Chapter Five: Free Machine Stitchery to Interpret Drawings

Hi Sian

Here are 7 samples. They all have 2 tags; one to illustrate the drawing and the other wrapped with the threads used.

Sample 1

Drawing: wax crayon spirals in 7 rainbow colours.

Fabric: Hand-dyed cotton backed with muslin.

Threads: Space-dyed machine embroidery rayon, hand-dyed perle.

Stitch: Bottom layer: straight stitch spirals; top layer: one large cable stitch spiral.

Sample 2

Drawing: Wax crayon dashes in 7 rainbow colours.

Fabric: Hand-dyed cotton, muslin backing.

Threads: Rayon machine embroidery threads.

Stitch: Whip stitch: Bobbin-pink, green, purple; Top-yellow and pale green.

Sample 3

Drawing: Oil pastel in 7 rainbow colours washed with Brusho.

Fabric: Hand-dyed muslin, yellow commercial felt backing.

Threads: Madeira and Sulky rayon machine embroidery threads.

Stitch: Zig-zag stitch, width one

Sample 4-Quilted

Drawing: Orange and red oil pastel spirals washed with Brusho.

Fabric: Hand-dyed silk bonded with gold acrylic and red oil pastel, thinned polyester wadding, muslin backing.

Threads: Silk machine embroidery threads.

Stitch: Whip stitch spirals in yellow and orange.









Sample 5

Drawing: Oil pastel frottage over sequin waste in 7 rainbow colours, washed with Brusho.

Fabric: Decorative bonded fabric; net, trapped threads on hand-dyed cotton backed with muslin.

Threads: Madeira and Sulky rayon machine embroidery threads.

Stitch: Straight stitch and zig-zag echo the patterns made by the trapped threads.

Sample 6

Drawing: Yellow oil pastel frottage over sinnamay, washed with Brusho.

Fabric: Hand-dyed cotton organdie backed with hand-dyed mousseline.

Threads: Sulky rayon machine embroidery threads in yellow and pink.

Stitch: Whip stitch, straight stitch and zig-zag blobs.

Sample 7

Drawing: Acrylic on acetate.

Fabric: Polyester organza, single layer.

Threads: Rayon machine embroidery threads.

Stitch: Straight stitch in random ziz-zag pattern.

Chapter Four: Fabrics and Threads-Colouring and Bonding

Pics 1 and 2

I

Hi Sian, I love my basket of dyed and painted fabrics and threads, although the colours are more muted than I thought they would be.

I think this is because I hand painted the calicos and silks. The muslins are stronger in colour because I dip-dyed them.

I hand-painted the perle threads when they were dry as I wanted to keep the colours strong and bright.

Method: Fabrics and threads were first soaked in a warm soda solution to act as a fixative. I dried the fabrics before painting them although I did mist some of the samples first so the dyes would blend.

I made up the seven colours of the rainbow from Procion MX dyes, Magenta, Lemon Yellow and Turquoise. I painted the calico and silk with sponge brushes and used artist brushes for the threads.

Ref: Helen Deighan. Dyeing in Plastic Bags. Crossways Patch 2001. Thanks also to Textile Artist Helen Howes who I first met at a Guild meeting and who subsequently showed me how to successfully space-dye threads and fabrics. www.helenhowestextiles.co.uk

Pic 3: Muslin and silk

Bonding: An awkward technique, the bondaweb kept tearing. The most successful was the red oil pastel circles and sponged gold acrylic on silk.

Pic 4

Pic 5 and 6

Pic 7

Pic 8

Pic 9

Chapter Three: Free Machine Stitchery

Tester Sample

I did my presample trials on this piece to test tension and thread weights. I include it because it's my favourite.

Straight Stitch

I used silk and rayon machine embroidery threads plus gold.

Settings

Metalfil needle 80/12

Feed dogs down

Stitch width & length 0

Normal tension

Zig Zag Stitch

I used a mix of threads in rainbow colours and the same bobbin colour and thread.

I used straight and zig zag stitches varying the width of the zig zag.

Row 5: I experimented with trapped threads.

I particularly liked the green thread spirals in row 4, square 1. I layered these in the multicoloured centre square.

Whip Stitch

I changed bobbin case to one with a looser tension.

I also changed machines and used a looser tension.

I used straight and zig zag stitches.

I used machine embroidery thread in rayon and silk.

Cable Stitch

I used the loose bobbin case and a loose tension.

I used a mix of threads in rainbow colours and varied the bobbin colour. I particularly liked the fine red perle with green bobbin thread in square 1 (top left)

I used straight and zig zag stitches.

Row 1: (left to right) perle, tapestry wool, perle

Row 2: tapisserie yarn, stranded cotton, soft embroidery thread

Row 3: hand-dyed silk slub, space-dyed boucle, perle

Row 4: soft embroidery thread, perle, tubular rayon

Row 5: Hand-dyed yarn, tapestry wool, cotton 4 strands

Hi Sian

I've attempted three designs using clouds, sunset and a rainbow as my starting point.

Clouds

Details of the cutting process below.

Clouds shapes outlined in this picture of big skies over Lowestoft.

Torn cloud shapes using oil pastel frottage and brusho papers.

No 2, photocopied, torn into similar shapes and rearranged on a background paper.

Rainbow paper

I based this design on the sequence of colours in a rainbow. Details of the cutting process are below.

You can see how repeatedly photocopying between each process, reduces the vibrancy of the colours. In fact, my printer was starting to run out of ink and you can see the dramatic effect of this in the sunset designs a bit further on.

2 Photocopies of bleach discharged papers cut into strips and arranged at a slight angle in rainbow sequence.

3 is a photocopy of 2, cut into long, thin triangles across the strips and flipped.

4 Rainbow paper

Photocopy of 3, cut into long thin triangles and flipped in no particular order.

1 Sunset with the extracted shapes that I used in this design. I had to modify the size of the ovals to make it work. I tore the shapes to simulate the fuzzy edges around the sun.

2 Sunset shapes torn in orange oil pastel frottage paper and placed on a blue background.

At this point, the colour ink on my printer started to fade and the background should have been green.

Below, you will see that deep red papers came out in a gorgeous magenta. I liked the blue and magenta together, so continued to use them.

3 is a photocopy of 2 with sunset shapes extracted and placed on a red background

4 is 3 on a blue background ready for photocopying

5 is 4 photocopied, cut into strips and flipped

6 is 5 photocopied, cut into squares and rearranged on a blue background

7 is 6 photocopied, cut into strips and flipped

Collage with oil pastel resist and bleach discharge papers

... inspired by life's quirky details with titles extracted from quirky bible verses.

Iwent slightly off-piste here... I love the oil pastel frottage and bleach discharge papers. I taught simple bookmaking and collage to our church craft group and made some quick samples using offcuts of my decorated paper on white card.

I liked the rainbow colours on white so I've started to design a range of notelets using this technique.

They look lovely pegged along my studio wall. I think they may also work as small embroideries, bunting or perhaps a quilt. Here are the titles, I couldn't caption them beside the relevant image for some reason... all 9cms x 9cms.

watch in hope

press on

my sheep

in my heart

flowers appear

even the sparrow