Corset creation

It's been a long time since I made clothes and even when I did they were quite basic, but recently Art a'Peel (the local textile group I'm a member of) challenged the members to create an artistic corset.  It was interesting to see each members approach to the theme - some did two dimensional designs which were framed, or on canvas, and others created actual corsets in varying sizes.
It's always inspiring to see how each person interprets a challenge.  For me I threw myself wholeheartedly into creating a full size corset with no idea at all what I was doing, as lining and boning were new techniques.  However, I have to admit once it was done I was quite thrilled with the end result.  It's good to push your boundaries and try something new - we never know what we're capable of until we try.

I started off with some Osnaburg fabric I'd previously rust dyed, as it had good strength but was soft and manageable, and lined it with Quilters Muslin.  The embroidery was hand stitched and on an evening sitting attaching the many sequins was quite relaxing.

The rings for the lacing are metal curtain rings, heated with a heat gun and dipped in embossing powder to coat them with a colour to match the sequins and embroidery.  It was fiddly but worked well and tied it all together (pardon the pun!).

My grandson asked me if it was for me, or a young person - I've learnt to smile sweetly and not take offence.

I'm still here ....

I had hoped that after the house build and completing my C&G that I could throw myself whole heartedly into my creative work, but sometimes life throws you a curve ball and all plans are thrown out the window.  Last October we were struck with the news that my mum has cancer, and life as we know it hasn't been the same since.  As hard as you try your mind is always elsewhere and priorities change.  I've tried to read blogs and keep up, but sometimes even that has been too hard, and writing my own blog has been near impossible.  However, I'm trying to take a deep breath and keep normality in my life and so today I have decided to get back on the band wagon and reconnect with the outside world, I hope you haven't forgotten me.

After long days at the hospital the evenings were difficult, it was hard to settle and relax, so I turned to what always helps me .. my stitching.  I started stitching quotes about a mothers love which in turn evolved into a rug quilt for mum's birthday.  It was a way of showing my mum how much she means to me and she now keeps the quilt near her at all times, as she knows its full of love and comfort from me.

Above is the finished quilt, and below are some of the quotes. 

So not only is the quilt a comfort to mum, but was a comfort to me in stitching and creating it.  Such is the joy of something hand made.

Another UFO finished

One of my favourite embroidery designers is Tanja Berlin, a graduate of the RSN, who has been a professional embroiderer for the past 10 years.  She's based in Canada, but came to Australia to teach at the Beating Around The Bush convention in 2009.  As soon as I read that Tanja was coming to Oz, I just had to book my place at the convention, and all three of the classes I undertook were with Tanja.

To date, 4 years later, I've still only finished one of the pieces.  Shameful, I know!

This was another of the UFO's I decided to complete during the past year ... Tanja's "Tropical Bird" design, a 2-sided embroidery technique.

 

Despite being initially daunted by the prospect of a 2 sided piece, Tanja's instructions and personal guidance made it quite simple to create. Her instructions are second to none, and even for a piece with a total embroidered size of only 7.5cm x 9cm she still provides 19 x A4 pages of precise instructions and diagrams, with clear photography of the finished piece.

I loved doing this little design, but have yet to work out just how to frame it to its full advantage so that both sides can be seen ... something to ponder on.

In the meantime I've two more of Tanja's designs to complete so I'd better get cracking, heh?!

Where have I been?!

Hello fellow bloggers & blog readers,
Where have I been for the past 8 months? No, I've not forgotten you, sometimes life just gets so busy and the months zoom by.
Have I been creative? I sure have .... on a big scale .... hubby and I have created our own new home, built by us with blood, sweat and a few tears, sometimes of joy, sometimes of relief, and sometimes of sheer exhaustion, but its all been worth it.  We're in, and loving every minute of it.
This was the beginning - what used to be our workshop

and now this is it  - a home.

The view from the street.

There's still some titivating to do with the front wall, which needs rendering, and the pickets replacing, and the lawn tidying up ... and, and, and .... there's always something that will need doing for a while yet, but its liveable and completed inside.

Unfortunately the sewing/textile side has had to take a back seat, but I have managed to spend a few hours in the evenings to work on finishing some UFO's.

One of them in this Jenny McWhinney Camel blanket which I started in 2003 - how slack is that!?  Ten years to finish it, but I'm sure there's many of you out there with similar UFO's shoved in cupboards or drawers and forgotten about - its never too late to dig them out and work on them.  

I'm patting myself on the back for finishing the stitching, but I've still got to complete the blanket - I'm trying to find a suitable backing fabric with a bit of "oomph" and all the right colours.  I'm sure I'll find it sooner or later. 

More finished UFO's to come in the next post.

Noodle by name only

My noodle box is finally complete, and I have to say I'm quite chuffed with it.  It's a "noodle box" by name only, and intended as a storage box.   

