Wednesday 2 October 2013

Testing

One of the things I think the Artybird city guilds course tries to teach is the important of planning ahead and testing things out This makes good sense, especially with felt as there are no opportunities to frog it, to use the knitting expression, when you don't like and turn it into something else.
The final Assignment of the 1st year of the intermediate course, states make a complex bag , with integral handles, flaps and pockets.

So I am testing ideas for this bag. I want this to be a beautiful , but at the same time a serious and practical bag . No frills and flounces or curls but a bag with clean lines , pockets, that could really be used, that will stand up by its self and with sturdy handles. I also want to incorporate some fabric and some stitching and some piping for effect and stability.
I am inspired by the work of two felters who I think achieve this but with very different results Lisa Klakulak and Atsuko Susaki.

I tried three ways of incorporating both scrim and pongee. I want it to stay put, and potentially have complex shapes. My options are just lying it on the surface , prefelt it , both with and without scrunching with cling film , and what I call in my head the MvB technique , after Miriam van Beek , who introduced me to it. Here it's is also possible to scrunch for added texture.


With these small samples it is possible to test out a lot of things at once , so I have also stitched , with cotton and silk , and at various position relative to the fabric. I tested out options for a piping type effect , where it is obvious to me , piping without any piping as it the last grey sample is the best solution.

So that's the testing done , just a bag design to work out now!


3 comments:

  1. Oh, you did quite some tests ..... Jane !
    (ha : "niet over één nacht ijs")
    I'm curious what ideas are in your head ;-)
    About the piping with the machine : it might
    be a little akward to stitch in certain places
    when you have a real bag .... (depends on
    whére you need this piping of course)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Lots of ideas in my head !
    If you look at the Lisa link you can see some piping ideas.
    But with my on-off sewing machine it will be tricky:)
    I am on the case of a new one, visited the shop on the Meent
    last weekend and will test my mothers this weekend.
    There are so many options it needs a lot of research!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Jane-These samples are great! When I've done stitching on purses, I always use a new 'leather' needle on my Bernina. It also helps if your piece is rather thin nuno felt. I've even done the stitching on pre-felt, prior to felting the bag! Here are some examples: http://woollove-functional-fiberart.blogspot.com/2012/06/blue-seamed-purse-for-portugal-part-3.html
    http://woollove-functional-fiberart.blogspot.com/2012/06/tailored-silk-and-merino-purse-part-3.html
    http://woollove-functional-fiberart.blogspot.com/2011/03/machine-pleated-pre-felt-purse-part-2.html
    (There are probably others on the blog, too!) XOXOXO

    ReplyDelete