M2 Chapter 11 - Further Design Exercises Leading to Fabric Samples

I started off by printing some more paper and fabric. I found the Gelli Plate was very useful for this. I took one print on paper and then the same print on fabric thinking about designing with paper before fabric. I hope I achieved a better range of tones with these papers and fabrics.



I dyed some more fabric as well, thinking about some larger pieces for Stage B of the chapter. 

 They look a bit more tiger than giraffe!

 

Paper Designs



Samples 11.1 - 11.4

 

Samples 11.5 - 11.7

Samples 11.8 - 11.10

Samples 11.11 - 11.14

 

This exercise could go on and on! I found having a good range of papers available helped. I then went on to stitch some larger pieces of fabric ready for cutting.

 

Stitch 1

Stitch 2

Stitch 3

Stitch 4

Stitch 5

Stitch 6

 

Stitch 7



I stitched lots more and tried to stitch in different directions, not just parallel lines, also to use a range of stitch selection. With Stitch 1 I looked at textures as well. I ended up with a nice selection to cut up.

 

 

Stitched Fabric Samples Based On My Designs

Stage A

 

I started with a fairly simple design based on Sample 11.5:

 

I added some decorative stitch to 'lift' the seams.

 

Sample 11.7

I liked the forward facing seams and heavier decorative stitch on this sample, the triangles remind me of roofs.

 

Sample 11.8

I inset seams on the first sample to represent the diagonal 'highlight' strips

I strayed a bit from the original paper design with this sample. I added some twisted fabric cords and like the effect.

 

 Sample 11.10

I stitched the main background pieces, cutting and rotating, then added some black strips. As I liked the cords from the previous sample I added some more!

Sample 11.1

These were two smaller samples with seams forward and some cut off selvedge inset. It's quite fiddly to sew triangles and I think variations of the mosaic sample in Chapter 10 achieves a similar result.

Sample 11.13

I added seam insets to this sample. This could be used in many different ways, changing tones and colours etc.

 

 

When mono printing, taking the same print on both paper and fabric, it meant when I was happy with a paper design it was fairly easy to transfer to fabric. I found this made my fabric work much more satisfying.

 

Stage B

I started with much longer strips than in Chapter 10 so that I had plenty of leeway and could make a large design.

 

Seams facing forwards

Seams facing backwards

 

I didn't make the third section as small as in Chapter 10 as I wanted to blend the sections together more and see if I could make a large usable piece. It ended up approximately 17" x 26". I also worked on each section, cutting and rotating. I could have worked it with a mixture of seams facing forward and backward, and I could fray the seam edges for a more textured piece. There are lots of possibilities with this sample using either side, changes in tone in stitch and fabric would give a huge variety of colour and texture.