Chapter 6 Cutwork

 Collecting together the work from Chapter 2 and selecting fabrics that could be used in layering I set out to explore a wider range of colours and weights and introduce some more threads and techniques.  Hoped this would give a  wider range of visual images to inform my future path.  Have given a visual reference to each piece before giving a close up of finished piece

Ref 6.6.1b

Ref 6.6.1a

Sample 1 used three fabrics, bottom layer hand dyed silk, second layer  green sateen, top layer green organza and a simple path of cutting back through layers.  Marked the shapes by a line of long machine stitch that could be pulled out at the completion of the piece. in some cut back I cut second layer but left top layer in place. Frayed second layer. Bottom layer zig zag stitch top layers circular stitch using variegated machine cotton thread.

Ref 6.6.2a

Ref 6.6.2b

Sample 2 as I was looking through my fabric selection realised I had included alot of chiffon or organza to portray water so resolved to drop that third layer in this sample and stick to just two layers and use a lurex thread on top layer and twin needle stitch with variegated thread on bottom layer. Enjoyed the pattern of the printed cotton and, in some instances, the twin needle machine stitch actually joining with it up with it!

Sample 3 

Ref 6.6.3a

Ref 6.6.3b

A cotton base layer was overlaid with organza and then a perle thread stitched together before being topped with a cotton print where a Wildflower Caron thread was used in bobbin with a random zig zag stitch, when top layer was cut through  the edges were frayed close to edge.

Ref 6.6.4b

Ref 6.6.4a

Sample 4 a felt base layer was stitched to one of my dyed cotton fabrics with random machine stitching.  The top layers of velvet and organza were stitched together with a light nylon thread and then random stitched with  a perle in bobbin.  The two separate layers were burnt with a soldering iron and then cut and attached to each other.  The difference in the effect of heat meant the base layer welded together rather than melted. The two sections were then sewn together.  I wanted to cut and move the pieces round again so that can be seen in sample 4c...think it could be cut again and rejoined  - perhaps left section put on top edge of right section - this could become an obsession!

Ref 6.6.4c

Sample 5

Ref 6.6.5b

Ref 6.6.5a

Using just two layers for this sample a hand dyed mono print cotton and an organza I stitched the base layer with a tight tension to encourage a pucker and texture.  The organza layer was sewn one with a variegate thread and less tension and then I used soldering iron to melt top layer away in places.

Sample 6 

Ref 6.6.6 'front'

Ref 6.6.6 'back'

An experiment with and embellisher  at the end of the last module shows a range of fabrics and paper felted onto a black felt background, this is very much work in progress.  While this piece was my first foray into the technique have a long way to go in experimenting with embellishing chiffon and other sheerer fabrics.  I have shown this piece as I was intrigued by several things  from this initial experiment that could inform my experiments with embellishing for this particular Module.

• the 'back' of the fabric intrigued me -  a felt background using this technique  could give a stable context to the resolved sample.  Pieces of all the fabric used in the 'front' layers of the hanging could be combined in this background.
• while not easily visible in the photo the 'gloss' finish of the plain cotton, the piece to the right on the front photo, got knocked back by the embellisher so leaving spaces of unworked fabric gave contrast of light.
• the different rate of fabric distortion and stability .
• the use of abaca paper on the front and back of the fabric gave a more interesting result on the back.
• The use of black fusex on the velvet prompted me to consider using white fusex in later part of this particular module.

Chapter 3

Ordered somke larger 100 + needle sizes and considered how to tackle this chapter.  
Always find small pieces of fabric difficult to work, particularly if its machine stitching, so considered a large piece of calico and squared it up with pencil and stitch outlines for easy viewing on both sides.  Also needed to consider the threads and colour sequences so that once I started I could get a flow.
Contemplating is probably the most important part before setting off, so STITCH

Ref 6.3.1

Simple, select
Thread, texture
Ideas, imagine
Track, turn
Coils, contrast
Handle, hazards
To get ideas for the mood of the movement in water and sky I chose words  such as: swirl, meander, ripple, choppy, lapping, ebb and flow, waves, undulating, reflections, pools and pinned them to my work board.  The calico and a variety of backings were used.

