Sunday, April 2, 2017

Using my small pieces of indigo dyed silk.

As I have mentioned previously, the Machine Embroidery Group, which is an interest group at the Embroiderers Guild, Victoria, is having a challenge this year. We are asked to make an A5 (14.8 x 21 cm, 5.8 x 8.3 inches) piece that is inspired by a different famous artist each month. This month it is Van Gogh.

I am waiting to go to the upcoming Van Gogh exhibition that will be at the NGV soon, but decided to bite the bullet and do one before I have the chance to attend.

I was all set to do an image using my fabric collage method. I got out all the bits and pieces I thought I might need. It is amazing how much stuff you might need to make such a small piece!

Then I came across the small pieces of indigo dyeing I had done recently. One piece seemed to be perfect for the sky.


I ironed it onto some adhesive interfacing, placed some other larger pieces (larger than I had planned to use) and then put a few fiddly small pieces, which had been Vliesofixed. Then I got out my newest favourite thing, silk roving (or whatever it is called). I laid that out over some Vliesofix, ironed it on gently, then sewed it all on to make sure it will stay. I also added a few small pieces of wool left over from some tapestry weaving.

Voila! My Australian version of a Van Gogh image. (You can see the inspiration as one of the scrolling images at the NGV site.)

2 comments:

Helen from Hobart said...

Love the sky - so VGoghy -and once you have tried it really simple to do. Much easier to stitch over the tulle than without it. [Don't ask how I know that !]

Mary said...

It actually wasn't too bad to sew over as I didn't have a lot of the silk. I prefer not to use the tulle if I can get away with it because I love the sheen of the silk.
When I did the workshop with Michelle Mischkulnig, I put more Vliesofix over it but that made it a bit too plasticly looking. So I only put a bit of silk on and sewed rather slowly.
Thanks for the positive comments though.