Chapter 12 - Final project: Functional, 3 Dimensional Embroidered Item

At long last I am nearing the end of Module 2. :) Today I put the final touches to my functional, 3 dimensional embroidered item - a bag.
The shape of my bag was based on a section of the shell of the tortoise I sketched earlier, the details and thought processes described in previous posts.

Below are a few images of the bag under construction.

 Embroidered fabrics adhered to pelmet Vilene using Bondaweb. Unbleached cotton bondawebbed to backs of front and back of bag.

Straps in progress. It was interesting to see how much shorter the straps became the more I knotted the strips of fabric together. I made each knot with 4 to 5 twists.

Completed bag, with gussets, free machine corded edging at top, and knotted strips of frayed fabric for straps:

Front of bag

Back of bag

Gusset edge with straps applied

"Embroidered Purses, Design & Technique" by Linda Tudor was invaluable in helping me work out an approach to making my bag, something I had never done before. Ms Tudor offers a number of different bag constructions, from which I chose her bag with gussets as my model.

Authenticating photograph of me adding finishing touches to bag!

References:

*Embroidered Purses, Linda Tudor

*Strip Patchwork, Valerie Campbell-Harding

*Machine Embroidery: Stitch Techniques, Val Campbell-Harding & Pam Watts

*Blackwork Embroidery, Margaret Pascoe

*Blackwork, Becky Hogg

*The Machine Embroiderer's Workbook, Val Holmes

*Shibori for Textile Artists, Janice Gunner

Module 2, Chapter 12, Stage 2, continued

Continuing to play and experiment with surface design for my bag, I began by adapting the method worked in an earlier chapter, but instead of stitching for shibori dyeing, I stitched with a view to gathering the painted, dyed and patched fabrics in order to generate entirely new designs through stitching.

In the first example below I began by choosing one of my log cabin samples and stitched uneven lines of running stitch before gathering. Unfortunately because I stitched with normal sewing quality polyester thread, one of the lines of stitching broke. Thinking about this I came to two conclusions - the first was to use shibori quality thread next time, and secondly ungathered sections create a more interesting finished effect.

Log cabin sample:

Log cabin, stitched:

Log cabin gathered tightly:

In the next sample I chose some commercial striped fabric and gathered it more loosely than previous sample. I then rearranged the gathers in order to imitate, at least partially the lines in the image of the tiger's markings below.

Tiger markings:

Striped fabric:

Striped fabric, gathered loosely and then rearranged in an attempt to capture the tiger markings above:

Wrapping fabric strips with thread:

Instructions from "Three Dimensional Embroidery" by Janet Edmonds

Finely woven linen in first 'failed' black dye bath, wrapped in white crochet cotton:

Next step was to coil the above wrapped fabric into a pointed shape reminiscent of peaked shapes on tortoise shell:

I really like this shape. Definite possibilities for a possible panel for my tortoise inspired bag!
So I tried it again, this time using some of my more successful dyed black fabric, wrapping the fabric with white crochet cotton. Again I really like this little sample, even better than the one above, although sewing it into a coil shape was very hard on my fingers. Will need to remember to use a thimble next time and hope that needle doesn't break!!

Still wanting to experiment with a similar shape using a different construction, this time based on Jean Draper's "Raised structure with bound points" in her brilliant book Stitch and Structure, I created these little shapes. Though they have possibilities, I think I prefer the solidity of the above shapes for my bag. Reckon they will be considerably more hard wearing! :)

All in all a good day filled with lots of experimenting. What I enjoyed most was taking some of the earlier methods used in previous chapters and samples and adapting them in a new way.  Happy to be moving forward in my ideas for my bag, and beginning to "see" it evolve........

References:

Three Dimensional Embroidery,  Janet Edmonds

Stitch and Structure,  Jean Draper

Module 2: Chapter 12 - Stage 2

The following pages are all from my sketchbook devoted entirely to gathering ideas for designing my functional, three dimensional embroidered item.

