The pages for my new artist book are almost finished.
The surfaces are embellished with hand stitch and scraps of vintage cloth so I'm now considering the left hand edges, the edges which will be secured when this finally reaches book form.
Once the edges are attached with more hand stitching these pieces will need to be backed with more stitched paper.
I will then bind them together with either ribbon or hand stitched ball buttons....or maybe both.
A nine inch square pocket for a wrapping cloth.
Embroidered and lined, this pocket is the final piece of the surface of this cloth.
Next up....a little wadding and backing with a complimentary fabric.
My tailor tacking foot.
More paper stitching, more white.
My recent work on paper is continuing.
Stitched papers as a base, embellished with hand embroidery, snippets of vintage cloth, trims at edges, a button or two, tiny pom poms and now half inch, hand made Suffolk puffs.
I am aiming for five pieces here which will then be backed with stitched paper before being turned into a small book.
A small book of white and embroidery.
(white is so difficult to photograph....hope the image quality is ok for you)
The past couple of days have been spent on my sewing machine creating surfaces, paper and cloth as a base for hand embroidery.
The paper ones are much needed at the moment as I'm currently working on a few more of these.
Hand embroidery on these pieces is the next stage.
There will be lots of bullion and French knots along with buttonhole stitch edges and vintage fabric snippets.
These aren't 'new', in fact some of them are positively ancient!
I'm reminding myself of the value of having what Rachel rightly called a large amount of 'resources'....not stash as I called it.
Buttons and Suffolk puffs, perfect for those little finishing touches.
In addition to hand embroidery I'm also partial to a little bit of patchwork.
If you follow this link and scroll down there are some 30ish posts where I have used patchwork in several different ways.
Because I use this process regularly it's always handy to have a stash and the means to add to that stash.
These are things I pick up when I'm in need of a half hour of not thinking, just keeping my hands busy and my brain empty.
There are fabric pieces I've cut ready to add to templates, individual covered templates waiting for what comes next along with finished patches and some partially finished patches.
More has been added to the pieces you saw in my last post.
What I love most about these pieces is the irregular edges which come from tearing papers, overlaying papers.
Curved lines of buttonhole stitch, bullion knots and French knots emphasize those irregualr edges.
It's then really exciting to find snippets of white to add to that surface and continue embellishing.
Today I realised I need to stitch more papers in order to finish this piece.
Another process for these compositions which I love.
More white today, another diversion.
This time it's paper.
A stitched paper base, embellished with hand embroidery and snippets of vintage and new cloth.
There are plans for crystal buttons, seed beads and pearls too.
The large hand made ball buttons may find a place....we'll see how and if they fit further along in this process.
Petals, patchwork, Liberty print fabric.
I bought this fabric a couple of weeks ago when I was in London.
I've been itching to use it ever since.
That always happens with new stuff despite the huge pile I have which is 'in progress'.
I'm guessing I'm not the only one?
There is a short video here, a show and tell of all my London embroidery related purchases.
The progression of a design sheet.
The first three images show new additions which were completed before the embellishments on the last image.
The last image has patterned paper applied using hand stitch with a ribbon channel partially attached.
Once fully attached the ribbon channel will be further embellished with tiny seed beads.
It's coming together!
White.
Piecing.......vintage white, white trim, white couture fabcric snippets.
These pieces will be embroidered with white....bullion knots, French knots, tiny running stitches.
I intended to create a short video...ha.
It's 17 minutes long but you can skip through it.
(Sorry for my absence...again. I have had facial surgery. It kept me quiet for a while x)
You can enlarge the image by clicking on it x
I've been away. Did you miss me?
I went to London and I went shopping...all things embroidery related.
A video show and tell.
Some of my embroidered petals have now been used for a patchwork flower.
This is the third finished page for my little silk book.
I have five more to complete and then I need to decide how I will embellish the reverse of each page.
At the moment I am completely devoid of ideas!
Do you remember the gingham drawstring pouch?
This is a small selection of the design work which accompanied that piece.
I am drawing on this collection to inform my current work, some of which you saw yesterday and I feel very fortunate to have all these resources at my fingertips.
Accessories, embellishments, adornments.
These have been made for some time, all part of a bigger collection, the little silk book, the wrapping cloth, the embroidered notebook.
Today I'm assessing, assessing embellishments, wondering what other forms of accessory I can create to complement this body of work.
Remember...your stash can never be too big!
Patchwork flowers for my wrapping cloth.
Hand embroidered petals for more patchwork, more patchwork for my little silk book.
Silk Dupion pages, hand painted pattern, embroidered motifs, patchwork flowers.
Last time I spoke about this little silk book I had finished one page.
I now have two.
I need eight.
I also need eight page reverses and another six patchwork flowers.
Best crack on Karen....
New panels have been added to this cloth, this wrapping cloth.
You haven't seen it for quite a while because I have been concentrating on paper lately but I often have the urge to go back to cloth and when that happens this is the piece I pick up.
There are two new panels, one a hand painted and embroidered piece, the other plain white Broderie Anglaise which will be embellished with patchwork flowers.
I think this is almost finished in terms of the embroidered, front surface.
Now I have to decide what to do with regards to the reverse.
It's been a bit of a surface design week!
The doodling on paper from here has been added to....there's still a long way to go.
A little bit of fabric may find its way onto this one as it develops....maybe.
And then last time I was here it was sheets and sheets of surface design work.
I get a bit addicted to this, the paper pieces, the possibilities of those.
We've been doing a little design work in class so these sheets created a while ago came out.
It's such a good creative exercise to examine pieces like this.
They reinspire and spark new ideas regardless of your current project.
Techniques used here are transferable
Colour, theme and pattern may differ but presentation technique can be used again and again.
A paper base, lots of French knots, some running stitch, fabric snippets, paper inserts, beads and sequins.
Just doodling really but hoping this evolves into a design sheet crammed with information and inspiration.
More has been added to this since I took these photographs.
I will show you that progress soon.
Another piece is taking shape inspired by this collection.
A little embroidered silk book measuring six by six inches.
Below, the first page.
