Photos from Stroud

Last week, I spent  a day in Stroud touring various venues at the Textile Festival.  As well as looking at the exhibits, I fell in love with this restored clock which stands in a window at the Museum in the Park.

Thinking Aloud - Ideas for Hanging Part 2

Photo 1

My alternative idea for the hanging involves manipulating the long length of fabric.  Sian suggested looking at gathering or pin tucks so photo 1 shows two trials of gathering with deliberately uneven rows of stitching pulled up tightly. The top one is an offcut with the stitches running vertically, the bottom is one end of a 'spare' full length with stitches running horizontally.  I like the effect but it has two problems - 1) drastically reduces the size and 2) could be any randomly dyed fabric.

Photo 2

Before leaving the samples, I rubbed Markel sticks over the second one (top in photo 2) and then undid it (photo 3).

.Photo 3

Phot 4 shows how it looks when the fabric has flattened out - you can just see streaks of paint.

Photo 4

This didn't look very impressive but it gave me an idea to try random pintucks as I liked the scrunched up effect before the gathers dropped out.  Photo 5 shows a sample  on the same piece of fabric.  I tried to use the pintucks to emphasise the curves in the design.  I realise I forgot to show the scale in this photo, but the fabric is 34cm wide before stitching and the photo shows about 60cm of the length.  The colours have slipped in this picture, in reality it is more of a green/blue.  Photo 6 shows more of the length with the stitched part at the top.  I think this is my favourite as it keeps the design but makes it more dramatic.  Although it will change the shape, it should be possible to retain the general proportion.  I think the shaped edges will make it look more like a crack in the wall (or floor), contrasting the serenity of a church with the storms and chaos outside.

Photo 5

Photo 6

Thinking Aloud - Ideas for Hanging Part 1

Photo 1

Back in February, I showed pictures of stitching on a small sample of my design that had been printed by Spoonflower.  I was excited by this so I went ahead and ordered a full length, knowing it would take about 2 weeks to arrive.  Because the design is narrow, it was repeated across the width of the fabric and I choose to mirror it so I have the original, a mirror image and about 2/3 of the width of another copy as it didn't quite fit 3 times.  As the image is not an exact multiple of 1 yard, I also have a partial repeat of the top.  Photo 1 shows the design at full size laid out on the floor.  Meanwhile I had got some feedback from Sian who suggested I try to incorporate more texture and take advantage of the dimensional possibilities.

I spent some time (actually rather a lot) in total inaction because I liked the length of fabric just as it was, and I had to convince myself it would be okay to change it.  I finally screwed up my courage and started cutting up the copies, reminding myself that nothing would be wasted as I can always use more patchwork cushions and the sofa is blue, so that's fine.  I know I should probably play in paper and do drawings but it isn't the same.

As I was feeling stuck, I tried two different ideas simultaneously to see where they would take me.  This post follows one and the next post will follow the other (just as soon as I retrieve my camera from being used for a school project by number 2 daughter).  I have also revisited the planned site with the fabric and measured up and taken photos, so I can produce a  room plan and show how it would look.

So - photo 2 mirror image cut into strips.

Photo 2

Photos 3 to 6 strips laid on top of original in different arrangements.

Photo 3

Photo 4

Photo 5

Photo 6

Photo 7 - strips sewn together

Photo 7

Photo 8 - here I cut up the excess fabric into smaller rectangles and laid them on the main design, matching the colours and adding a couple of pieces of bronze painted fabric (see earlier post about adding bronze to represent astronomical instruments).  For scale, there is a 10p coin in the bottom right corner (1" diameter).  This and the following photos are 'sketches' which could be continued up to full size.

Photo 8

Photo 9 - similar to 8 but on a plain background.

Photo 9

Photo 10 - This time I arranged the bits in colour order from dark at the bottom to light at the top, completely breaking up the image, but I think keeping the sense of movement in the fragments.  Could be seen as reaching up to the light. I would need to reintroduce the purple/lavender shades as this bit is just blues shading to charcoal.

Photo 10

Photo 11 - I finger-pleated some of the pieces in different directions to make the surface more interesting.

Photo 11

Text for Module 4 Chapter 1

It looks like the word files have disappeared into the ether leaving only rough drafts behind them so here are photographs of the pages in my folder with my notes on flowers in Elizabethan and Russian embroidery.

Module 4, Chapter 1

Well, it has been an unintentionally long absence from blogging. Somehow in the last few months our household has managed to kill one computer and upset another so much it had to go back to the manufacturers, leaving us fighting over machines all claiming priority for our various homeworks. So I have ended up moving pictures and notes hither and thither to and from backup drives and jumping from one machine to another. I think we are finally straight now so I will try and get up to date.

Module 4 is themed on flowers, starting with a historical study of flowers in Elizabethan embroidery. Photo 1 shows a sheet of collected images.

Photo 1

For my foreign embroidery study, I have chosen to look at flowers in Russian embroidery and how they have been represented over 300 years - photos 2 to 4 show the study sheets for this. I was going to cut and paste the typed notes that go with these but cannot find the files at the moment so I will come back to this - I may have to photograph the printed copies from my folder.

Photo 2

Photo 3