Chapter 11 Further design ideas

I started by using paper samples to practice  more design ideas by arranging, cutting up and rearranging various tonal patterns before going onto fabric samples in the second half of the chapter.

Fabric Samples

This is the beginning of a fabric sample using the stack and whack method starting with 4 layers of patterned fabrics

Patterned pieces arranged to develop a counter change

Stitched using  some forward facing seams

I used a paper pattern to play with cutting and re-arranging the pattern

Sample stitched…….

The finished sample, cut and re-arranged with lace / triangular snippets inserted into two parallel seams;  really pleased with this.

This is based on paper sample 20

!st stage

Sample cut and re-arranged

Sample stitched

Finished sample. I wanted to see what would happen if I inserted strips of net into the seams and then cut, rearranged and stitched again to see the effects.

Stage 2

This is based on the mosaic pattern we made in chapter 10 but this time using patterned fabrics.

!st stages produced using the Fibonacci Sequence described in Chapter 10 to produce top, middle and lower pieces with increasing piecing and blending of tonal qualities

Lower section

I wanted to see what would happen if I cut the lower piece

Cuts made………

Finished sample - 3 sections stitched together [needed a big machine needle [110] to manage the bulk!

Reverse side….

I was in Glasgow recently and was struck by  the patterning in this view of the Grand Central Station….

A colourful interlude!

We had a street party in Sept. around the theme ‘Indian Summer’. I ran the cake stall with a friend and decided to make some Bollywood bunting . Anyone for cake? The weather was beautiful, we had a great day and our cake stall raised nearly £300 for a local special needs school.

Chapter 10 Piecing. A method of cutting and seaming

This designing method is based on the traditional Seminole patchwork method.

I have developed tonal columns using paper and then fabric, these have become more fragmented as  I have worked.

Paper samples first with working sheet below

Fabric sample 1 [front and back views]

Fabric sample 2 Creating a mosaic pattern

The process of cutting and seaming repeatedly [see working sheet above]. So glad I photographed as I worked as it would have been impossible to appreciate the nature of the changes. Photos show front and back views.

Paving in Lisbon

What did this remind me of?

My black and white monoprinting in module 2!

The way in which the stones had been laid created a fascinating optical illusion

Summer School 2012

Under the guidance of our tutor Sandra Meech we used painted, torn and cut papers and fabrics to make our own collaged compositions which were transferred onto fabric
Then our painted papers and colour and black and white photocopies were washed with Brusho paints before being ripped, torn and stitched used to make a stitch bound book according to the personal themes we’d chosen.
I’m delighted with mine and have been wanting to do something like this for a long time. The subject I chose was very evocative for me as I have many happy memories associated with it,
My subject was my Godmother’s Old garden Door which stood in the garden of her old farmhouse on the top of the Mendip Hills in Somerset which I used to run through back and forth  when I was little. This door no longer exists sadly and has been replaced by a polished new one! So I have photos of my brother’s garden door as he lives next door to the original so the local stone is featured and I have the garden doors in my local park in Brighton. It seems to me that all garden doors hold their own mystery and wonder.
My Godmother was an artist but suffering from Parkinson’s disease she lost the use of her hands towards the end of her life but undaunted she told me that she could still paint with words and she left us with two published books of poems and her personal memoirs
These are the two poems I’ve used as the theme for my book:

Here are some of my favourite ages from my book: