Retrieval Reflection

Through out the past five or six weeks after a little trip to Pairs I got my creative flare back and once I was home I began drawing again. One of the places that always feels like it inspires me is Italy. It is such a beautiful country. I began drawing some designs that I felt I could really get into. I have created a few designs not only of Italy but, New York, Amsterdam, Paris and Prague.

With this sketchbook I have explored with more mix media. One media I have enjoyed using was charcoal, this media gives me the sketchy look that I love in my stitch design. I don’t like my designs to look too neat. I like them to look very sketchy and when using a sewing machine I can go over them multiple times to create that effect. When I have been drawing my designs I haven’t been able to get that desired effect but when using charcoal and with it smudging so easily I have gone over my designs a number of extra times and this has given me the sketchy effect.
Not only have I explored charcoal but I have been using watercolours and watercolour brush pens. I have been watching YouTube videos to help me get the best possible use out of my watercolour brushes. This has really brought colour to my sketchbook which I didn’t really have in my previous sketchbooks. I have then been able to transfer these skill into my samples which I feel have developed from my previous samples.
I have also looked at using oil pastels but I didn’t like how the outcome came as I didn’t have great control of this media and felt they didn’t have a high quality design that I am looking for.
I have used some fine liners in my book as some of the design are very detailed and didn’t want to smudge or ruin the design. These designs also had less colour, I felt that the watercolour would be a waste as I wouldn’t be able to explore colour in these designs.

When looking at my samples I have done a few different things with these samples as I have added machine embroidery techinques and hand embroidery techniques to create my designs.
One of my designs I have done solely from using hand embroidery which I was very happy with the outcome, the only disadvantage was that the time. Doing a design like I did was very time consuming and the needle began to hurt my fingers. This is when I used my sewing machine to do some of my designs and add in hand embroidery aswell.
One of the techniques that I have really enjoyed is doing a French knot in hand embroidery. It has brought colour to many of my new samples, but not only that but it has brought texture to my work as well, which is a lovely combination.

One part of my designs was using recycled material. I was going to try and introduce my natural dyeing so that I could create the coloured fabric I desired without buying new fabric that was the same colour. I did change my mind doing this as I would still need to buy new plain materials to then dye. This is something I didn’t want to do as it defeats the objective of why I wanted to recycle material. I went into a local knitting shop and spoke to the shop owner and asked if she had any old of cuts of fabrics that she wouldn’t be using and luckily she did I gave her some money for the fabrics as I want to be able to support my local shops. I have got some beautiful little off cuts of materials that she just had in a basket that she wouldn’t use. This has really excited me as I’ve want to do my bit in my industry to try ad help our planet.

Overall, I have really enjoyed getting back into my theme and exploring all the different places I have been or would one day like to go. I feel I have developed my previous designs and have created more complex ideas. These have been more architectural and scenic. Rather than just one item I have draw theres a scene happening with other objects that ma be around. I developed my windmill design by adding the grass, trees and bushes that were originally there but on my previous samples I chose to ignore. I believe my designs have really developed and has really given me inspiration to carry on creating these sorts of design and just continue to develop my hand embroidery and machine embroidery. I am also happy that I have been able to develop my design drawing by introducing different media rather than just using one or two I have used a range of different medias.

Additional work:

• Notre Dame Sample
• Italian street Sample
• Italian Houses Sample
• Pairs House Sample
• Amsterdam Bike Sample
• Charles Bridge Sample
• Eiffel Tower part 1 Sample
• Eiffel Tower Part 2 sample
• Eiffel Tower sample
• Eiffel Tower Sample
• Pisa sample
• Brooklyn bridge sample
• Venice Sample
• New York Skyline Sample
• Amsterdam Windmill Sample
• Italian Scene Sample
• Paris Building Sample
• CAD visual x2
• Hope Ragrugging
• Sketchnook

Welcome

 

Creative Statement

I have a natural ability when it comes to using a sewing machine and feel very confident when using one. I have great control when creating textiles achieving great detail in these designs. I love to use my sketchbook to gather items and drawing that will help inspire my work further. I then use these to draw onto fabrics and then use a sewing machine to draw these designs with stitching. I have recently enjoyed creating three dimensional objects out of fabric. My recent collection was inspired by a trip to St Fagan’s. This led me to the collection of making an afternoon tea set including tea cups, cake stands, sandwiches, Welsh cakes and a table cloth. I very much enjoyed this and is something I hope to continue in the future. I made all my own patterns to create the tea cups that I have made. I have had a wonderful transformation each time I made one of the teacups. I have recently in the past year been introduced to natural dyeing which has become a big influence in my work. I have always enjoyed experimenting with fabrics and techniques and I feel that this technique you are always experimenting with new dyestuff to create beautiful dye for fabrics. The environment has become a huge importance in my work and I consider everything I do. I try my hardest to find fabrics rather than printing or buying my own to help the environment. The textiles industry has huge implements on the earth and I love my practice and want to create a sustainably way for me to continue my practice as well as helping the environment.

Rag Rugging Samples No.2

I was really happy with my previous attempt of my HOPE rag rugging but I had a slight issue as white fabric that was on the top of the hessian underneath was a lightweight material that wasn’t able to hold that amount of fabric that was on the design once it was complete and there for ruined the design as the material all bunched together.

This time I chose to look at using the hessian again but looking at a more robust material that would be able to handle the weight of the rag rugging I would be applying.  I decided to use a canvas type of material that is a lot thicker than than the previous sample.

I drew the design and used my sewing machine to go over my draing and then cut out the top fabric to reveal the hessian so that I am able to do the rag rugging.