With even tension on top thread and spool, I started free machine embroidery. 
 Sample one

Ref 6.3.2 front

Row 1 selected Sulky as top thread and plain blue cotton as spool needle 70.  As sample d looked similar to c decided to unpick, but rather liked how the  'splash' loops from bobbin appeared ...so left it in place!
Row 2 change needle to 100 but kept threads and tension the same. Trying to get a rounded and wave like movement set of across the 4 squares

Ref 6.3.2 back

Row 3 change colour over to reverse sequence of top thread and spool for this series of tight and loose circles and error made on c which should have been in row 4c!,  
Row 4 using same threads needle and setting wanted to meander in various directions but left it looking open so decided to work it over with the new threads introduced in row 5 
Row 5 introduced new colour of bottom thread and worked fast and furious and the result a more gathered and condensed square.  I realised perhaps a thicker vilene would have held shape better.  Stitching in small squares was a challenge, just getting into feel of it and was over the edge!! 
Sample two

Ref 6.3.3 front

Thicker vilene placed behind calico to help prevent puckering, perhaps my stitching needs to be more controlled!Wanted to replicate the stitches in each row of Sample 1 in order to assess how the changing of tension affected the appearance of the stitch.  The idea in this sample was to loosen bottom tension and tighten top tension

Ref 6.3.3 back

Row 1 Keeping 100 needle tried a different colour combination, top tension moved up to between 8 and 10 and bottom spool tension reduced by half turn.  As I worked realised the bottom spool thread showed more as speed increased in speed of stitch - but how to control the speed of movement of fabric to get the look was becoming an issue.

Ref 6.3.4 front

Ref 6.3.4 back

Sample three was a complete disaster with trialling zig zag stitch, why does it look as though I kept doing the same thing when I was trying to improve it!!!Try as I might it kept having the same appearance and going over it again in row 4 and 5 did nothing to improve the situation!
Oh dear things were going from bad to worse in this series...
I had always enjoyed free machine embroidery but realised my forte was in larger areas. I often used zig zag stitch to cover fabric, but in most instances I colour fabric before stitching and go over the stitches in multiple directions.  The restriction of 3m squares was producing just a mess. I was trying to do different directions, speeds and tensions and it had just puckered.  Looking for an excuse decided Sample four would need to iron on a thicker vilene, but perhaps I should bring out the hoop and read back over my notes of good practise from previous DS chapters. I realised I had fallen into bad habits and had not experimented as much as I should have.  I left this sample in as a lesson with a note attached saying ...'when you are in a hole stop digging!'

Sample four from this sample on through to Sample 5 and 6 used needle 120.

Ref 6.3.5 front

Ref 6.3.5 back

So with all that in place what happened next... the puckering stopped and the result was cleaner but realised when I contrasted Sample 4 with Sample 1 there could be times when pucker was a design feature that could be useful!!  The use of thicker yarns provided more drama, and have shown back and front of samples to show contrast.  The pity of using the thicker yarn in spool is that it runs out very quickly, so did do an applique of thicker yarn that wouldn't go through the spool in Row 1 D. Thicker cotton perle, silky rope and knobbled silk threads were used in spool with thinner sulky  and cotton yarn threads.

Sample five Was a little more adventurous with yarns in this sample but had a multitude of

Ref 6.3.6 front

Ref 6.3.5 back

problems with rayon yarn that kept breaking if I tried to increase tension on top thread.  The pink perle shown in first row samples A,  B and reverse of C and again in row 5 was susceptible to distorting and run out very fast. The hand dyed string Sample 1D, sari yarn Sample 2A , 2D and 4 C were appliqued as was embroidery floss in 4C

Ref 6.3.7 front

Ref 6.3.7 back

Sample six did this sample see me coming out of the tunnel? It seemed that It produced

better images and I felt that by turning fabric over and showing contrast of back on front on one square Sample 4B and 5 A I achieved an interesting result that gave contrast of movement and colour.

Ref 6.3.8

My critique on this chapter would be that the series looked a bit repetitive and while I noted how I had done the stitch the variations were not always that visible.   I feel that a larger square would allow more experimentation and was happy to see in Chapter 5 we can have 10cms squares