Trees, development of disperse dyeing

The deadline is approaching for the Made at Morley competition, where I have been trying to develop my tree theme.  Today was an exploration of khaki / brown colours and different textures.  I'm veering away from actual depictions of trees and more towards  textures that suggest bark , battlefields, broken trees.

Discharged papers after printing

Section of printed cloth

Next section

Final section

It was interesting how different people interpreted the jagged shapes.  I've been looking at the tree trunks for so long, that is all they said to me, but others saw marching legs or barbed wire.  Both very appropriate in the circumstances.  I now need to work this colour palette in to the previous teal / orange colour way and develop ways to get smoother transitions between one section and the next.  The stitched trees are just jarring with the print at the moment, so I've decided to stick with just print and see where it goes.

Buttons, beads and thread

Plum and I are doing a demonstration of making buttons at our quilt group tomorrow.  We both did an excellent online course with Karen Ruane two years ago.  

In between business travel, London travel disruption, lost purse and travel card and coordinating elder son getting off to a trip to France, I've been stitching up some examples.  I'll use these to demonstrate the mounting technique in to the button.

Beaded on hand-dyed velvet, about 29mm in diameter

Beaded and stitched on indigo - shibori cotton

Detail of beading, again about 29mm in diameter

Detail of "buttoned" button

and if you've ever wondered why you sometimes have difficulty threading a needle, could this be why?  Image from here.

Home printing

With no fixed commitments this weekend, but a busy week to come, I wanted to explore some printing at home.  Inspired by this video, linked from this blog, I tried making a string block of a tree.

No pics of the results as they were disastrous.  I think my yarn was too narrow as I couldn't get a good impression of the tree without picking up a lot of paint from the background card.  So I then turned to an intriguing piece of packaging that arrived this week courtesy of some replacement bit for the computer.

This can be pulled apart, but so far I haven't found a way to fix it in the fully open position.

but, the mix of open parts and closed lines made a great print.

I might get a chance to try this on some cloth tomorrow, where I think the mottled effect will soften.

Just to show spring is on the way,glorious colours from hyacinths.

Like driving someone else's car……

My plan today at Morley was to free-motion stitch some of the tree outlines on to the dyed  cloth from last week.  It is sue time since I sewed using a machine other than my own, and it was not a resounding success.    After trying 3 different machine, breaking 3 needles, continuous thread breaks, I did manage to get in tune with a machine.

Stitching on organza- ignore the quality of the stitching please

My brain can't stitch these shapes as well as it can draw them.  This tree looks too much like seaweed, or some odd anatomical protuberance.

This one looks like a set of tube worms.

Stitched organza overlaid on the printed cloth from last week.

This could be going somewhere now, but my tutor recommended that the trees need roots  to ground them in the design more effectively, so lots of stitching practise needed at home.

Morley morsels

Busy day today on the heat press, testing out the painted papers prepared last week.  The top one shows fingerprints and drops of water in lower left and cling film applied to wet dye on the top right.

I was pleased with the colour mixes and with the effects of some of the papers.  These prints are all on a lovely drapey polyester.

Underlayers of orange dye, with overlay of dark teal dots ( a serendipitous result of a an error - painting the dye on to greaseproof paper)

Overlays of dark turquoise on orange explosions

Turquoise lines on orange explosions

Trees cut out of painted papers and then printed over orange explosions and dark turquoise dots

Whole pieces taped up for contemplation of next steps

Pollarded trees in the Morley gardens seemed to be fitting in with the theme today.

Out tutor also referred me to the work of  Sally Greaves-Lord to study for homework, so lots to do.

Must sees for me in 2014

I scraped in to several exhibitions at the last moment in 2013, so I'm attempting to be more organised this year.  Four of note for the first few months will be:

Sensing Spaces, Architecture Reimagined at the Royal Academy.  I love grand scale installations, so this should be wonderful

Dale Chihuly, Beyond the Object at the Halcyon Gallery.  I'm a long term fan of Chihuly's colours and shapes, os this will be total indulgence

Artist Textiles, Picasso to Warhol at the Fashion and Textile Museum.  The exhibitions there are always beautifully curated and there is an opportunity to see more beautiful glass on the same street at the London Glassblowing Studio.

White Light/ White Heat, contemporary artists and glass at the Wallace Collection.

Fingers crossed I make it to them all.

From the mundane to the sublime in one weekend…..

Like the cobbler's children who have no shoes, mending is very low priority on my list of sewing projects.  However, when it gets to the point that every double duvet cover has some sort of textile-related problem, it is time to act.  The only way to get through it  was to promise myself some more interesting textile time in the afternoon.

Duvet reclamation, apparently, this Ikea design was designed by Cath Kidston before she was "Cath Kidston".  It's the closest I'll currently get to any Cath Kidston and it hasn't worn very well.

Now a single duvet cover - female guests only as the boys refuse to have this on their beds, I guess the non-gender -based parenting has failed.  I love seeing the sewing machine whizz through the repeat button holes.

Like 95% of quilters, I have a load of unfinished projects.  This year( !) the aim is to finish at least half of them.  This one has languished for over 3 years and only needs 2 blocks to finish.  It  was supposedly an exercise in using a neutral top with curved piecing, but it morphed in to something else.  I wish I had room for a design wall!

Lime green sparkling in the sun.

and then of course, I decided that some of the existing blocks don't work as well as they could, and that I could make a more interesting back, rather than just use one piece of cloth.  

When does a pieced back become another quilt on the back? - when it takes all afternoon to plan and put together.  The paint squares fabric has been stored for over 15 years, and that is part of the finishing resolution.  If it has larger than 1metre, and has been there for over 10 years - use it, swap it or give it away.

And finally some real hand stitching, preparing a piece of American smocking for Morley on Tuesday.   There are several tutorials on the web, and I followed the instructions in the book by Colette Wolfe, " The Art of Manipulating Fabric".  I think my cloth is too sturdy as there are more folds in this piece than in a previous version I attempted.  I deliberately used dark thread in this as I need contrast for the experiment I hope to try on Tuesday.

Back

Front - there are two different patterns on here, lattice and lozenge, which is why it looks a bit irregular.

Hoping to get the quilt basted up tomorrow night at Richmond and Kew Quilters sewing evening.