M6 CHAPTER 5: FREE MACHINE STITCHERY TO INTERPRET DRAWINGS

 

This section shows several samples of free machine stitching inspired by my drawings in Chapter 1.  I tried to experiment with a range of backgrounds, colours, threads and stitches to achieve different effects and textures. The methods are briefly described below.

Sample 1: Cirrus clouds
Background: shibori dyed homespun
Threads: machine threads in blues & greys
Stitching: free machined zig-zag stitches in varying lengths

Sample 2: Foam bubbles
Background: dyed homespun
Threads: machine threads and Perle 5 in blues & purples
Stitching: free  machined straight stitches, cable stitch and whipstitch.

 

Sample 3: Waterfall
Background: dyed homespun
Threads: machine thread, rayon thread,   Perle 5 and silk chenille in blues, yellow-greens and red-browns
Stitching: straight stitches and cable stitch.

The silk chenille added a nice textural effect to this sample.

Sample 4: Sunset
Background: shibori dyed muslin
Threads: machine thread, rayon thread,   and Perle 5 in yellow, orange and red-brown
Stitching: Free machine straight stitches, cable and whipstitch. Extra yellow threads as highlights were couched on top with zig-zag.

Sample 5: Foam bubbles
Background: shibori dyed muslin
Threads: machine threads in orange, blue & green.
Stitching: Free machined circular whipstitch trying to pull the muslin.

An even more open weave may have resulted in a greater pulled effect. Nevertheless I liked the results in this sample.

Sample 6: Cumulus clouds (Monet inspired)Background:  dyed homespun cotton
Threads: machine threads and  Perle 5 in white, blue, purple & black.
Stitching: Free machined straight & zig-zag stitches, including cable stitch.

Sample 7: Ripples
Background:  dyed wool/rayon felt blend
Threads: machine threads and  Perle 5 in  blues & black, with silver metallic highlights.
Stitching: Free machined straight stitches in oval shapes, including cable stitch.

Sample 8: Sunset (picture from weather calendar)
Background: semi-transparent white silk organza coloured with multicoloured crayon design transferred from paper with mild heat. Finished sample was mounted on purple card so the colour showed through the semi-transparent organza.
Threads: machine threads  in  yellows, oranges & black.
Stitching: Mixture of zig-zag and a closed loop decorative stitch chosen from the machine menu.

I liked this sample and thought the effects on/under the organza were very interesting.

Sample 9: Cumulus Clouds
Background: Nylon net backed with a sheer blue polyester fabric.
Threads: machine threads, Perle 5 and silk chenille in teal blue, black and mauve.
Stitching: Mixture of free-machined zig-zag and straight stitches, including cable stitch.

Sample 10: Spa water
Background: Nylon net backed with a sheer blue polyester fabric.
Threads: white machine thread.
Stitching: Mixture of free-machining and rows of a decorative straight-style stitch (not simple straight stitch) chosen from the machine menu. This added a bit more definition and texture to the rows of stitching.

Some of the net was cut away to produce blue areas around the patches of white “foam”. This added to the contrast and gave a pleasing effect which could be developed further.

Sample 11: Waterfall
Background: Apricot polyester/cotton fabric with painted Vliesofix bonded to it.
Threads: coloured machine threads plus some  metallic threads for highlights.
Stitching: Mixture of straight stitch, free machining and rows of a decorative loopy stitch chosen from the machine menu.

I liked this sample and thought the stitch effects on the bonded background worked well together.

M6 CHAPTER 4: FABRICS & THREADS–COLOURING & BONDING

 

Dyes: A selection of Procion MX dyes were used to colour the fabrics & threads. Colours were selected to fit in with the colour schemes I wanted to explore from my earlier pictures of sky and water.

Colour Concentrates: A concentrate of each colour was prepared using 15 or 30 mL dye powder to 250mL hot tap water. A soda ash solution was prepared with 3 tablespoons soda ash to 1 L hot water.

Dilute dye solutions: These  were prepared using various proportions of dye concentrate/soda ash/warm water. In general I found that equal quantities  gave a good, reasonably vibrant result. Much paler colours were produced with a ratio of 1:2:3 dye/soda ash/water.

Dyed Threads: A variety of thick and thin threads were used (Perle, stranded). They were mainly space-dyed in a shallow tray with small quantities of dye solution spooned or painted onto the threads, which had been presoaked in dilute soda ash solution (30mL concentrate to 500mL water).  They were left for several hours or overnight before rinsing.

 

Dyed Fabrics:Homespun cotton, calico and a finer, more open weave cotton muslin were dyed in a range of colours, using various shibori techniques (clamping, binding, twisting) to create some interesting colour effects. I also tried to dye some small pieces of felt which I thought were wool or a predominantly wool blend, but the uptake of the dye was relatively weak so I concluded that they must have had a high synthetic content (see below).

Set 1: Manipulated fabrics were pre-soaked for 10-15 minutes in dilute soda ash solution, placed in a shallow tray and dye mixtures applied with a spoon or brush. These were left in contact with the fabric for 30 to 45 minutes before rinsing. The first two pictures show examples of the dyed cottons &  and the third is the muslin.

Set 2: These fabrics were not presoaked. They were spread out in a shallow tray and the dye painted onto the fabric. As soon as the dye had been applied the fabrics were sprinkled with large salt crystals and left for 45 to 60 minutes before rinsing. This gave interesting effects and subtle variations of tone where the dye had been drawn into the salt.

Bonded Colour: Attempts were made to colour Vliesofix with several drawing materials that I had on hand, including coloured pencils, Neocolor crayons, two types of pastels, and watercolour paints (as a change from acrylic). The pencils and pastels were not very successful as they tended to tear the webbing (see first photo below).

I had a little more success with the crayons.

but the best results were with the painted Vliesofix.

Fabrics with coloured webbing applied. The webbing was applied using the iron on a dry setting and fairly low temperauure. Care was taken to use baking paper above and below the “sandwich” to protect the iron and ironing board.

Note how the applied colour can be enhanced by the choice of background fabric.