I was going to put a handle on it, but I think it would detract from the design work, so I've decided to leave it as it is.

I'm not a beader and am a bit ignorant to the ways of stringing beads, but I persevered and finally got two tassels that I liked, and added them to the top as handles to pull the two sides apart.

I was pleasantly surprised to find the colour beads I needed in my stash.  Do you ever find that despite all the stuff you have, you never have the right colour, right shape, right texture that you need and still have to go out and buy more!? 

This is a view of the inside of the box which is plain, but compliments the stitching on the outside.  I enjoyed making the box and plan to make more in different shapes and sizes - but without all the needle lace.

Also a big thanks to Amanda at View From our Hill for going out her way to find and email me info on Dorset buttons.  I've done a few more and have also been working on buttonhole rings on a Hedebo stick to add a bit of "zing" to my tassels ...

... just got to crack on and make them! 

WA Craft, Quilt & Stitch Show 2010

I have to take my hat off to True Blue Exhibitions and all the exhibitors at this years WA Craft, Quilt & Stitch show for giving us one of the best shows we've had for a long time.  Instead of going home jaded and disappointed from seeing the same old thing, yesterday I went home full of inspiration and a head full of information and ideas.
It was set out well so we could get around the stalls and view products, and the exhibitions and guests were wonderful.
This is the view from the top section of the show, looking down on the stalls.  If you enlarge the pic and look to the left you will see my favourite stall ... Dale and Ian's "Thread Studio" and all their wonderful, inviting goodies.

The first workshop I went to was Rusty Walkley of the Embroiderer's Guild of WA, who gave two talks.  One was about all the different styles of embroidery with many samples ... some styles I've never even heard of, and the second talk was caring for your heirloom embroideries, and laundering, which was really helpful as I have to cover that topic in Module 12.  I could've sat and listened to Rusty all day, she's a walking encyclopedia of information relating to embroideries and I'm only hoping I can read my scribbled shorthand as I was frantically trying to write down everything she was telling us.

The exhibitions this year were brilliant.  One of which was Jenny Bowker's "The Tentmakers of Old Cairo" which was beyond belief.  These quilts are hand appliqued by men in Cairo and are a visual feast.  Go to Jenny's website http://www.jennybowker.com/ and blog http://www.jennybowker.blogspot.com/ to learn about them, it's fascinating.   Here's a few photographs to whet your appetite.

This quilt below was created by Jenny Bowker.

Another exhibition was of embroideries from Vietnam.  A lady stood next to me stating "yes, they're done by machine" and I had to gently inform her that they weren't, they were all hand stitched.  I walked away as she was picking her jaw up off the floor.

This of one of the more traditional Vietnamese embroideries.

and below is a resist dyed fabric.

The Embroiderer's Guilds of Diannella, Greenwood and Kallaroo put on a wonderful exhibition of their work.  I still love the traditional hand embroidery and it always gives me a warm fuzzy feeling when I see lovely pieces.  I think also, I can relate to the amount of hours many of them have put in to create some of these works of art.  It always peeves me when people think its "twee" to do needlework, and don't appreciate the talent and time it takes to create it.  I get amazed that you can enter a piece of digitally  enhanced photographic work into an art exhibition (all done by the push of buttons on a computer) but embroideries and textiles are classed as "craft" and not art, so can't be entered into the same artistic exhibitions, when there's a hell of a lot more skill put into embroidery and textile art, than digital photos.  HUMPHHH!!!!  Well ... that's got that off my chest!

And yet another exhibition was the "Art to Wear" by textile artists from around Australia, but unfortunately I didn't note the names of the artists who created these works, so I do apologise to them, and if they see my blog I  hope they contact me with their names, so I can amend this post and give them due credit for their work.  These following two photos were my favourites, I think because they were actually wearable.

These creations below were made from plastic bread bags, and although creative and imaginative, I can't see myself wearing one .... but then again, maybe that's where the saying "if that's your bag" comes from.

The main reason I went to this year's show was to see the textile artist Ken Smith.  I'd tried to see him in Brisbane at the Textile Fair but he was busy with classes, so I was determined not to miss out this time round.  Ken put on two talks, one about creating faces and figures in his textile art, and the other was an inspiration into creative machine embroidery "No rules, Only possibilities".  I found both talks interesting and inspirational, as I did his actual pieces of work.  They are exquisite, and I went home with my brain pounding with ideas and hope that I can achieve the same techniques if I try.  I've always been a bit afraid of free machining and have only just mastered particular techniques in order to get through the City and Guilds requirements.  I'm hoping when my course is finished I'll have the time to play about and experiment more without any time constraints.

