A silk paper bowl

As I am demonstrating machine free motion embroidery at the Embroiderers Guild, Victoria tomorrow, I thought I would have a play with something a bit different - for me. It is our annual members' exhibition.

I took some old works when I demonstrated on Sunday and people were interested to see all the things you can do with free motion embroidery.

I made a little bowl for the Challenge, Altered Art, and thought I would try something similar. I also met the person who bought my thread bowl from last year's exhibition. I tried making another on Sunday but it hasn't turned out quite right, I think I needed to do more sewing on the upright bits. So I may choose to try another tomorrow, see if I can work out what went wrong.

But I also tried something different today: I had some silk paper that I had made recently. It was just big enough for the template I had for making a fabric bowl.

I put it in the hoop, with the design drawn on some soluble fabric, and did some freehand drawing. The soluble fabric helps to stiffen the bowl a bit too.
I thought I would need to disguise the seams of the sections so make them into tree trunks. It has worked but I think, if I do another, that the trunks need to be a bit slimmer.

Still, it was a challenge for me and I am moderately happy with it. It is not very big as the silk paper I had wasn't very big, nor was the template.

The thing I like about this technique is that you can see the sewing on both sides of the bowl and the bowl is a little bit translucent.

I may try a slightly different template, see if I can get the tops of the sides to flare out a little more.

Getting ready for an exhibition

29/9/19.
Today was the day for handing in works for The Embroiderers Guild, Victoria's annual members' exhibition.

I am on the exhibition committee so was privileged to be able to see many of the works as they were handed in. One of the huge advantages of this is that you get to hear the stories about the making of the pieces, as well as admire the works, of course.

It is also eye-opening to see the variety of techniques that people use. And the high quality too. It is a little daunting to see how wonderful some of the entries are. But then I think that it is also encouraging for new and prospective members to see the range of designs, techniques and that not all the works are of equal quality  - and no-one cares. It is just a great chance to work to a theme and deadline and to have your work displayed.

The are over 160 entries this year. We are going to spend the rest of the week hanging it, ready for the opening night on Friday.
The exhibition opens to the public on Saturday.

I have said I will be one of the demonstrators on Sunday, I'll have to come up with something to be working on! I have finished my latest ones so I could put them in the exhibition.

Something to think about tomorrow.