Maps & More update

This year's Textile Explorations at Littleheath Barn Studio has come to an end.  Over the past 9 months I have shared various aspects of Maps & More.  Today I have put most of it together.

Firstly, there's the cover to my sketchbook.

8" square sketchbook

Sketchbook cover using one of the samples I made on the back

Some pages from my sketchbook

Colour mixing dyes

I've included photos of my finished pieces.

And here they are so you can see them

 

The square books aren't finished.  The peach one needs some stitches. The blue one will have small fabric collages and some stitches.

I am going to leave the rectangular book as it is and use it as a sample for a workshop I'm teaching next month.

Thanks for being here today.
Bernice

Book Covers

During this year of attending Maps & More at Littleheath Barn Studio I became somewhat addicted to printing fabric grid patterns.

And then not knowing what to do with the fabric.

But recently I made these book covers:

8x8 inch Maps & More workbook

8x8 inch Venice sketchbook

11x11 inch Australian Connections workbook

A5 Octopus sketchbook from Maps Summer School 2022

Love them!

Thanks for being with me today
Bernice

Grand Canal

Amazingly, I have finished another piece.  I went to a Studio Day at Littleheath this week.  I wanted to catch up with the Maps & More work.  At the last workshop day I had pieced the canal section and then at home I had pieced that into the background fabric.

This week I added very narrow satin stitch lines on the sewing machine.

Back at home I trimmed the whole pieces ready for binding.

 

 

I used a piece of fabric printed with the same breakdown screen in a different colour to cut binding strips.  I machined these onto the right side.  Then folded them over to the back and hand stitched the binding down.

Onwards and upwards!

I still have lots of fabric and bits and pieces I made during the process sessions.  We have two actual workshop sessions left although I suspect that I won't use everything up.

I still have fabric left from the Maps Summer School in 2022 despite having made several pieces!

There was only one hanging book - just photographed twice!

Thanks for joining me today
Bernice

Maps & More new work

After several sessions at Littleheath Barn trying out techniques and processes for the Maps & More workshop, we are now looking at making final pieces.

One of the things I've wanted to do this year is challenge myself to make different work from my usual cut it up, sew it back together wall hangings.

So this week I tore up fabric I had dyed and printed and bonded the strips to a piece of calico - not really such a different process!

However this time I made a curved piece based on the shape of the Grand Canal on a map of Venice.

I had used breakdown printing to print this large piece of fabric.  Instead of putting thickened dye on the screen I had only used Manutex through a stencil of a map of Venice.  I used a coloured thickened dye to print the screen.

I cut a matching curve from the background fabric and machined the edges together.  (Sorry the photo is a bit blurry).

I had to hand stitch the small inner curve as I couldn't get it under the machine foot.

Then I cut the curve for the other side and machined the pieces together.

I put some felt and a backing fabric and machined down the 'canal'.

I haven't decided how to quilt the rest of the background so I've put it on one side for now and have returned to working on Chaos to Calm.

Thanks for joining me today
Bernice