Chapter 12, towards an embroidered item, at last!, at least most of it.

i chose for my first sample a blue glazed cotton which i just happened to have in my box of bits. a layer of painted silk organza on top which was randomly painted with silk fabric paints and the design below in a 'glo in the dark' paint. unfortunately this needs to be a bit thicker to glo really well but i will investigate this further. this was outlined with fluorescent green stitching, which i am sorry to say the scan does not pick up too well. other random stitches were worked into the voids and further embellishment added with sequins and printing, using ends of straws, card and stencils.

i was not entirely happy with my blue sample so i started another one made from 4 separate pieces. cotton, cotton organdie, silk and linen all painted with fabric dyes. the stitching was a mixture of hand and machine,finally printing on top with card ends and straws.
the pieces were cut up across their width using lines from the above design.
i tried various re-arrangements. above they look like totems/faces, like the statues on Easter island.
weaving
with guess what? yes,tartan placed behind!
and finally i realised i wanted to add something else to the whole. stencilled tags painted silver. i even think the ends of the threads look like hair sticking up and i want to add eyes to them! today i bought myself a pair of tartan shoes!!! and i have just added another website to my list of useful sites, the museum of fabric brain art. absolutely amazing, especially the knitted brain! check it out!