Necessity...

...is the mother of invention, they say, and so it is in this case.  I hauled out my pale fabrics, intending to make another piece in the ME series (this was the first one).  There have been subsequent books, but another textile piece seemed like A Good Idea.  I have some offcuts of Evolon, from the kits I used to offer...I used one here.  They're an odd size, a bit longer than I'd like, they feel a bit unbalanced.  Anyway... I had selected a few fabrics, meaning to piece them together.  And here's where the necessity comes in.  I would have to lift the sewing machine onto the table, and that would take all my energy, so not going to happen.  And no, I don't hand piece...besides which, I wanted to have the raw edges showing...so applique rather than piecing seemed to be the way to go.  Here's what I've ended up with, after half an hour or so playing about with it.

All of the fabrics are wrong side up; the patterns were simply too strong the 'proper' way round.  I'm still using the idea that ME leaches colour from my life, by stealing my energy. Looking at this, the whole thing needs to move a bit closer to the top edge of the evolon.  And then, I'll crop the bottom off, but given my complete inability to cut in a straight line, I'll stitch it together and trim it later with the rotary cutter.  Not sure about that small piece of rust dye at the top; it's too dark, so I'll substitute it with a paler scrap.  I'm contemplating stitching this with very fine metallic thread.  I swore blind that I would never do that again, after finishing a commissioned piece that was intensely stitched with the stuff.  Well...never is a very long time... and I think the metallic thread is what's required...dammit... sigh.

Done.

I showed you the beginnings of a stitched photograph here, a manipulated image of a magnolia petal; today, I finished it off.  And here it is.

I'm reasonably pleased.  It needs a good ironing; there's rather more distortion than usual, pretty much all at the top.  I think that's because there's two fair sized areas with no stitch at all, while the rest of the piece is quite intensively stitched.  It won't be a problem, whether or not the iron sorts it out, as, chances are, it'll be mounted, at least, if not framed. 

All the stitch uses variegated threads; the dark area is metallic, giving a slight gleam, the purple and pink areas were both rayons, and the yellow, a cotton.  Surprisingly, the only one that gave me any bother, was the cotton, which kept shredding...grrr.   Which reminds me that it's more than time to have the machine serviced.

Quite a few people who work with photographs stitch so intensively that the photograph can no longer be seen.  I don't work that way; I want my stitch to enhance the photograph, rather than using the photograph as a guide for stitch.  That seems to me to be more authentic, somehow.  Claude Debussy said that the music is the space between the notes; this work relies on both the photograph and the stitch for its impact. 

Here's what the piece looks like from the back.  It's interesting to look at it that way, not as a test of quality, but rather, to look at the form, without the distraction of the colour inherent in the photograph.

I'm pleased; I think the piece works well either way.  I wasn't intending to finish it, because I'm not a huge fan of stitching on canvas, but I'm glad I did.  I'm planning to start donating small works like these to charity, to raise money, though I suspect I'll need to make works that are a bit more commercial for that.  I suspect that charities can be remarkably picky; it would be a pity for something that involves a great deal of work to be sold off for peanuts in a charity shop.  I don't think it's unreasonable to hope that new work will be treated with a certain level of respect.  Or maybe I should just not worry about it.

Finally...

...the sewing machine is set up.  The red box contains half a dozen UFOs waiting for this moment, on top of my DIL Tracey's sewing machine, which I have on long term loan.  The Bernina you see here is reserved for free machine work; it means that I don't have to fiddle about with tension and settings.  Of course, the first thing that happened when I started stitching was that the thread broke... predictable for metallic thread...sigh... 

I wanted something small to work on for the first piece, something that didn't matter if I ruined it.  This is one of Bertha's prints, on canvas.

Not entirely sure what kind of petal that was; might have been a tulip, but I'm pretty sure it's a magnolia, manipulated in Paint Shop Pro.  I love the way it's possible to change what's visible in a photograph by playing about with what's already there, rather than by painting over the top of what's there (if you see what I mean).  It gives a different perspective on the image, makes you look harder, and differently.  

This particular image is on canvas.  Not overly fond of canvas as a vehicle for stitch; this one is water resistant, which seemed like a good idea at the time.  It's hard and unforgiving, and shreds metallics like nobody's business.  I do like the effect of the metallics on this dark surface, though the image isn't ideal; I've muted the colour of the print to let you see the stitch fairly clearly.  The thread has a mixture of all the colours in this print, other than the brightest of the yellows, on a dark background.  Hopefully, when there's enough stitch, that'll show up well.  

It's a start, for this piece as well as for my creative life in this new house.  It may work, it may not.  Doesn't matter, really.  What matters is the process.  The journey, not the destination, and the learning that comes with it. 

Talking about learning... I went to visit a new fabric shop in Bo'ness, called Fabric And More; lovely owner, huge space with lots of potential.  They're running workshops, and there's a possibility that I'll be running one or two...watch this space...  

Creating Constructed Fabric...

...for a handbag for my friend and collaborator, Clare Hedges.  It was meant to be a quick and simple exercise, using bits and pieces I had to hand, including some scrap threads she'd given me (it's handy, knowing a weaver...) between two layers of lutradur.   Wanting a bit of glitz, I stitched it with metallic threads...and that was my downfall...  For some reason, the thread kept breaking... changed tension...changed needles...broke needles... nyargh!!!

And then, two thirds through the process, I thought...err... metallic thread.  Heat gun.  Melting.  Not Going To Work.  So...I restitched it with grey rayon threads, thinking that, well, if the metallic threads melted, in places, the cloth would still hold together well... and so it proved (phew).

This is what I ended up with before melting...I stitched in a grid; you can see the metallic sparkling all over the cloth.  After melting, though, this is what it looked like;

Interesting, huh?  I had an irregular grid of cloth strips in there, and you can see it quite clearly.  Looking at the close up, though, there's not much in the way of metallic threads left... in fact, don't think there are any in this image...though if you look at it closely, you might find places where stitching stops and starts again, that's probably the metallic.  I'm really pleased with the cloth...would have been pleased with the bag...except that I managed to mix up the dates of the event Clare was going to, and didn't get it ready in time... day late, dollar short, as usual.  These things definitely come in threes... stitching problems, melting threads and missing a deadline...  Still, it will go very well with her new dress, the next time she wears it... sigh...