guilds Part 1. It is made in three layers and is a picture of snakes in a tree.