Module 3 - Chapter Two kite

Plain Edges

Straight and curved edges stitched onto a background

I have been looking through Val Campbell-Harding's book 'Edges and Finishes' which I found inspirational.  This is certainly going to help me as I go through this Module.  I haven't included many images from my resource library on this blog as I am concerned about copyright issues.  Many of the images from books and the Internet require strict permission to reproduce in any form so I am very wary.  However I have taken some photos of books that I have been using for inspiration.  My favourite is the Museum of International Folk Art book which contains some fabulous images. 

We were lucky to have some visiting Tibetan monks at Salisbury Cathedral who created a Sand Mandala, entirely made from tiny grains of coloured sand. The Mandala represents a beautiful temple to which the monks invite Buddha to come into to give advice and wisdom.  They then invite the Buddha to leave at which point the Mandala is destroyed and the sand dispersed in the river to spread kindness and compassion throughout the world.  This is to remind us of how transient life is.  I have posted some photos of this on my blog below.  It's not folk art but it's beautiful none the less.

Resource Library

Cut Edges - straight
Page 21 Module 3

Kite shapes - straight edge

Cut edges - straight

This first piece of work comes from the form of a simple kite found on the Internet which I have drawn.  I chose a dark pink felt for the background fabric which was printed with acrylic paint from a stamp I had made.  These printed shapes were then enhanced with straight stitching (foot on).  The printing is not particularly good as I had problems with making the stamp.  I had tried to make a stencil but got in a pickle.

Five kite shapes were then cut from a contrasting felt and I spent some time trying to arrange them in the most effective way.  Arranging the shapes is difficult as I am trying not to copy the examples in the module.

The shapes were applied with Bondaweb to the background fabric and stitched with a twin needle using straight stitch (foot on).  I selected two contrasting thread colours for the stitching.  The bottom shape has been placed a little askew which was unintentional, I had wanted the shapes to be quite straight.

Using a twin needle is a first for me and I soon realised that pivoting at the corners was not possible but learnt to raise the needles just at the place I needed to turn direction and then placed the fabric in the right direction to continue stitching.  During this process I managed to break on set of needles. 

I am pleased with the overall design but twin needle work needs more practise.  I chose foot on for the stitching as this seemed an easier option.  I haven't tried using free embroidery with twin needles.  I should experiment but I haven't yet. 

 Satin stitch edges - Page 22 of Module 3

 

 

The shapes for the above piece of work were sourced from the Internet from which I drew 5 different sizes of the same shape.   I played around with the placing the shapes until they looked right.  I can't exactly explain why I have placed them in the position they are in other than that there appears to be a sense of space and distance between them and it seems a pleasing arrangement. 

 

The background fabric on this piece of work has painted Bondaweb in orange, red and green applied to a blue cotton.  I made the mistake of placing some pieces of Bondaweb the wrong side up and had a bit of a sticky moment!  As a result the cotton fabric has  rough bits of paint on the surface but it all adds to the texture.

 

I chose a bright red cotton for the five different size straight edge kite shapes which were applied with Bondaweb to the background fabric. 

 

By reducing the length and width of the zig zag the stitches formed a satin stitch which fitted to the different sizes of the shapes.  I chose to use the same colour thread as the red cotton for 3 pieces and then a contrasting yellow for the other two shapes to add interest.  It was difficult to achieve accurate stitching with the satin stitch at the corners.  I had to watch whether the needle finished on the left or the right, depending on whether to turn inwards or outwards.  It was difficult to judge where to stop stitching before turning direction in order to achieve a sharp crisp corner.

 Curved Edges - Page 23 of Module 3

Curved shapes (The Vikings are Coming!)

Curved shapes from the shape of another kite have been used on this third piece.  A purple cotton batik has been used for the background.  I haven't used any other stitching other than a grid of straight stitch in white thread, as the dye from the batik has created a suggestion of cloud in the fabric which I wanted to keep.
The curved shapes are all the same size but have been cut from 2 shades of green felt.  These colours contrast beautifully against the purple background.  They have been applied to the background with Bondaweb and then straight stitched with foot on using a twin needle along the edge of each shape. The thread colours are purple and green.  It was a little bit easier to use the twin needles this time but still need more practise.  I have named this piece 'The Vikings are Coming'!

Curved edges - Page 24 of Module 3

Drawn from fairground Dodgem car

Velvet and satin stitch

The shapes and colours in the above piece came from part of a design from a picture of fairground dodgem car (found on the Internet) which influenced me to use a luxurious fabric for the curvy shapes. These have been stitched to a background of turquoise cotton with gold and orange painted Bondaweb applied to the cotton.

I cut five different size shapes in red silk velvet, although they are not all entirely the same shape, particularly the smaller ones.  However the shapes are all part of the drawn source.  These shapes have been stitched to the background using satin stitch in a contrasting orange for the 3 larger shapes and a lime green for the smaller shapes.  These colours contrast with the red velvet but the green thread helps to connect the whole to the background.

The large shape (2nd from the top) was not too badly stitched, but the other shapes were very difficult to judge and keep a nice smooth line of stitching.  Sometimes the bobbin thread got caught in a knot on the small turns.  Need more practise.

I really love the sumptuous colours of this piece.

Torn and frayed edges with fabric and paper - Page 24 of Module 3

Fabric

Sizoflor, sari ribbon and paper

I wanted to try a different background material with this piece and to get some practise in using the heat gun so decided to use Sizoflor.  I experimented with a small piece to see how it would react to applied heat and it melted away very nicely. 

I sandwiched two pieces of lilac Sizoflor between a piece of gold sheer fabric (I hoped that little bits of gold would show through, which they do a bit) and then selected an automatic pattern which I stitched diagonally across the fabric sandwich, altering the width and length of the stich as I went along. The heat gun was used to melt away the edges of the fabric and then applied heat over the entire piece.  As the fabric dissolved I could see that the stitching was holding the whole piece together, so I have been able to see that it is possible to burn off more than I thought, unlike with the sheers in chapter one of this module.  In fact I melted one piece of Sizoflor right off but stitched it back on to the main piece.

Sari ribbon, organza and paper were stitched to the background fabric, using the automatic pattern of the background but much reduced in width.  I chose the colour of the strips of applied fabric first so these determined the colour of threads in the background.

I wonder if the piece of work would look more dramatic with a background of black felt which would show between the melted pieces of Sizoflor.  I could have used much more stitching and made it look very elaborate.  It all depends what this technique is used for I guess.

Paper

Black snippets and torn paper

This final piece of stitching is made up of a background of black snippets applied with Bondaweb to black felt  with a straight stitch grid, as in Chapter One of this module.  I have used a painted fibrous paper torn into strips and attached to the background with an automatic pattern using red thread.  The paper edges have been wetted (is that a word?) and roughed up a bit.  I'm not sure I like the painted paper as it seems to blend into the background too much.  Also the red thread could be bolder, perhaps a cable stitch would have worked better? 
 
There are loads of different and decorative papers about and it would be fun to try different types of paper with different backgrounds.  It would be fun to try all of the above samples with different backgrounds, fabrics and colours, there is an endless variety of ideas - if only time were endless!