Chapter 7 Use of dissolvable 'fabrics'

Ref 6.7.1a

Ref 6.7.1b

Always enjoy a meditative exercise before getting into sample making.  This chapters exercise...sort out my thrum box! Getting a feeling for a range of 'goodie' bags with colour themes on a wet weekend gave me this selection:

Ref 6.7.2

The soluble fabrics that were in my collection included Romeo and Texturite for cold water dissolving and one for hot water but I had not worked with paper soluble so decided to put that on my shopping list to see variation, I also noticed that a printable soluble paper is also available so additional experiments will follow in Chapter 9.  While sorting through fabrics also found some samples from a previous experiment, see left, it looks like I threw everything at it but have included to see if I can improve!! A word of justification - this was originally made to be cut into much smaller pieces that were then made into small jewellery pieces which were sold!!!

Ref 6.7.3b

Ref  6.7.3a

Now down to some busyness! 
First samples, 3 Romeo dis solvable fabric was used with different stitch methods and showing the samples back and front.  When dissolving these pieces I found it best to do it under a running tap... with the plug in! To clean the items of stickiness they were then rinsed in the water.  On a larger piece this stickiness could prove useful for moulding or maintaining a stiffness that would allow the piece to hang with some definition. The images of 3c and d below show both sides of each piece after they have been rinsed.  

Ref 6.7.3c

Ref 6.7.3d

Note to self be careful what you place the pieces on to dry when they are wet...they could become bonded!!!  Also note to Health and Safety papers, a film can be left on the sink so ensure after all work this is cleared and also leave a running tap to ensure it doesn't adhere to pipes!  The notes with the products say the products are environmental friendly but I am always anxious about blockages...

Ref 6.7.4a

Ref 6.7.4b

Using the same Romeo dis solvable for the next sample, 4 I again show front and back. Stitching the first filler stitches and then added a stretched cellular knitting yarn, which was cut to make it more random,  lighter threads and yarns were added before another random machine yarn was stitched to the fabric to achieve the result. After washing the piece it was shown with and without  background colour, see below.

Ref 6.7.4c

The advantage of Romeo fabric is that it can be machine stitched without a frame and you can add on pieces of Romeo as you go along so can add to shape and layers. Using Romeo again for sample 5 I used less stitch and cut out the fabric. The cut shapes were then used for a second sample. When the dissolving was completed the two samples  were shown on paper and an underlay of fabric.  I did not wash out too much of the dis solvable fabric. I wanted to see if leaving it stiff could achieve a  more pronounced 3D movement  emphasising turbulence!

Ref 6.7.5a

Ref 6.7.5b

Ref 6.7.5c

Ref 6.7.6a

Ref 6.7.6b

For the next samples I used cold dissoluble texturite.  Placing the fabric in a frame before stitching as it was a lightweight fabric in comparison the the Romeo fabric. For this sample 6 I wanted to look at crosshatching stitches- the fact that you would see more of the colour of the bobbin when the see through fabric was dissolved intrigued me so played with how  colour changes/shades could be achieved by changing bobbin thread.

Ref 6.7.7a

Ref 6.7.7b

Sample 7 shows how lacy and loose a piece can become when it is not over stitched.  While dissolving one can pull and exaggerate shapes and holes. This piece seemed to offer a glimpse that while you need to ensure you are making something that can be used, 'less can be very much more' for it allows a chance to glimpse through.

Ref 6.7.8b

Ref 6.7.8a

For sample 8 I placed threads and strips of fabric between the two layers of dissoluble fabric and placed it in a hoop.  The more intense stitching and grid patterning cause  holes, which had not happened with the Romeo fabric.  In order to get more movement into the piece I used a simple meandering running stitch to help ones eye across the piece. When photographing the piece it was placed on a see through pattern paper, the idea that layering was going to play an important part in future design thoughts made me realise that paper can have as much impact as stitch...can't wait to try soluble paper and printed soluble paper.

Ref 6.7.8c

Ref 6.7.9b

Ref 6.7.9a

Sample 9 has more intense loose threads trapped between layers but the stitching is simpler and shows up in the finished piece

And for my last experiment, I had some cane I had knitted and dyed while dyeing threads in Chapter 4. Could this be used as a background or rubbing for paper and fabric?

Ref 6.7.10

Quilting, padding and stuffing

Preparing the variety of fabrics, for padding and top and bottom layers and the trapped items made my work space look like a rather strange laboratory, with interesting exhibits...the task to make them come together in a way that would move my ideas along into making fabric with a texture that would respond to touch as well as the eye. 

Ref 5.5.1b

Ref 5.5.1a

 For first 'quilt' I went for a traditional design with same cotton cloth top and bottom over a fleece padding.  Machine stitching the quilting lines I then decided to fray the fabric as this was a fabric samples which had not been used in Chapter 4

Ref 5.5.2a

The second machine quilted piece using a silk variegated top thread on a cotton organza fabric again padded with the knitted fleece. Using photos to inspire the shapes or stitch lines for the samples but trying to not be too concerned about a literal translation...

