Machine Embroidery

I experimented most with the Tailor Tacking foot in my machine embroidery workshop as I found that this could create marks that linked in with my drawings and translated particular features really well. The colours selected for my technical samples were based on the colour workshop from the very start of the project giving me an initial colour pallet to work with.

When thinking about creating more directed and refined samples I realised my colour ways had to change to give a stronger link to my visual research.

However after a tutorial with Nigel where we discussed what direction we were taking our samples in, what was working successfully and what we wanted to push forward, it was suggested to me that because my work was primarily about mark making, perhaps I could think about simply using a black and white colour pallet. Before this suggection I was finding it really difficult to be happy with my samples particularly within the element of colour. I began to be more selective and purposeful with my choice of fabric, experimenting with opaque, delicate materials such as silk crepeline. The nature of this material allowed me to create really original samples that were in strong context with my drawings.

Had I have had more time to continue experimenting within this workshop I would have definitely stuck to the monochrome pallet. I wanted to explore working with white thread on to black material giving a subtle contrast to samples I had already achieved.

After being reminded of bonderweb, I went back to a technique I learnt in my BTEC art and design course. This particular drawing of lace really reminded me of the effect giiven by painting onto bonderweb and then ironing it on to fabric. I thought about how this could give an initial surface to work into with some of the emroidery techniques and perhaps if colour had have been more important to me for this workshop at this stage, this would have been an alternative way to bring it across my samples.

Analysing Colour

I find colour one of the most inspiring elements about creative work and analysing colour in such a strict way as we were shown in the colour workshop was something I really enjoyed. Being very critical on what I could see enabled me to achieve a much more realistic use of colour. This is something I experimented further with in my own time and found that it helped me with directing my colour pallet with in my work and also helped me translate it to others.



Looking at colours from collected fabrics.

Initially being quite loose and allowing room for errors when searching for the right colours allowed me to feel more confident at this exercise. I then looked over the swatches of colours I had picked out and narrowed them down more decisively to make colour ways based on the fabrics.

Reflection of Sampling Project

My inspiration for this sampling project was based on the words new and old. I applied them to the things I collect and what people in previous eras collected.  My initial drawings were from things that I keep around me, decorative objects that I have collected in the past.

However I was aware that there was no flow or link between the objects that I was drawing or any real connection that held the project together naturally. I decided to focus on the old element of my project and began to look at perfume bottles and their ornate designs. My work began to take more of a direction in mark making and patterns and linked in really well with some drawings of lace that I had done previously in the project. This then progressed through my machine embroidery and I began to manipulate the processes and techniques shown to me to bear more of a distinct relation to my visual research.  I think at first I was restricting my thoughts in the way I was worried that my work had to visually represent perfume bottles but actually simply looking at the object and thinking about what element I wanted to extract from it allowed my work to become more original and not just trying to recreate what I had seen.

One particular foot in embroidery worked really well for my samples. The tailor tacking foot allowed me to create really delicate illustrative marks. I wanted to bring across this element of transparency and working with materials such as silk organza not only exaggerated the marks but also allowed me to work the fabric in a much easier way.

Originally the colour choices in my workshop had come from colour experimentation that I had done from a post card which at this point had no strong relation to my visual research. After experimenting with relevant colours of blues and greens in my samples I realised that my work for this particular workshop wasn’t about colour. Therefore limiting myself to a simpler monochrome colour pallet allowed me to focus entirely on the marks that I was making with the machine.

I have definitely been made more aware of what can be achieved in machine embroidery as my previous experience has been with a simple free hand embroidery foot or a straight stitch foot. I think that there is the possibility within the next part of my project to combine both my skills in machine embroidery and the skills I have yet to learn in die and fibre workshop.  Although colour became less of an important feature in my samples for this workshop, I am going to continue with my colour pallets to help me develop my samples in the next workshop.