stitching texture...

as you will have gathered by now my dear patient readers I spend as much time as possible sewing, stitching, machine embroidering, creating, playing with fabrics and generally having a wonderful time...(housework what housework?!).. even better is teaching a machine embroidery Workshop and I thought I'd just share a little of what we covered at a recent one...looking at creating a textured surface...

I had 4 lovely and very creative souls with me, interestingly the Universe had kindly organised they were all students...one doing GCSE, two at A'level and one doing an Open COllege of Arts Textile course...amazing synchronicity!

as usual the immaculate studio prepared for my workshopees quickly bcomes a creative brouhaha...what a great word that is, no idea what it means but it seems to fit!

dear old bondaweb (ahem there are probably lots of other kinds of fusible fabric out there Ed)...that versatile "heat reactive, sheet of glue which permanently bonds one fabric to another when ironed"...aha but did you know it's really fun when you paint it? with watercolour, or acrylic or maybe fabric paint...

and then you can literally glue on texture by ironing on snippets of thread or fabric, then just add stitching...

mmm...pleased with these!

and then there's that weird stuff, Tyvek, described by Barnyarns as a "spun bonded polythene fabric that is non-toxic and accepts colour mediums, will shrink, bubble and distort when heated"...not half we say! Mind you it's not so good at the health and safety owing to fumes, so you must heat it outdoors. I don't personally use it a lot...but it is amazing...

here is some which has been painted

then heated...

stitched with snippets of fabric then zapped...

painted then stitched, you can see the fabric shrinking has distorted the stitching

On the whole though I prefer to use more fabric and stitch based ways and challenge my process and creativity to achieve the textures I want...

but it may still include some bondaweb...here used OVER lots of fabric snippets, ironed on then stitched...

and bondaweb underneath...

and there may still be some heating...I used to do this with a household paint stripper, all my degree work was done with me hanging around outside the door of my studio 'burning' my beautiful work with this device!

you'll be pleased to know I do now have a more specialised controllable heat 'appliance'...

eg for burning away a top fabric to reveal layers underneath...I have to experiment first to see which fabrics will melt away...

or for small pieces of fabric stitched on top and then burned away...so much delicious colour too...

you can see why I need a housekeeper, cleaner, gardener and cook...because doing this is just so much more fun!

Hope you've enjoyed the workshop...and maybe been inspired to have a go...

Emmax 

Friday night and I'm loving...

the cold weather, strangely, with air like a cool refreshing drink, real weather for October, no longer the warm Indian summer...the garden and hedgerows turning slowly to brown and bare, stripping everything for the winter's rest...

that being snug indoors is so welcome...after a blustery walk in the wind which clears your foggyness and gets the blood singing

that my studio is tranquil again after sharing for C-art with my oh so welcome friends and visitors, but now it's all mine to arrange how I wish, finding all my treasures after they were hidden away...and clearing out the bits and bobs I don't need or love any more ...so much easier when they're all neat in a box than spread out around all my tables...

that I had a workshop yesterday with 2 lovely ladies, helping 
them to be inspired and tap into their creativity, to get confident with free machining and playing with fabrics...and didn't they do well? 2 beautiful landscapes slowly emerged...

(please note usually an embroidery foot is used for free machining, but as neither had one they carefully stitched without a foot at all, obviously you must keep your fingers out of the way! also this doesn't go well with thicker fabrics, so they then used normal stitching witha foot on)

 

and it was a beautfully sunny day too with wonderful views over the fields and hills outside and inside a lovely view of art in the making!

 

first choose your fabrics, cut and lay out, pin then stitch...

hills and fields awaiting definition and detail...wait and see!

I do love a creative mess...fabrics, threads, books, samples, ideas, scraps...getting out the boxes of fabrics instantly brings life to the studio...making it a working space once more...

 

after a day's hard work here are Jennie and Sue's beautiful textile landscapes...  sorry don't think my photo gets the lovely dark blue shades of the velvet here so well, must be the moonlight!

hope you have a wonderful weekend!

Emmaxx

old friends and upcycling...

what to do when your trusty sewing machine isn't very well, for the first time in 20 years and you have  to take it to the machine doctor...

and then a 'Making in The Studio' workshop is happening and we are a machine down as someone's machine has come without a foot...

it's time to call on Singer and Jones...sounds like a double act or a firm of solicitors...but no, they are my old friends...

this is Mrs Singer...such a wonderful machine...smooth and well-oiled...daughter mine loves the smell of her!! 

 
and here is Miss Jones...a hand worked beauty with a lovely action and a tiny spindle-like spool hidden in her depths...both are gilded ladies fit for a fancy drawing room or front parlour...

sewing using a hand machine is soo soothing...clink and chink as the handle goes round and the needle smoothly moves up and down...

Victoria arrived equipped for anything...and brought a friend...a lovely Mollie Makes doll which she had made...and a fab pincushion...

Sandra did a show and tell ...a beautiful crocheted rug she had made and  gave me a gorgeous gift of a crocheted bowl, to which I added a lovely button and filled with threads...isn't it a gem?

I do soo love it when people bring things they have made to show...or send photos of items finished after they they go home...

Sandra's busy here sewing on to the front the pretty leaves which she had embroidered with beadwork...

  
Helen came with her cute little basket of goodies...

Sandie got to use Mrs Singer and enjoyed herself no end...and did hand sewing and then got on to making a corsage...looking good! She had made her pretty beaded bracelet by the way...so many talented makers here today!

and after a day of hard work and fun and concentration and sewing and cutting...and tea and cake...4 beautiful bags appeared...Sandie's has a bit to go to be finished as she made hers slightly differently but here is Helen's with pretty suffolk puff decorations...

and a later photo...thanks Helen...love the covered button...

and Sandra's gorgeous soft green bag with beautiful embroidered beaded leaves...

and Victoria's messenger bag...with fab flower in just the right fabrics after much debate in the studio...

Ladies I salute you! You have all made gorgeous handmade handbags...hard to tell that when you arrived these beauties were all old wool jumpers!

I soo love doing workshops and meeting wonderful creative folk who take a making idea and run with it! You are all an inspiration!