Hi and welcome! 😍 I'm so grateful that you kept the linking party going without me. I'm way behind on reading, commenting and replying but I will get there. 😊 Here's what I've been working on since I've been back. I watched the latest TextileArtist.org Stitch Club workshop and quickly got hooked. Our teacher, Julia Wright, makes textured and sculptured landscape fragments with strips of coiled fabric.
Pink Turtlehead Flower
As I walked Poppy this summer, I started taking pictures of interesting flowers in the neighbourhood gardens. The pink turtlehead flower intrigued me and I thought that it would make an interesting art project some day. After watching Julia Wright's workshop, I decided to give this flower a try.
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| Pink turtlehead flowers |
This is the flower part of my piece. You can see the fabric coils that make up the image - it is a bit abstracted but the flowers, pods, leaves and stem are all there. I worked this part in a 12" embroidery hoop until it got too large. I'm working to cover an 8" x 8" canvas.
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| The flower part of the piece |
After that, it becomes more difficult - how to cover the fabric with coils and still make some sense. This is what it looked like when I first started this post. After considering it overnight, I decided to remove the green coils on the side. I think that the flowers are curved and that the almost straight green coils didn't fit in.
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| The flowers so far - with outline of leaves to be filled in |
I've kept the leaves and the flower buds that are underneath. At this time, I'm thinking that more leafy shapes would be best....we'll see!
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| The latest photo of the piece |
You can see around part of the piece the running stitch that outlines how large it needs to be. It's a very rough outline and there will be coils sticking out over the frame.
Making the Fabric Coils
The process of making the art starts with creating coils. I went through my scrappy strips for fabric that could be wound into these coils. Here are a few photos to give you an idea of the process.
I started off with a scrap of fabric (it's actually green). I ripped it up into strips, but only about a half inch from the edge. I did this for the whole piece of fabric. After that, I coiled the fabric with sewing and hand-quilting thread that I probably won't use to quilt with. Using irregular fabric strips creates bumps in the coils that add texture to the piece.
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| Fabric scrap |
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| Fabric scrap ripped into sections |
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| Rolling up the fabric into coils using thread |
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| Coil of fabric, bound with thread |
What I learned
- Julia Wright uses this technique to make abstract landscapes. I'm not sure how my piece will end up - there are a lot more details than there would be in a more linear landscape.
- The background fabric, where I removed the coils, is a bit messy, but it'll be covered again with coils, just in different shapes.
- At first I found it difficult to use scrappy strips to make the coils - as a quilter I want to sew them together! But I've gotten over it - I still have so many 😉
- Making coils to then use in the art is time consuming but it is very meditative and enjoyable. I've been making most of my coils outside in the back yard while keeping an eye on Poppy.
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| Poppy keeping the yard free of animals! |
Related links
- Julia Wright, website, Instagram
- Julia Wright, artist interview in TextileArtist.org
Linking parties
I'll be linking up to many fun linking parties. Why not check some out after you link up below?
Free Motion Mavericks
Welcome to week 551 of Free Motion Mavericks! I'm back home but getting over a cold and have no energy. I intended to feature your projects this week but I'm already very late in posting. Things should be back to normal next week.
It's your turn!
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