Cath Bond - Art Online
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Search results for "embroidery "
Unerstanding the textile world - my home fabrics
Thursday, 13 April, 2006 - 15:35
Two different styles of fabric dominating the world of interior home fabric – contemporary and traditional. Traditional images are flowers, chintz style leaves, conservative repeat patterns and colours. Contemporary patterns are bright abstract shapes, either repeated or not. The fabric is also contemporary, meaning that it branches out from traditional materials like cotton, calico etc. and moves into man made materials gauze, voiles, polyesters etc. The fabrics I have chosen for my home are a halfway house between traditional and contemporary:
Cushion covers made from a silk and polyester mix green fabric with dots woven into the material. The covers are lined with a band of burgundy cotton fabric with a traditional flower pattern.
A bedspread made from cotton and polyester mix, with a traditional paisley design using contemporary colours of blue and pink
Lounge curtains made from thick 100% cotton
Cotton cushion cover from Ikea embroidered with a colourful leaf and bird design. For me it is more than simply contemporary. It has the feel of a home made object rather than mass produced. Which is ironic considering it's from Ikea.
I am influenced by modern textile designs shown in magazines and in the media which portray today’s modern home as minimalist, enriched by colourful textiles. I have put my own spin on that approach by combining contemporary, traditional and quirky.
For instance, I made a cushion from my grandmother's embroidery combined with traditional patterned green cotton fabric.
November 11th, 2005 - reflections on textile exercises
Friday, 11 November, 2005 - 20:58
There was a great deal of difference between machine embroidery and hand embroidery. I haven’t don’t hand embroidery before, and so found it a bit difficult creating different types of stitches from pictures and photographs. Thankfully, various friends helped me out!
The stitches I enjoyed the most in hand embroidery were couching, satin and bullion stitch. These stitches have something in common in that they create 3D effects. You are immediately drawn to touching the stitch because it is raised, it is dense and makes a dramatic change to the material. The couching allows for stitching any thread or material to the base… which means that you aren’t limited by the size of the needle’s eye.
I enjoyed exploring marks through machine embroidery, particularly getting in touch with what my machine can practically do. Particularly exciting was hand winding threads to the bobbin and then doing machine embroidery. This is a completely new technique to me, and it creates some great effects. I also noticed that the effects of machine embroidery are shown in the opposite way on the other side of the material – both sides have something interesting to share in terms of texture. I like the pointillist effect of dots created by two contrasting coloured threads.
Some types of thread worked better than others in hand embroidery. The silk threads were great because of the shine that emphasises the pattern of the stitch. Plain wool/cotton mix threads were sometimes too thin to show the pattern of the stitch, but worked well in a stitch such as couching, where the silk thread held the woollen thread to the material.
I particularly liked this sample because the colours of the threads and the style in which they are stitched are so natural, and yet the base is so bright and “unnatural” (in comparison to something such as calico or Hessian). It makes the whip stitch really stand out. The threads lift off the purple and seem to take on a character of their own.
I was able to pick out stitches which related directly to my mark making. For instance, stitching lines over and over on my machine in varying density created the effect of shading similar to pencil shading. French knots and seeding created the effects of dots. Satin stitch created the effect of shading. Couching related very well to my marks in relation to drawings of leaves. I was able to create spirals, swirls, lines, in varying styles and density.
The materials and threads used in this sample were well chosen, because they communicate the origins of the mark making, the organic, fibrous lines of leaves, skeletal marks. I used tissue paper and raw sheep wool to make the mark which is present between the lines. The stitches started from mark making based on a leaf, and took steps forward by exploring the effects of different types of thread – silver with brown, wool with orange thread, silk thread with brown thread. I really like the overall effect, and I think the calico unifies the piece.
With this particular sample, I felt drawn again and again to the original shape of the leaf, and to thoughts about the skeletal lines and fibre. It was difficult to think in abstract ways about the lines themselves as marks. Because I enjoy the theme of “organic” so much, I like to experiment within that theme rather than move beyond it. I think I could spend a lot more time on this particular theme, and keep expanding it. This particular sample is only the beginning of tapping into that area of creativity.
This sample was formed from a number of mark making sketches all intermingled to cover one piece of material. I was quite surprised by the final outcome, as it’s very different to what I expected. I like the effect produced by the shiny and matt threads done in satin stitch. I tried out the same stitches with two different threads as well. The silk threads show up the marks much more effectively than the matt threads (see the criss cross marks and the chain stitching). I like the random effect of the finished piece. It doesn’t have the coherency of the sample from stage 3, but I think that’s a good thing because it challenged me to just try things out and work spontaneously from the marks rather than be influenced by original images too much. I particularly like the effect made by sewing a piece of material onto the velvet with stuffing underneath. I could recreate delicate dots by then placing small stitches throughout the gauze to create a 3D pockmarked effect. This is offset by another experiment in couching using very thick wool.
