Tag: fabric

Categories
quilt

Blue Moon, Kind of Blue or Moonflowers

Kind of Blue, Embroidered fabric, 135 x 52 cm,

This patchwork and machine embroidery quilt was made from a piece of patchwork originally destined to be dolls clothes, but I had so much that it had been put aside and forgotten. The quilting lines show in this picture but the metallic threads do not. There are a lot of shiny silver and blue metallics here and many of them and vaguly flower shaped.

The quilting lines are mainly broad curves, often inspired half or quarter moons or those slivers of the new moon.

Using Kind of Blue as a title feels very cheeky, but the Miles Davis masterpiece is often playing in my studio and the dreamy, sensuous curves of the music are always in my mind.

Moonflowers would reflect my hippy youth, back when work of this kind was unknown, or just consigned to ‘women’s work’ and ignored by the art world. Now there is a wealth of fabulous textile art, many examples may be found on the web.

Categories
textiles

Textile Maps of Pakistan and India

Anyone interested in textile arts and crafts is going to enjoy these from My Modern Net

India Textile Map
Categories
textiles

Embellish and Sew

Finally finding some creative energy and some old pieces of partially worked fabric which can be worked on some more. One of the joys of machine embellishing is that there is no limit to the amount of layering other than the ability of the embellishing machine needles to pass through, without breaking. Another pleasure is the using up of tiny scraps which would otherwise just be waste. The needles do break from time to time and they are not cheap so care must be taken. I often overstitch or couched threads, silk or metallic, embroidery, wool &c. but the thicker they are the more likely to trouble the embellisher, so these are best added after embellishing. But as I am rarely satisfied I often return to embellishing after stitching. The possible combinations of colour, texture, fabric and other elements are of course infinite.

It’s quite tricky to get a good pic of the shiny fabrics and threads and this low res one is also a little out of focus, I’ve used a wide appature on a small camera.

This patchwork of embellished fabrics and embroidered threads will be made into a long dress for a 60cm button-jointed cloth doll, just visible on the left .

Also out of focus, unfortunately, but show the shiny stuff a bit.

Categories
Doll

Doll

Almost finished the owl doll, her costume is mainly silk embellished from scraps. The embellishing machine is great for using up even the tiniest of remnants and bits of thread.  Embellishing needles get used up (broken) fairly quickly so I always keep a stock.  Just a few final touches needed, her limbs and neck and around her face need to be darker .

Owl doll

Categories
quilt

Quilt

It’s not unusual for me to take the scissors to a fabric work in progress but I rarely hack away half in one go.  But sometimes it just has to be done.  Anyone who has ever made anything knows the feeling – it’s just not working – but a frequent sin is to fall in love with ones own work, or perhaps just not be able to see where it’s going wrong.  I suppose that’s what editors are for.

 

Afghan Wedding quilt, work in progress

Categories
quilt

Poppies

Just mono-printed and then stitched (quilted) some tiles for a larger piece of quilting.  I got a bit carried away and made 20 +, here are some.  The images seem to have suffered during upload!

Poppies 1

Categories
print

Cato Press

Another excellent evening at CATO Press community print night, the print is of a leopard.  Lots of fun cutting and printing large lino-prints onto fabric, with more than a dozen people.  This one had an extinction-rebellion theme.  Check out the gallery for better pictures of events.

Categories
art

抗議の行進 Kōgi no kōshin Demo

Just finished re-mounting this piece, which is for sale, £380.

抗議の行進
Demo
Mixed Textiles & Steel, 108 x 43 cm, 2018

Categories
print

Hokusai and Hiroshige, Japanese prints

A visit to a terrific, free and very popular exhibition – closing soon – at Bristol Museum & Art Gallery, the first of three looking at woodblock printing in Japan.  This one is concerned with landscapes, the next on starts on January 12th and is focused on the city.

There is also an on-line exhibition for those who can’t get to the museum.

The museum also currently has a small but interesting display of African fabric, mainly made-up clothing.

 

Categories
textiles

Welcome to Fukushima

This was my final piece for the MA Multi-Disciplinary Printmaking an it is currently half on display at the Royal West of England gallery as part of their annual open exhibition.  I say half because although I submitted it as a sculpture and wanted it shown in the whole it has been placed against a black curtain.  Still we do what we can and endure what we must.

Welcome to Fukushima – kimono rear
Welcome to Fukushima – kimono front

The work references Japanese Boro coats, hand-me-downs that were patched repeatedly and passed on to succeeding generations.  In the later half of the 20thC they became collectable and examples can be found in museums and galleries, such as Sri, prices on application!  Interestingly the V & A gallery in London has a, ‘Make your own: Japanese ‘Boro’ bag‘ .pdf instruction.

There are many examples of Boro on pinterest, and some excellent information courtesy of Heddels.