What have I learned?

What have I learned this week whilst making face coverings?

I hadn't planned to make face coverings.  My type of machine sewing is to add texture.  It's random and it's haphazard.  None of the skills required to make face coverings.

So what did you learn, I hear you say.  I'm glad you asked.

I learned that I haven't lost my dress making skills after all.  I last made my own clothes in the 1960s.  But guess what!  I can still hack it

I learned to value what I was doing.  Over the last 5 months I've been looking at why I don't value my work.  But making these face coverings has proved to me that my work has value and it's okay to be proud of what I'm doing.  It's also useful to have a purpose in what I'm doing and to know my 'why'.

I learned patience.  Haphazard sewing doesn't cut it when you need to topstitch.  But I dug deep, found my patience gene, and topstitched - mostly neatly - and found I enjoyed it.

I also found that it has made me really keen to finish making face coverings so I can get back to doing what I do best - haphazard and frayed.  But with added value!

And I haven't wanted to do that since the end of February.

Thanks for joining me today.
Bernice

Piecing with Leah

The thing about printing is that you are bound to have fabrics you like and fabrics you don't.  You can always use the fabrics you don't as the backing for a piece of work!

Leah uses what she calls 'bricks' in a lot of her work.  These are rectangles of fabric which she usually uses horizontally.  I love the look of her pieces but don't want my work to be a poor imitation of hers.  I did however want to try out the method.  As much of my Venice work is based on the architecture I thought I would piece these 3"x1" 'bricks vertically.  I spent a long time cutting up fabric.  I spent even longer - nearly 4 hours ironing the bondawebbed pieces to the backing fabric.

It is now ready to machine stitch.  I may handstitch on it too before stretching it on a canvas.

I also tried making log cabin squares.

I also made 3 pieces that were 'half squares'.  Being pedantic they are two-thirds squares!

I didn't always get the hang of the pattern so sometimes the intended middle square wasn't in the middle!  Ho hum!

I was very fortunate that my table was next to the design wall so could pin my squares up as I went along.

Once I had finished all the squares we played with the placing of them.  See if you can spot the difference!

Then I 'auditioned' narrow strips of the solid colour on the pieces before sewing it all together.

Once it was sewn together I bondawebbed the small strips to the fabric.

It's now got a backing fabric and acrylic felt wadding, ready to stitch.

I learned a lot during this 5 day workshop - and not just about screen printing and piecing.  I know that I am a fairly slapdash artist which is probably why I like mixed media.  I like slapping paint down on paper or fabric and taking as little time as possible over it once I have the idea.  But piecing 3"x1" strips is a slow process, as is stitching log cabin squares.  But with Leah's constant support and encouragement I was able to stick with it and achieve the makings of two really good pieces.  I am hoping to continue to apply myself more effort to my work now that I've seen what results I can achieve.

I thoroughly recommend taking course with Leah.  And if you can't make to Urban Studio North you can always buy the book.

Thanks for joining me today.
Bernice

Even more Venice!

I am continuing working on my Venice booklets.  This new one is a mix of fabric and papers.  I bought the rusted fabric from Bex Raven.

I have been watching videos from an online class called A Little Book of Whispers by Laly Mille.   My book is nothing like hers apart from the size.  When the pages are folded they are 10cms square.

Each pair of pages has been glued together to make a doublesided page.   Of course it would have been better if I had done the stitching before I glued them together as now I have no way to hide the knots in the threads.

As well as stitching I am going to add some words and possibly other elements to the pages.

I'll let you know how I get on.

Thanks for stopping by.
Bernice

Pathways

When I was at the the NEC in July I bought some rusted fabric from Bex Raven.   I tore some of it up into 7 inch squares.

I also tore up 7 inch calico squares and for the backing some Tim Holtz fabric I had bought in Oregon.  I tore up some six inch squares of calico as well.  I put the rusted fabric onto the 7" calico with the 6" square sandwiched in between.

Here are some of the squares tacked together ready to stitch.

I used back stitch, running stitch, straight stitch and French Knots on the squares.  I used the rusted patterns to direct where the stitching went.  I also wrote a Bible verse on each square that was relevant to the theme of Pathways.  (Sorry it's not a very good photo)

When I had finished all of the squares I folded the calico over and attached the Tim Holtz fabric on the back by using running stitch around the square.

And here are all the squares together waiting to be attached to each other and the pole the hanging will hang from.

Thanks for stopping by.
Bernice