Samplers

In my head, samplers are regular organized pices of needlework , usually with a psalm or poem incorporated. A bit like this one , made quite a long time ago.

According to wikepedia they did not start like this. Women used them to record a stitch they had seen and did not want to forget. This was in the 15th and 16th century . The samplers were 6-9 inches wides and were totally covered in stitches. They were highly valued and often passed down through the generations. By the 18th century they became a way of showing skill at stitching and at this point started to incorporate religious or moral quotations.

So I have gone back in time , and I am making a felt sampler to record the effect of stitches, added before felting , at the prefelt stage and after felting. This sampler is currently just about to start the stitching after the final felting stage and Is pretty disorganized affair. I have tried to keep to a purple /pink theme and tested hand stitching and machine stitching. Until I read up about the origin of samplers , I wasn't so happy with my work. But understanding the history has made it all make a lot more sense. Here and some examples of my stitches so far.

Stitching onto pongee and then felting it all in . The transparency of the silk , means the underneath stitches are visible. Not so good. Underneath some stitching at the prefelt stage , I like the couching , but the chain has become too loose as the fibres shrunk.

Stitching on bought prefelt , with my machine and adding it on top of the fibres. Quite effective.

Some stitches made after prefelting. I like the effect of the knots and the pleat, but I am not so sure about the blanket stitch around the eyehole.

Posted with Blogsy

Samplers

In my head, samplers are regular organized pices of needlework , usually with a psalm or poem incorporated. A bit like this one , made quite a long time ago.

According to wikepedia they did not start like this. Women used them to record a stitch they had seen and did not want to forget. This was in the 15th and 16th century . The samplers were 6-9 inches wides and were totally covered in stitches. They were highly valued and often passed down through the generations. By the 18th century they became a way of showing skill at stitching and at this point started to incorporate religious or moral quotations.

So I have gone back in time , and I am making a felt sampler to record the effect of stitches, added before felting , at the prefelt stage and after felting. This sampler is currently just about to start the stitching after the final felting stage and Is pretty disorganized affair. I have tried to keep to a purple /pink theme and tested hand stitching and machine stitching. Until I read up about the origin of samplers , I wasn't so happy with my work. But understanding the history has made it all make a lot more sense. Here and some examples of my stitches so far.

Stitching onto pongee and then felting it all in . The transparency of the silk , means the underneath stitches are visible. Not so good. Underneath some stitching at the prefelt stage , I like the couching , but the chain has become too loose as the fibres shrunk.

Stitching on bought prefelt , with my machine and adding it on top of the fibres. Quite effective.

Some stitches made after prefelting. I like the effect of the knots and the pleat, but I am not so sure about the blanket stitch around the eyehole.

Posted with Blogsy

Stitching and beading

Experiment it said in my course instructions. Take a piece of dyed fabric , add threads and stitching and anything else you like ! So I experimented with a piece of shibori dyed pongee and a piece of orange organza (well I think it's organza).

First I beaded

Then I scrunched the pongee and added threads and fibres in orange , browns and greens.

I felted with a fine grey followed by fine orange layer of merino fibres.

I stitched by hand and added a few more beads.

I went crazy stitching on my beautiful new sewing machine. I still have a lot learn about its capabilities but I am very happy with it so far.

And finally I decided to stop.

I am not sure what it is but in my mind it is a very good experiment.

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Cobwebs

I have been trying to make very thin felt , cobwebs in fact.  Not really made in the way a spider spin a web but thin enough to see through.
I was reminded by this field of cobwebs taken near Grasmere one misty morning.

This photograph was taken by my husband. See more of his beautiful images here.

Nothing I can make will be as amazing as these thousands of webs , visible so clearly in the mist.

My first attempt in white merino is reasonably successful for a first trial.

Pictured against a brilliant blue January sky.
Adding threads for interest as a further experiment.

This piece is quite stretchy and some of its ideas could perhaps be incorporated into a scarf, or maybe not.

These are good for experimenting and are part of the course, but I think I like my felt just a bit more robust and substantial.

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Pleats

I have been experimenting with laminating a pleated piece of silk.

I got the idea on how to make the pleats by reading how quilters make random pleats. So I took a piece of my shibori dyed silk and having sprayed it with water randomly pleated it , you could say scrumpled it , then ironed it flat and let it dry.

I then placed it on top of another piece of silk that had three strands of a merino silk fibre mix laid on it. I captured both pieces together at the edges by using some thin prefelt that was spiky and that I had cut into holes. Here's the piece part way through felting while still wet.

Finished

I love this effect. The silks are caught together just in places and the texture is really varied. The grey and orange also work really well together.

Close up you can see the texture from the felting and the texture from the captured pleats.

This is only a small piece . I think I will make a scarf using this technique.

Posted with Blogsy