Monday 26 July 2010

Complex Samples

Well I finally got on with chapter 8!  I bought a cheap sewing machine in NI so that I could get on with the C&G as whenever I get home I’m not in the mood to set up my machine there (any excuse to buy something fabulous!).  Let me show you my samples in order of their creation.

Sample 1:

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This has bonded shapes from two of the printed fabrics on top of a crinkly cotton.  The hand stitching is quite basic, with just little cross stitches on the blue stars and some chain outlining the stamped pattern on the gold fabric.

IMG_0141  IMG_0140IMG_0139Sample 2:

This sample is a semi-disaster.  The fabric I used for the background was entirely the wrong choice.  It’s very stretchy and whilst that made it easy to stuff it was a nightmare to sew onto the backing fabric.  Having said that, it does provide some interesting textures where the fabric is puckered.  The photograph isn’t very clear but there are four areas of padding: four corner triangles and four inner triangles.

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I didn’t hand embroider on this sample because, if I’m honest, I got the hump with it and wanted to move on!  Looking back, however, I really rather like it because it’s got more character than the other samples.

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Sample 3:

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This sample is my favourite.  The pale lemon colour with the different shades of blue and the gold globules on the sheer bonded fabric work well together. 

 

 

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The rectangle in the centre and an outer ‘frame’ are both padded.  The outside edge is marked by running stitch in a metallic gold thread.  I played with my new sewing machine’s zigzag function for the first time.  This machine is so much better than the machine I have at home! 

IMG_0159copy  IMG_0158copy IMG_0160copyIMG_0162copy  Sample 4:

I decided it was time to change the colour scheme so that orange/yellow/gold is more dominant than the blue.  For this and the following two samples I used a square of blue polyester lining material, a square of yellow hand printed cotton and a square of sheer material with gold star on it.  I ironed Bondaweb onto their reverse sides and cut out shapes like in an earlier chapter.  I then mixed and matched them.  I rather like this first sample, although the orange is quite overpowering.

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I added French knots on the blue ‘L’s to add some texture.

Sample 5:

This sample has four, how do I describe them? Er, the four pointy corners (?!) are padded!  The centre is flat with French knots within and on the border.

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Sample 6:

For this sample, I bonded the pieces to the orange background (which is an old curtain by the way - imagine having curtains that are this colour?!) and machine stitched the four-pointed star from the edge of the blue inwards.  Then I attached this to the bottom layer by machining slightly inside the blue fabric.  This gave the padded star a narrow blue ‘border’.  After I had padded the star and stitched up the back I thought “duh, why didn’t I embroider the inner star?!”.  But alas it was too late.

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Sample 7:

By the time sample seven arrived (which I now realise I didn’t need to do…) I was a bit weary.  But here it is anyway. 

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It’s incredibly dull.  The shapes are alternately padded and reminds me of a mattress!  I had clearly run out of steam by this point and so I packed up and had a cup of tea instead.

Saturday 24 July 2010

A brief pause....

Well I know it's been a while but I'm getting back to the C&G work!  Huzzah!  I've gotten a new lease of creativity recently and yesterday I was terribly naughty and bought a sewing machine.  That, in itself, isn't naughty but I've already got a sewing machine.... the problem is it's in England and I'm in Northern Ireland this weekend and, well, I want to crack on!  Everytime I go home I don't seem to 'have the urge' to do any machine stitching.  So I thought "stuff it" and went a bought a cheap(ish) machine.  To my suprise I think it might be better than the one I already own!  Well anyway, I can't wait to get using it - and finally I'll be able to get cracking on Chapter 8 (which I have started, honest!).