For this sample I chose the marks made from Van Gogh’s Starry Starry Night. I chose these marks because I was excited to try out recreating the energy within the swirls. I wanted to discipline myself to a simple swatch of coloured threads and to choose the thickness of the threads so that they would invoke the texture of energy.
This plan worked particularly well. I worked on the reverse of the poplin cotton, sewing thick yellow thread onto the material using blue thread. The blue thread is a mixture of blues, so when it is stitched, it changes colour, and this helps to create a sense of changing depth in the swirling patterns. The colour of this thread works really well on top of the yellow. I decided to leave white space on parts of the sample to create a sense of bursts of energy in different places. I also like the way that the finished product isn’t neatly tied off. You can see how the yellow thread is captured and tied down by the blue thread, but the ends of the yellow thread sometimes escape. This also contributes to the idea of energy being wrapped into the piece.
Do I feel happy with the work?
I feel very happy with the work I’ve created so far in my journey through linking stitch to mark making. I’m particularly happy that my sewing machine can cope with creating machine embroidery. It sometimes creates effects that I didn’t expect, but I don’t mind that at all. In fact I think the element of surprise adds to the experience and final effect. I have always viewed my work as an organic experience, something that evolves according to a mixture of ingredients – my mood, the weather of the day, the materials I have to hand, the images I reflected on over the last couple of days, the techniques I thought about using. Creative textiles is essentially about creativitiy – I consider the opposite as things such as following a pattern, keeping to rules, keeping things neat and professionally finished. I prefer the exaggeration of the fact that a piece is home made, that it has threads left hanging and jagged edges. It brings my personal energy into the sample itself.
Do I prefer working with stitch to drawing?
I can see a clear relationship between stitching and drawing. I don’t have a preference, but have enjoyed the journey in mark making as a whole. It forces you to think about textiles in a more abtract way. I enjoy the aspect of moving from drawing to stitch. What I particularly enjoy about this is the excitement of choosing from a range of materials, yarns, threads etc to invoke the mood and marks in the original drawings.
Two of my samples aren’t related to mark making – the tissue dress sample and the St. Ives sample. This tissue dress sample was spontaneously created after seeing the tissue dress in Bath Costume museum. After the visit I spend some time reflecting on the dress, and imagined the kinds of materials I could bring together to recreate that feeling of delicacy, movement and waves.
During my visit to St. Ives, I was greatly influenced by the colours of sand, sea and rooftops. The bullion stitch sample is a chrystallisation of those thoughts.
These samples are examples of how I work spontaneously, making a leap of faith into the materials and yarns and stitches to recreate ideas.
Was I able to choose stitches which expressed marks and lines of drawings?
Stage 2 did give me the breadth of understanding I needed to make choices about stitches to use for different kinds of marks. I am particularly drawn to the 3D effects of stitching and would like to explore this further in the future.
Did the samples work well irrespective of the drawing?
The samples stand in alone in their own right, irrespective of the drawing. The drawing was a place to start, but I felt that the act of stitching took the samples to a new place. It’s important to see doodles, drawing, mark making as a starting point, and to let the materials, yarns and types of stitch move the piece of work forward spontaneously to a new place.
Which activities did I prefer – working with stitch to create textures of working with yarns to make textures?
I preferred working with yarns to make textures. This worked best because the most important thing for me is the effect the yarn has e.g. wool stitched onto velvet using couching creates a bumpy, wiggly effect, silk thread shines and therefore shows off the pattern of a stitch, silver thread creates delicacy etc. The yarn is a starting place for me – the yarn tells me what effect it can create in relation to marks and mood.
How do I prefer to work?
I work in many ways. I use drawings, digital photographs, reflections on visits to places, ideas from looking at yarns and threads and different material. The method which produced the most interesting work was reflections on visits to places. I wonder if that is because I have imbued my memories of those visits into the works themselves.
Are there any other techniques I’d like to try?
I’d like to try quilting, as this taps into my enjoyment of creating 3D textures. I like the undulations that are produced by stitching two materials together with filling inbetween.
I’d also like to try more couching with different yarns to see what kinds of effects I can produce.