On the previous design I chose to use all red recycled fabrics to make the last design. I didn’t have much red fabric left over so to keep with my recycled material idea, I chose to use what ever colour material I had left that I knew i wasn’t going to use. I wanted to make sure that the colours where all different than each other so that they didn’t clash. In the end I used red, yellow, green and blue. The colour have worked together and I think this design looks a lot better than the previous one.

This was the outcome once I was finished.

A you can see from the image there is till that slight pull on the material. I did noticed this time tat it wasn’t like that until I started rag rugging and the more material I added and the more I pulled the fabric through the more I noticed it happening. I believe that it may be how tight the fabric is being pulled through and how much fabric is there rather than the weight of the backing fabric.

Italy Samples

There is a little town in Italy called Cinque Terre and the town sits on the edge of a cliff overlooking the sea. All the houses are painting in different colours. I then began drawing designs of the little town in my sketchbook and this was when I decided I wanted to create a sample where I only use hand embroidery. I drew my design onto some of my recycled fabric and then began sewing trying to make all the houses a different colour, or at least making sure that there wasn’t the same colour next to each other to make it look as fun as possible. Here is the results.

Amsterdam Samples

I wanted to take a look back at Amsterdam as I moved on from these designs very quickly in the begining. I looked back at the windmill design I had created and wanted to add more to it by adding grass, trees and bushes around the design. This design even after reworking it I believe there is too much happening as the patterned fabric clash. I had two layers of fabric a plain and a patterned one. I drew the design onto the plain fabric and then proceeded to stitch the design into the fabrics. Once I was finished I then cut out the shapes of the windmill and places them on top of the design and stitch them onto the design.

Paris Samples

I have recenly been to Paris and fell in love with the beautiful city the architecture is just outstanding. There was lots to see. That inspired me to look and start sketching some designs of the Eiffel Tower mainly and one of Notre Dame but then also the streets of paris there was just so many buildings around that were just breathtaking.

The Notre Dame sample I really enjoyed as I had two layers of fabric the one underneath was a bird pattern fabric and the one of the top was a beige fabrics. I drew my design onto the beige fabric and began sewing the design. This was a lengthy process and found myself having to come back and go and have breaks as the detail of Notre Dame took some time. Once I had finished sewing I then took some scissors and cut around Notre Dame to reveal the pattern fabric underneath. I feel this design worked out really well and the back fabric gives the colour the design needs but also the interact stitching.

I did a few samples of the Eiffel tower as I wanted to try out some different techniques on this. one of the design I cut the Eiffel tower into two embroidery hoops and then used some of the recycled fabrics and used hand embroidery and stitch the eiffel tower into the fabric. The second one I also used hand embroidery but this time it was the full length of the eiffel tower wit a row of trees. I used hand embroidery for the tower and used a french knot to create the texture of the trees at the bottom. For the final sample I had the same design as the second sample but used my sewing machine to draw the design and instead of a french knot I used reverse applique and had a green fabric coming through once you cut the top fabric away.

I then focused my attention on the architecture that surrounds the Eiffel tower. i have made two building samples that are my favourite out of all the once I have done. The first I used machine embroidery to stitch the design. I used this pretty daisy material that was in my box of fabrics that I collected from the shop. The second I had two layers of fabrics just like my Notre Dame sample I drew the design on the top plain fabric and had a striped pattern fabric underneath. I used my sewing machine to do free embroidery and drew the design onto fabric. This design had trees either side of the building, I then used french knots to create the texture of the trees. Once I had finished creating the french knots I then cut away the top fabric to reveal the bottom.

Setting up the exhibition

We have finally setting up our exhibition space me and Tahlia were sharing the same space and worked together to come up with a good layout for all of our designs. We tried many different ways but finally after re arranging them on the floor decided we would have our 6 samples on the outside and have both of our 2 fat quarters on the inside. After showing Kierene he suggested not having my second fat quarter in there as there wasn’t anywhere to put it and it looked really good the way we had presented it. I am really happy with how my designs look.

Final Evaluation of the Year

I have enjoyed this year alot. I feel that textiles is where my heart and inspirations lies. I feel alot more comfortable exploring my idea and designs in this course compared to being in the maker course.

I have learnt a huge amount in this year of university from creating CAD visuals, digital stitch, fabric dyeing, natural dyeing and many other things. The digital stitch has become a massive influence in my work aswell as machine embroidery. I feel this is an area that best suits me and I feel that I can continue to develop my stitching skills with the help from Maggie, who has been a great contact to help me with any questions I have.

I have felt very positive about this year and look forward to going into level 6. The whole process of working with a hypothetical brief and finding a company I would like to work for and creating designs that would be suited to their target market. I have very much enjoyed creating lots of samples and just experimenting with different techniques. One of the things I have enjoyed the most is getting re-acquainted with a rag rugging I did this technique back in high school and I forgot how enjoyable and therapeutic the process is. I have also enjoyed developing my skills with digital stitch which is something I want to be able to pursue in level six and continue to develop.

 

I heart NY Design

I created one more design for new York and that was just including the I heart NY iconic sign and the HOPE statue that is located near Times Square. I only wanted to include these as they are both signs and I believed would work well together in a repeat design.

I then created red and white striped water colour one trying to represent some of the American Flag, but without the blue from the flag.

London Underground Design

When I went to London and any other previous visits I may have had over the years I have always enjoy going on the underground and I have always loved the underground sign if you wish of the London underground and feel it’s an iconic part of London and Britain as many people can see that sign and know instantly what that is and where you will find it.

Since I have been looking at repeat patterns a lot recently I wanted to create a design using the London underground sign.

I then repeated this design to more times so I could add colour to them using water colour. Here is the result of that. I am very pleased with the outcome and would like to try more colours out to see the impact it has on the design.