Notan trees, sort of.

I just found this unpublished post, will post it now, even though it is out of sequence and the world has changed mightily.

This was done in early March, before the virus hit us and also before our beloved dog died! It has been strange to read it now. But I will still post it because I really do use this site as a visual diary for myself. I was much more light-hearted then.

My machine embroidery group at the Embroiderers Guild, Victoria, has the theme of trees this year. There are no specifications apart from the sewing part.

As I have done lots of tree pieces in the past, I have decided to either go back and see if I can finish unfinished pieces, reuse them or just come up with something slightly different with a new piece.

I came across Notan images recently. They are positive and negative images, coming from a Japanese tradition. That's about all I know really. Didn't do a lot of research, just liked what I saw and thought it might be fun to try.

I drew up an image and then cut it out. You paste that down and then do the cut out bits flipped over and you have your positive and negative image. Sounds easy!

Well, I did't do it the way I had been reading about, which uses a square or rectangular shape and you cut into all 4 sides. Sample here.

I came across a post which had trees but had only used two sides of the rectangle and had flipped them horizontally. I thought I would give that a go - without really trying the all four sides version first.

I did it with paper first. Don't ask why I chose orange paper, it was just to hand. No other reason.

This worked out ok so I tried it with fabric.
I had gone away for the weekend and took some of my sewing stuff with me. Unfortunately, I took the adhesive interfacing rather than the Vleisofix, so that made things a bit harder than I had planned!!

Not to be put off, I drew my design on the interfacing and ironed my fabric to it. The ironing obscured some of the drawing. And I realised it was going to be in reverse when I placed it on the backing fabric. Not to worry, there is no particular orientation.

Then I realised that my cut out pieces would have to be flipped and the interfacing would be on the wrong side. So I reversed the image and traced it again.

As I handled the pieces the interfacing started to peel off, so I took it all off, leaving a light residue of glue. That helped enormously with the ironing into place, ready for me to sew.

I chose a very bright background piece of fabric that reminded me of a sunset (or bushfires - can't get them out of my head yet). The reverse image didn't work at all well, so I only used the initial piece.

I wanted to see how the reverse image would look on less dominant fabric, so trialled two pieces I had.

I decided on a different grey, even though I wasn't sure I was going to be able to see the tree shapes. I can usually see them but have to concentrate on the light parts, they aren't always obvious to me. 

So now I have two pieces and no idea what to do with them! I know that they are just me playing around with an idea and seeing if it would work but it seems awfully wasteful to just put them in my experimental pile and/or visual diary. So I will keep thinking about them and see what occurs to me. 

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.)

Trying different techniques

I'm still playing around with techniques.  This time I have done a mixture of quilting, machine embroidery, especially making 'lace', and a tiny bit of hand sewing.  I am trying to layer the fabric and get texture.

First I sewed pieces onto satin that had a wool batting.  I didn't use any support, vilene or hoop, so that it is quite bumpy and textured.

Then I did some machine sewing 'lace' and added that.

As I said, it has quite a bit of texture.

Isn't it amazing, how different it looks when the camera is set for different times of day and lighting.

It is a sample in that I keep trying new things to make it different.  I hope I know when to stop.

Sewing on Plastic 2

As I had enjoyed the different outcome when sewing onto PVC plastic, I thought I would play around with it a bit more.  The bag project seemed like a good idea.
We had to research the history of bags and I found interesting information about the use of pockets that ladies in Britain tied around their waists.  Initially they were worn under their skirts but later they became a fashion accessory and were decorated.
I have always loved crewel embroidery and Jacobean designs, so this was a great chance to indulge myself.
I found lots of examples of Jacobean embroidery online.  I also researched some books and found that crewel embroidery does not refer to the style of stitches or embroidery, it really only refers to the use of wool as the embroidery thread.  Apparently crewel embroidery can use a large variety of stitches that appear in other sorts of embroidery, it is often the first sort of embroidery mentioned in embroidery books because it uses so many different stitches.

Anyway, I decided to run with this.  Part of the assignment was to marry the old with the new, so I decided to do free motion machine embroidery.  I have not used a different thread in the bobbin but decided to try this time.  I used some of my tapestry wool, it was a perfect thickness.

I made my design and traced it onto some dissolvable fabric so I could have a symmetrical design - no way could I have done that free-hand on the machine.
I used water soluble pens from Crayola but the colour did not wash out completely in a couple of parts and has made the wool a bit murky.  I will try to use a better pen next time, if there is a next time.

The original idea was to have a pocket, or bag, that has a clear front so that you can always find where things are in your bag. Initially, the pocket was going to simply be the plastic front and the cloth back but then I thought about the need to have some things that you might not want to have on public view, so I made a separate section at the back.  It even has a pocket for an iPhone.

So far the design is not completely practical but practicality was not the point of the exercise, so I am not worried about that.

I am pleased with the design and how the wool has come up. Of course, it is not in the same class as hand embroidered crewel work but it was fun to do and I might do more and get better at it.