Ken is a really friendly and helpful fella and open to helping you with all your questions.We chatted for quite a while, and I'm really sad that I don't have the time to be able to attend his workshops here in WA, and I know I'll regret it later.  I was really upset to learn from him that he had 5 of his workshop sample pieces stolen during a recent spate of workshops he conducted.  I think its awful that people can do that, and don't  understand how their consciences allow them to enjoy something thats not rightfully theres.  So if you're the BUGGER who knicked them ... RETURN THEM !!!!

Above is a waistcoat created by Ken and below is a close up of his machine embroidery work - you can see the amount of work that goes into his creations.  You should go to his website to read more about him and see his work ... there's a funny story on there about his fungus pieces, where a customs official wanted to quarantine them, they looked so realistic.  Here's the link to Ken's site http://www.bennett-smith.com/

And last, but not least, here's a pic of the goodies I bought at the show.  Usually I go there on a shopping frenzy, and like a fat kid in a sweety shop I want to buy EVERYTHING, but this time it was more about the exhibitions and workshops, so I was a good girl and bought only a few items. 

I'm hoping to use the stencils for painting on fabric, and the Oliver Twist and chenille threads I'm hoping to use for my tassels in Module 10.

Now I've got to put all this new found knowledge into practice and get back to work ....

It's done !

Yes, it's done!  Finally!  The wall hanging is complete.  65 hours and many bars of chocolate later .... but, I am pleased with it.  I like the colours and the balance.  I know its quite representational, but ... that's me!

This is my piece that contains mostly hand stitching, and boy ... was there a lot of it.  So hopefully the next assignment will be quicker with more machine stitching.

My source was Anglo Saxon & Viking metalwork and art, so I used colours that were muted as their fabrics would have been rustic and woven.  I've used rusted osnaburg as a backing fabric with a wool plaid as the main ground fabric, with purple/blue and gold to represent the wealth of the kings who acquired the fantastic metal work that inspired me.

It's then secured to a length of jarrah wood with black upholstery tacks, and hung by two hooks and a black chain. 

I'm now just tallying up the cost of it, and finalising the instructions to make it and then I can sit back and catch my breath.  Next step .... design a set of accessories.

Since the last post I did attend the Craft Fair at Perth Convention Centre last week.  I go every year and am always waiting to be bowled over by something new and exciting, but it seems there's just nothing new out there.  Have we been saturated with craft, or is it just me ?!  Where's all the embroidery and textile work?  Years ago you used to see lots of hand stitching and heirloom work ... where's it all gone?

I'm hoping to go to Brisbane in June to attend the Textile Fair over there.  Unfortunately its not coming to Perth, so it means a 5 hour flight ... hope its worth it.  I'm hungry for idea's and stimulation.  Thank God for the internet!!

Module 9 Wall Hanging

Before commencing my wall hanging I decided to finish off my crazy patchwork sample to be a stand alone sample, finished as a mini quilt.  I did this with the folded star window, but didn't quite get the corners of the  binding right, so I tried again, determined to master the mitred corners.  Think I've got it.

Then I added a sleeve at the back so that I can insert a rod and hang  it up for display.

After procrastinating for a few days I finally took a deep breath and started to work on the Anglo Saxon/Viking inspired wall hanging.  I don't feel good about this design, just feel that I haven't got it to come together like I want it to, but its early days, so we'll see where it leads.

To start I made a polystyrene mould of the cross I want for the centre of the design, and glued cord to create an impression in the finished cast.

I then covered the mould with water soluble paper, pressing it into the grooves I'd made, and leaving it to dry for 2 days.  Now its done I have to colour it.  Of course I'd like to paint it, but the whole thing would dissolve ... Duh! so I'll have to go with a wax or something.  This'll need some thinking about ...

... and the hardest part is - I can't even have chocolate to help me through the frustration, as I've taken a vow of abstinence, in the bid to lose weight.  By the end of the week I'll be ready to throttle something.

Crazy patchwork - Module 9

I finished my crazy patchwork sample today.  It took longer than I'd thought it would, but I'm quite happy with the finished result.

Although crazy quilting always looks a bit haphazard, you do have to do a fair bit of planning and head scratching to get it balanced and work within the colour schemes.

I think I've achieved that, but as its my first attempt I could be completely off-track, and have absolutely no idea at all .... so I'll leave that to the tutor to assess.

I did enjoy the hand embroidery .... its been ages since I've stitched by hand and I fell straight back into it, like wearing a comfortable pair of slippers.

I've been referring to loads of books I have on different stitch techniques and now I'm inspired to do some samplers of all the different stitches, but it'll have to wait a while ... want to get Module 9 finished first. 

 So that's 6 samples down and only one more to go ....

the last one is a folded patchwork piece.  I've got all the colours and fabrics sorted, and if I can drag myself out of bed early tomorrow I might, just might, get it done in a day.