Project 6 Stage 3

Applique practise

I set myself the task of thinking of different ways to stitch fabric onto fabric.  For the purposes of creativity I've decided that nothing I suggest will be washed!

The whole sample

I used calico as my surface and cut up some felted wool from a jumper kindly ruined by a friends' mother in law.  To make it easy I applied some Bondaweb.

Just running stitch - very functional

Lots of French knots

All lengths and all angles

Organza ribbon and stitches

Very few stitches - needs Bondaweb

Several layers held by a bead and Bondaweb

Some of these are purely decorative and need webbing so that they lie flat to the fabric.  I like them all but I think my favourite is the one with just a few stitches it's really energetic.  More sedate and "pretty" is the one with French knots.

Next I decided to try some reverse applique where the fabric for the insert is underneath the main fabric.  I also wanted to try sandwiching some bits with Bondaweb so I thought I would combine the two tasks.

First I made my fabric from all sorts of bits, organza, fabric scraps, bits of cotton and some sequins.

It was very hard to photograph but by placing it against a window I got a fairly accurate picture.
I wanted to place this behind some of the dark grey felted wool I'd used earlier.  Not being the worlds most logical thinker I got into a tangle with Bondaweb (that with hindsight I shouldn't have touched).
I ended up with the job of retrieving something from a bit of a mess.

This is the reverse applique that had Bondaweb on it.  I couldn't get it off so I put some sheer fabric on the top.

This is the back.  I always try to be positive so what I now have is a reversible piece of work completely by accident!  What a learning curve.









 My granddaughter is 2 next week so I decided to make a card using the Bondaweb and tiny bits of stuff.  This is the result.  I had to cut it to shape so some of the glitz disappeared but it is really pretty.

I've wanted to use some of my previous work and develop it a bit so my next experiment was with some printing I did earlier in the course.  It took me a long time to settle on which fabrics to use for the applique; everything I liked seemed far to heavy.  Eventually I hit on this combination of plastic bags, paper and sinamay.  Nothing is stitched on around the edge but it is held by stitches radiating from the centre of the flowers.  I like this and I'm enjoying thinking differently about the materials I use.

Beaney J.  1993,   The Art of the Needle. Pantheon Books. New York
Reid, A. 2011, Stitch Magic.  A C Black. London