Project 2 - Developing Your Marks

I was really excited about getting to this part of the course.  I love hand and machine stitching.

I decided to stick to hand stitching for doing the samples but if I have time I will do some machine stitched samples from some of my mark making examples.

Again, I did a lot of deliberating instead of getting on with it. Once I started though it was a very enjoyable exercise and good to get back to basics and see what different stitches and threads can do.

Can you begin to see the relationship between stitching and drawing?

Yes I can.  Threads and yarns can be manipulated by stitch easily onto a background to echo the marks made by pencils, crayons or paints. Textures can be built up with stitch as one can build up a texture by using different painting media.

Were you able to choose stitches which expressed the marks and lines of your drawings?

I began by choosing running stitch and backstitch on plain fabrics. A lot of the marks and lines I had made were able to be interpreted by these stitches.

Did you choose the right source material to work from?

At first I found it difficult to choose drawings and a stitch.  I decided to gather together different threads and yarns within a red colour scheme.  This made it easier for me to decide.  I worked from my pencil marks. 

Do you think your sample works well irrespective of the drawing?  Or is your sample merely a good interpretation of your drawing?

I find these two questions quite difficult to answer.  I was pleased with my sample and thought it had worked well.  However, when asked is it merely a good interpretation of my drawing looking at the sample again I have to say I think it is merely a good interpretation of my drawing.  I think this is possibly because of the way I have coloured the background.  I painted bondaweb and when dry fused it to the cotton fabric.  It is very much like the pieces I did in my sketchbook in watersoluble crayons and tissue paper.

Which do you prefer - working with stitch to create textures or working with yarns to make textures?  Which worked best for you and why?

I think the two go very much together.  I love to stitch also getting a lot of pleasure from choosing the yarns to do the stitch with.  It is lovely when using a yarn that at first sight is not suitable to do the chosen stitch with and unexpectedly you get a lovely texture appearing.

The sample on the below was done in raised chainband so that I could get a very textured look.  The drawing I took it from is one I did from a picture of tree bark.  I decided to do the stitched sample in a different colour to the drawing because I chose the threads and yarns to go with the background fabric I was using.  I have found that I prefer not to work on plain fabric and had coloured a piece of calico with fabric dyes and let the colours merge together. 

I feel I experimented enough within the time I had.  Hand stitching can of course take quite a lot of time to do.  I like this as it gives me time to think about how the piece of work is developing and what I could do next.  I didn't feel inhibited when working the samples as I had made the decision at the beginning of the exercise to work in the way I liked, for example colouring the background fabric.

I have decided to keep my samples on separate sheets of card and will make a book that I can add them to.

Do you prefer to work from a drawing or by playing with materials and yarns to create effects? 

 

I seem to have answered this question in the one above.  I do like playing with materials to create different textures but I would like to develop so that I look more to my drawing for design and then sampling from that.  I suppose a nice balance would be the way to go.

I have done machine embroidery before but would have liked to have done some samples.  I hope to go back and do some to add to my sample book at a later date.  Although I am happy with the samples I have done I think I would do the first samples (running and backstitch) in a more organised way.