Chapter 6Preparing fabrics to dye

Having read through the chapter. I decided to make a resist to paint over a piece of cotton, so I mixed flour and water to create a simple paste and painted it quite thickly onto the fabric. I tried to take a picture of the process, not a particularly easy task!

Once this has dried completely I will scrunch it thoroughly in the hope it will look like elephant skin once dyed. We'll see

Next I stitched two pieces of fabric to create  Tritik Shibori pieces, one with straight running stitches and the other with zig zagged stitching. it will be interesting to see the results once the pieces are gathered up and the dye applied.

 

Next simple Arashi Shibori tied and ready for the dyes to be dripped on

 

various methods of tie dye

 

Nowhere locally stocks procion dyes so I am waiting for my mail order to arrive, then I can start dyeing. While looking at dyes on the internet I came across a textile artist called India Flint and was interested in her approach to dyes and dyeing. I don't think it would work for this project as we  have to focus on black and white, but I fancy having a go at her Eco dyeing. I have struggled in the past using commercial dyes as I often have bad allergic reactions to chemicals so her approach to dyeing could be a way for me to try gentler colouring methods.

 

 

India Flint with a large piece of eco dyed fabric.

 

detail from a piece by India Flint called Seven Sisters.

 

 

Resolved sample reworked and self evaluation of module one City and Guilds Certificate Embroidery

Sian made a few suggestions of ways to integrate the shapes more, so with a few more slashes and stitches through the stars the piece is now complete. I need to go shopping to get some mount board but for now it is just attached to a piece of cream card with spray mount.

 Self evaluation

Question: What might I have done differently along the making process of this piece?

Probably everything. I would have not used paper, I love working with up cycled bits, but fabrics would have given me a more distressed surface. 

Overall my self evaluation of the module, is that I took too long to finish and for me leaving big gaps of time in between posting and stitching is not a good way to work. Once I had put things away it was then difficult to get started again and I had to keep backtracking over previous samples and chapters to remember what I had learnt. I know I have a tendency to let my mind wander off in other directions, so for the next module I hope to be able to let myself focus on each chapter more and work at a more consistent pace. I have leant a lot from this first module though and love the online community of the Distant Stitch group too.

Chapter 7 translating layered designs into embroidery two more samples

After my feedback from Sian I decided to try out her suggestions. I had felt that In my first sample the top shape dominated too much, Sian suggested using long stitches in a contrasting thread to help emphasis the red shape. Here is the result.

The stitching definitely brings the piece together and shows the middle shape more.

Sample 2 I had incorporated scrim as the top layer. Sian suggested trying to use 3. Layers of scrim. I struggled to work with several layers of scrim but was quite pleased with the final sample.

I added  French knots and machine embroidery to help the shapes stand out more.