Chapter 7 - Translating Layered Designs Into Embroidery

This chapter is about translating layered paper designs into embroidered fabric samples.  I made six samples and on the whole I was pleased with the results. I made notes on my worksheets as I went along. Working with paper samples first gave me a much better starting point for the fabric samples, so I felt I got better outcomes. I also gave each sample more thought before starting rather than 'hit and miss'! I got more adventurous as I went on and Samples 7.3 and 7.6 are my favourites.

 

7.1                                                               7.2

 

The first two samples are quite neat and ordered, and I started with simple shapes/compositions.

7.3                                                               7.4

 

I particularly like Sample 7.3 because I used a leaf shape which came from one of my photographs I took at the beginning of the Module and I used a technique that I had practiced with paper, so it seemed more of an evolved design. Sample 7.4 was an adaptation of my original plan, which was more complex than I had first thought. I looked at how I could achieve my original idea in the future.

 

7.5                                                               7.6

 

Sample 7.5 looked very plain, boring and unfinished so I added hand embroidery and cut away some more and got a much better end sample. I like Sample 7.6. It seemed to come together well and was pretty much as I had planned. The metallic fabric showed up well and contrasted with the other fabric.

More Dye, More Fabric!

While putting together layers for bonded samples I decided that although I have plenty of fabric in my colour scheme I felt I needed to dye some, as I did with colouring paper. I raked through my fabric stash and came up with plenty of white fabric, natural and synthetic. I also found some undyed scrim and a new dishcloth. I used cold water dyes I had and loosely followed the instructions; but basically chucked it in the sink in two batches, added some salt, stirred it now & then, and rinsed it when I remembered, in between bonding samples.

 

I'm pleased with the outcome and have a lovely pile of fabric. I feel more of an affinity with paper and fabric that I have coloured myself!



Chapter 5 - Fabric Selection & Decoration

I have been sorting fabrics from my stash and have bought some when I've been out and about. I mainly bought lightweight and sheer fabrics. My stash fabrics are mainly what have been leftover from projects and given to me. I will probably dye some scrim and a couple of other neutral fabrics as I move through the module, I want to see how some designs evolve before dyeing lots of fabric.

 

 

 

It was a good afternoon for decorating some fabric today, as the sun was shining into my workroom and I knew the fabrics would dry nicely. I selected several fabrics to begin with. I was much more confident than when I started printing the paper - and far more organised.  I chose two colours as suggested in the module to start; Metallic Silver Acrylic Paint and Island Blue So Soft Fabric Paint. I had some fabric paint so thought I would use it for this.

 

 



 

 

I used my rubber stamp that I made for printing paper. I printed in the same way as I did the coloured paper and tried some random and some more ordered patterns. The silver looks more 'silver' in reality, it looks more white in the photographs.

 

As I had the fabric paint I then added Tangerine into the mix and also tried some sponging, as I liked this effect with the paper printing. I ended up with a nice range of effects on different types of fabric. I seem to find I like my printing & colouring efforts better once I have walked away for a while, and then come back. I could begin to see how the printed fabrics could be used in designs as I was working this time.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I have a nice group of fabrics to move onto Chapter 6 with now and am happy I can quickly print more as and when I need to.  I can definitely see the benefits of colouring and printing to obtain something that is unique to you.