November 3rd, 2005. Visit to Bath Costume museum
Thursday, 03 November, 2005 - 20:47
My friend and I visited Bath Costume Museum recently to gain inspiration for my textile course. The Costume Museum takes the visitor on a journey through costume from the 1600s to present day. All the costumes are displayed behind glass in subdued light in order to protect the materials. This was unfortunate because it wasn’t possible to see the stitch detail in all its glory. Nevertheless it was a privilege to see the costumes and link the development of fashion styles through time. We were given audio guides to listen to which enriched the experience, as explanations were given about the types of stitching used, the influences of politics, war, introduction of machinery etc. on the styles and the functional uses of the costumes. One dress was made in miniature which was so rich in stitches. This was used by the dressmaker as a sample to take to ladies in high society, so that they could choose the dress they wanted made.
It’s is a wonderful place to visit to see embroidery work at its best. I enjoyed every bit of it, and was amazed by the quality of the work created in the past. It seems quite ironic that textiles were much more exquisite, majestic, and refined when the world didn’t have access to machines, technology and all that we have now to create textiles. Mass production seems to create a divide between the textile and the individual. When I see textiles created by hand and I imagine the time it took to sew each stitch, it feels like that labour, energy and creativity is woven into the fabric. It gives the fabric an extra dimension of life that carries on throughout the centuries. Mass production clothes the masses but sacrifices the magic of hand-woven stitch.
Renaissance ornament design also had an impact on embroidery; the exploration by Raphael and other artists of the excavated art of ancient Rome included both the naturalistic carvings and the fanciful images of the wall paintings on which the grotesque style was based. In addition, flat stylised forms and interlaces (arabesques) were introduced from the Islamic world. The fruits of this rich mixture were spread with the help of printed sheets of ornament designs and pattern-books, some of which were aimed specifically at the amateur embroiderer…The influence of the printed designs is most clearly seen in the fine linen embroideries of the mid-sixteenth century onwards. They were worked both for dress and for furnishings, usually with vorder patterns varying from simple geometric interlaces to complex designs of swirling, naturalistic foliage or ganciful combinations including grotesque figures.
5000 Years of Textiles, Jennifer Harris. p.205
Elizabethan man’s shirt
One particular piece that inspired me was an Elizabethan man’s shirt from 1580-1590 decorated with blackwork embroidery. This is done with a thread so thin it looks like the images are drawn on with an ink pen. What amazed me was the fact that the designs looked so modern and quirky:
Unfortunately you can’t see the detail in this picture, but one of the images was of a bee which was so simple and so striking. The embroidery work is decorative rather than functional
Blackwork is a counted-thread embroidery worked in geometric designs with black silk on even-weave linen. Black isn't the only acceptable color for working these patterns (red or scarletwork was also popular). The Elizabethans frequently called blackwork Spanysshe work, and it was traditionally believed that the craft had come into popularlity with the arrival of Catherine of Aragon at the English court. But in fact, there are references to black silk embroidery on body linen as far back as Chaucer.
See website
Silver Tissue Dress
The first dress I saw was the earliest complete costume in the museum dating from the 1600s (time of English Restoration of the monarchy and the Court of Charles II). It was so beautiful and so delicate. The dress was made of a fabric called “silver tissue”. This was made of cream silk woven with silver metal thread, creating a “moiré” or “water” effect. I also noticed green thread trapped in faded brown cream parchment lace: The audio guide explained how the dress was probably originally owned by a girl of around 15, who would have worn it to a court event. I can understand how much this dress would have been treasured over the centuries, originally in relation to the memories imbued in it by the wearer, and then after by the admiration of the stitch work.
It inspired me to think about how I could recreate the quality and movement of water through the use of a mixture of media e.g. light green delicate gauze overlaid with antique style lace with silver metallic thread sewn throughout.
I spent a Friday morning choosing materials and threads inspired from this dress, and am really pleased with the outcome. It captures the delicacy I was looking for, and the movement of waves. I also enjoyed adding the random element of bullion stitches and couching on top of the piece. I placed some stuffing under some of the gauze to create a raised effect from the swirling stitches. I also added green tissue paper under the gauze but this can’t be seen so well. The use of silk paper worked well because it’s possible to see the swirls in the silk paper through the gauze:
Jane Austen exhibition
Two of the dresses shown in this exhibition (from the film Northanger Abbey) had embroidery stitches which created quite delicate effects. One was a white spotted muslin dress. Each spot in the muslin was created through raised stitches such as French knots. The other dress was made up of beautiful filigree patterns made from tambour work; a chain stitch effect created by stretching the muslin across a frame, and stitched with a tiny tambour hook.
The stitches I have been using in my creative work are centuries old. It’s a privilege to have time to learn and understand the effects of these stitches. I particularly liked the use of satin stitch to create shading, much like the shading I do when I paint watercolour.