Ref 5.5.3a

Ref 5.5.3b

In these hand quilted wadded pieces two different weights of cotton fabric top and tailed a fleece wadding. A 60 crochet thread was used for the stitching. For sample 5.5.3a  pattern I wanted to vary size of the unquilted sections to try and replicate the idea of layers and strata while keeping a grid like pattern. Ref 5.5.3b

Ref 5.5.4

Ref 5.5.4 sample proceeded to use a variety of threads on muslin over fleece for a more angular sample.  Sadly lost my way - having made a simple pattern once into the stitching went off piste; it must have been the excitement of the Winter Olympics that took my mind away from what I was doing.  

Ref 5.5.5

Ref 5.5.6

For the next two samples the inspiration came from the Broch of Gurness but two different techniques were used.  The initial one 5.5.5 was a random hand stitched quilting stitch whereas 5.5.6 used wooden insets for shape quilting. Sadly my mind was still on wadding  and I failed to read notes correctly and carried on with three layers! The error continues on to sample 5.5.7 when I suddenly realised my error and did a 'rescue' and you will see how some of the wadding has been cut away from the wood sections. For 5.5.7 I trapped some feathers between a layer of net and cream cotton organza and tried to define their shape with hand stitched outlines.

Ref 5.5.7

Ref 5.5.8a

Ref 5.5.8.b

For the padded sample 5.5.8a I decided to alternate the padding in each section, using string (central space), knitting wool (bottom left), thrumbs or waste threads (top), found wool fleece (bottom right) and two sections of cotton fibres. The see through layer of cotton was backed by a coloured polyester fabric to add depth. Picture 5.5.8.b shows the reverse and each of the stuffing contents.

Sample 5.5.9  inspire by my stone/shell from Coral Beach on the Isle of Skye could fall between a shaped or padded exploration using melon pips and a cheese cloth top fabric

Ref 5.5.9b

Ref 5.5.9a

Ref 5.5.10b

Ref 5.5.10a

For cords I have show reverse and front sample 5 5.10 where a twin needle was used to make channels in which pipe cleaners were placed with wide spaces between to allow larger cotton tops for padding.  In pushing the cleaners and padding into the spaces the original clean lines made by the twin needle distorted at the curves, but while it showed up errors in the sewing and turning of a curve with the twin needle I decided to keep the sample as it seemed to enhance a natural element!
Samples 5.5.11 and 12 again explore cording with piping, zig zag and a knotted string in an attempt to replicate the erosion of the  Arbroath Abbey wall

Ref 5.5.12

Ref 5.5.11

For a finale  and following an inspiration regarding tea bags on the Distant Stitch Facebook page, thank you Sian, I looked at my morning mug of tea and thought ...I wonder!!!  The original teabags were square but mine... well they were triangles! So here they are top and bottom which is which? There were a multitude of options that I tried but opted for classic shape.  I have a feeling teabags will become another thing to save as the option of tea dyeing was starting to occupy my natural dyeing tendencies.

Stitched Edges

Ref 4.9.1

Ref 4.9.2

Contemplating how the lettering and drawn thread theme could influence the edges of papers I made the following five samples. The idea of loops as well as the angular placement of letter blocks in Chapter 2, shown at the bottom of this blog, where with me for this exercise. Sample 4.9.1 uses machine stitch 6 on my Bernina Activa 140 which provides a multi outlined 'v' shape done here in Sulky variegated cotton thread.  To complete the edges of paper not at the fabric edge I hand sewena variegated perle thread in feather stitch. The background fabric was a thin muslin that was used as a sieve when draining of the water from last pieces of paper pulp and some of the pulp dried onto the fabric.
For sample 4.9.2 I pinned, studded and added tied loops to the edge, this would allow layers to be added but on the left hand side pinned some wide bias binding which was slit so that it could be used as a hinge. The bottom edge had hand stitched button hole detail which could also act as a joining edge if another edge was butted against it.

Ref 4.9.4

Ref 4.9.3

My next themes bound the edges of the paper to add strength.  Sample 4.9.3 on left shows felt borders using machine stitch 7 over the paper and with pulled threads used to decorate the edge with loops or random tied threads replicating the loops and straight lines in the word 'calligraphy'.  This broke up the 'hard' straight edge but border sample 4.9.4 keeps it line when bound in hand dyed muslin and a hand stitch to emphasis lines. More random pieces of the fabric were hand stitched on the paper.

Ref 4.9.5

Ref 4.9.5a

The samples, 4.9.5 and  5a show one piece of paper that was too large for the scanner but the run of a double line of a machine stitch, stitch 14 on my machine, and used on the edges, was also placed in the middle to show that the paper could be folded into a book shape.  The rounded edge of the paper on the bottom left of 4.9.5 would probably look better  as the top right corner of a finished cover, giving a glimpse into the content or index of the book. As in sample 4.9.2 the background fabric was a 'sieved' fabric.

Details from Module 4 Chapter 2