Category Archives: Inspiration

Third Term Stitching is Finished

I finished my third term stitching project – I might have got a bit carried away with the sequins.

The design is by Tania Cohen.

This was a lovely design to work, just the right amount of stitches to keep you interested, but not enough to feel that you were never going to finish this piece.

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Bayeux Tapestry

I have started work on my Bayeux tapestry kit – I am just doing the stem stitch around the main mast. I have cobbled together two Q-snaps, but it seems to be working (there is a nice sound when you pull the thread through the fabric).

My stitching class re-starts this friday, so I am not sure how much progress I am going to make, but I am very keen to give the Bayeux stitch a go.

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Slow Stitching

Progress on my slow stitching project

I am really enjoying this process. Trying out different stitches and techniques. I have never used beads or sequins before. I still have some bugle beads to try. Each new stitch becomes my favourite – although chain stitch, french knots and back stitch are probably my top three stitch choices.

I am mostly using perle cotton (size 8 and 5), and some silk left over from my coaster project.

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New Stitching Class Project

This term in my stitching class I am working on a slow stitch project.

I took a photo of some leaves in Kings Park and had it printed onto cotton by Spoonflower.

I have some linen fabric to which I am going to attach things. I have some beads, an organza flower, fabric I tea dyed, colour catchers that I dyed with green tea.

At this stage I am going to stick with straight stitches and beads, but it might evolve.

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Filed under Applique, Bedazzle, Embroidery, Fabric Stash, Inspiration

Record, Map and Capture – Jordan Cunliffe

My embroidery teacher brought this book to class, and clearly, I had to find a copy. This is like the intersection of two of my great loves; stitching and maths. Not to mention story telling with stitching and maths.

Here’s a bit of a book description …

This stylish and fascinating book from up-and-coming textile art star Jordan Cunliffe shows how raw data, maps and personal experience can be distilled into textile art, producing mesmerising works with deep meaning, whether obvious or hidden, and concentrating on the smaller, quieter moments that make up our lives.

Jordan explores the use of stitched data to tell stories, pinpoint special places on maps, convey secret messages, and record personal detail, for example daily walks or nightly sleep patterns. Her finished work is beautifully precise, including a long strip of fabric containing a stitch for every day of her life, a reimagination of a favourite childhood book in unreadable code, and pleasing beaded representations of secretly important documents.

Almost any aspect of your life can be represented in graph or map form, and here are many practical ways to achieve this, whether it’s recording the colours of flowers on a favourite path to create your own unique palette, or encoding your most private thoughts in beaded morse code. This visually stunning book explores a new way of working and will help you explore a fresh new angle in your embroidery and textile work.

Illustrated with a wealth of examples of the author’s own work as well as pieces from other data focused artists from around the world, Record, Map and Capture in Textile Art proves beyond all doubt that data can be beautiful, and can inspire stunning works of stitched art.

I have so many ideas for my memory/special things project. I can incorporate special pieces of fabric, use evenweave fabric (my preferred choice) maybe even put in a secret code.

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Filed under Book Review, Canvas Work, Cross Stitch, Embroidery, Inspiration

Jacobean Crewel Work Embroidery Kit

RSN Embroidery Kit

After having been lost in the system for a while, my embroidery kit from the Royal School of Needlework arrived. It’s beautifully packaged – I have already started work on the pomegranate.

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Stitch Dictionary

Samplers of Seduction – Dictionary of Stitches

I finished my Dictionary Stitches. I particularly like the back-stitched word Sampler.

Now I am going to try to finish my Gingerbread House and my Cinnamon Stars cross stitch before my kit from the Royal School of Needlecraft arrives.

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The Fabric of Civilization – Virginia Postrel

Fabric of civilization – Virginia Postrel

I saw this at my local book shop and had to buy it.

Here’s the blurb…

From Paleolithic flax to 3D knitting, a global history of textiles and the world they made
The story of humanity is the story of textiles — as old as civilization itself. Since the first thread was spun, the need for textiles has driven technology, business, politics, and culture.
In The Fabric of Civilization, Virginia Postrel synthesizes groundbreaking research from archaeology, economics, and science to reveal a surprising history. From Minoans exporting wool colored with precious purple dye to Egypt, to Romans arrayed in costly Chinese silk, the cloth trade paved the crossroads of the ancient world. Textiles funded the Renaissance and the Mughal Empire; they gave us banks and bookkeeping, Michelangelo’s David and the Taj Mahal. The cloth business spread the alphabet and arithmetic, propelled chemical research, and taught people to think in binary code.
Assiduously researched and deftly narrated, The Fabric of Civilization tells the story of the world’s most influential commodity.

This book is fabulous – well written and researched. It made me think about string, banking and weaving in a whole new way. There are chapters on Fiber, Thread, Cloth, Dye, Traders, Consumers and Innovators. Each chapter is a deep-dive into its topic.

If you are at all interested in Textile History (or just History for that matter), then this is the book for you. Easy to read, but very informative.

You can also listen to Virginia Postrel on this Haptic and Hue podcast.

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Spoils of the Trip

Miss A and I had a weekend trip to Melbourne.

We went to the NGV to see the Making the Australian Quilt exhibition.  It is a fabulous exhibition with some amazing pieces – I can’t believe the amount of work involved in some of the quilts. Here’s a review –  https://www.australianbookreview.com.au/101-arts-update/3500-making-the-australian-quilt-1800-1950-ngv-australia – it is definitely worth seeing if you’re in Melbourne.

We also went to L’Ucello – no trip to Melbourne would be complete without a trip to L’Ucello! I also discovered the Kimono House – how could I not have known about that?

We purchased kits – this one

Japanese bag

Japanese bag

And this one as a gift for Miss P

kittykits

I decided to get started on mine straight away

The Loop Bag

The Loop Bag

I had been thinking about making one of these bags in an embroidered silk, so this was a fabulous chance to get a pattern and have a go.

 

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Filed under Inspiration, Sewing

Bedazzle!

I’ve always liked a bit of sparkle, so I was super-excited to discover a bedazzler at my local craft fair (more on that later) – it’s not actually called a bedazzler I think it is some chinese rip-off, but it’s pink and it attaches crystals to things! What more could you want.

Miss P practising her bedazzling skills

Miss P practising her bedazzling skills

And in one of those cases of synchronicity I had just read The Bedazzling of the American Gymnast

American Gymnasts at the 2015 World Cup - BEN STANSALL / AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE — GETTY IMAGES

American Gymnasts at the 2015 World Cup – BEN STANSALL / AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE — GETTY IMAGES

“It’s difficult for me to imagine how we could get more crystals on,” said Kelly McKeown, executive vice president for design and corporate relations at GK Elite, the official outfitter of the American national gymnastics team. This Olympics, “we may have hit peak crystal.”

The girls and I went to the WA Craft Show (there is wood as well!). This is a nice craft show because it is a bit more local and less corporate than the Craft and Quilt Fair at the Convention Centre. A lot of the guilds attend this one and everyone is keen to have a chat and show you their latest projects.

We bought some patterns and a snail making kit (I know snails? And I am sure they will be bedalzzled as well – I am aiming to reach ‘peak crystal’).

 

 

 

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