Working and playing with the 3D shapes in stage 1 (previous post) generated a few potential ideas. The two which seemed to hold the most interesting possibilities for working within a fairly limited colour palette were baby blocks made from pelmet vilene with each side displaying a variety of blackwork and other tonal hand and free machine embroideries; and bags. In the end I chose to work with bags, having discovered an interesting link between Native American Indian / Aboriginal medicine bags and a close relative to one of the animals I was researching, with an emphasis on the markings on his shell - the tortoise and turtle.

Native American Indian mothers sometimes make fetish medicine bags for their babies. These bags are made in the shape of animals whose attributes the mothers hope their little ones will develop. Girls fetish bags are made in the shape of turtles. Turtles are known for their long life spans. Turtles also symbolize Mother Earth, and are ancient symbols of longevity and patience. They only carry what they need - their shell.
Boys fetish bags are made in the shape of lizards. Lizards and snakes are known for their stealth and speed, qualities mothers wish for their male children. These bags function as good luck charms. When the child grows older the bags are sometimes attached to the child's belt.

Module 2, Chapter 11: Machine stitching on bleached and monoprinted fabric

The following set of fabrics were machine stitched using cable and whip stitch in a hopefully sympathetic manner complimenting the previously painted and bleached fabrics.

(i) Cable stitched a previously 'failed' shibori dyed, then monoprinted, fabric. Black pearl cotton #8 in bobbin and white sewing thread in top. Bobbin case had all tension removed; no tension alteration on top. Zig zag stitch with feed dogs up; alternated width as I sewed; also moved fabric while sewing to create curved lines.

(ii) White fabric monoprinted with black fabric paint using bubble wrap. Stitched using zig zag up and down fabric, curving around circles, while adjusting width and length of stitch; feed dogs up. On the slightly lighter section of the fabric I zigzagged around the barely visible circles. Might repeat this in a larger piece of fabric but using lowered feed dogs and a darning foot for free machining zig zag. This was fun to do, reminded me of vermicelli stitching in quilting.

(iii) Cable stitched white PC#8 on black bleached commercial fabric; black sewing thread on top; feed dogs up. No tension in bobbin.  3 step zig zag stitch, altering length and width. Then added layers of overstitching using white sewing thread and same machine stitch. Really like the toned effect created by the lighter layers of stitching with sewing thread. Will likely repeat this and use in final project.

(iv) Black on black: Fabric dyed, more charcoal than black, (it looks blue in the photograph but is actually a rather dark charcoal!)cable stitched using black PC#8 in bobbin and black sewing thread on top; feed dogs up. 3 step zig-zag (#4 on machine). Altered length mostly and moved fabric while stitching to create curves.

(v) Black whip stitch on white fabric: Using the same bobbin as used for cable stitch, ie the tension removed entirely, I placed a bobbin of ordinary black sewing thread in the case and used white sewing thread on top, tightening the upper tension to its tightest (10), I machined zig zag quite quickly as I sewed, moving fabric to create curves and altering length and width as I went.

All in all I am quite pleased with my fabric samples and look forward to creating larger pieces for my final project. I am beginning to overcome my fear of whip stitch and cable stitch. This time there were no difficulties sewing the samples.

Module 2: Chapter 11 - Further Design Exercises

The following design exercises were created from paper made for an earlier chapter in this module. A variety of strips were cut up and arranged and rearranged into different patterns. 

The series of designs incorporated different tonal effects, as follows.

(i) Extremes of tone in bold, large areas:

(ii) Dark toned papers together.

(iii) Light toned papers together:

(iv) Medium toned papers, smaller shapes and increased pattern effect:

(v) Lighter, greyer tones, mixing black and whites mixed up in tiny fragments:

(vi) More complex design ideas, combining different blocks:

The following is based on the Fibonnacci sequence:

'Stack and Whack' Designs:

In the following set of blocks I began by creating different sets of patterned designs and then cut them into the same shapes - squares and triangles. I stacked some of the squares on top of each other, and cut the squares in half. The pieces were swapped around to create different patterns. This was my favourite paper exercise and I love the completed designs, and will use them in the next stage of this chapter.