Assignment 3 - Project 6 Review Questions

How does working with fabric in this way compare with working directly with stitch?

Stitching is slower and more considered whereas working in this way feels more expressive, exciting and experimental for me, with results that are less predictable. For example when I heated Tyvek, I had no idea quite how it would shrink and it's difficult to control how holey it would become.  I just painted both sides to see which would turn out best. I couldn't recreate those grey pebbles, it's just how they turned out this time! It felt like I was creating resources for projects to be.  I also liked using unusual and recycled materials like the hems of old clothes, fruit nets and tumble dryer sheets.  Even tiny snippets of fabric can be used somehow, like these below that I trapped under organza and fused by burning.

 

Are you pleased with the shapes and movements that you have created in both applique and fabric manipulation?  What would you do differently?

I think the created the best shapes deliberately and the best movement by accident and experimentation. I've created quite a lot of samples and I've tried to document in my learning log which elements I'm happy with and unimpressed with and how they could be reworked.  For example, the chenille technique I tried didn't make the caterpillar shapes I was hoping for but I was still able to cut it into strips and manipulate with stitches to use in my final sample. With the gathered padded shape at the bottom, I was intending to use it with the stitching hidden but discovered that the frayed ends and stitching enhanced, rather than spoiled, the effect. 

I'm also pleased that nearly every sample has given me an idea of how the technique could be used for a drawing I already have.  This is a good illustration of the benefit of having a bank of drawings to work from.

 

 

How did the pieces work in relation to your drawings? Were the final results very different from the drawings?  Did the fabric manipulation technique take over and dictate the final result?
I think my foundation pieced quilted panel clearly relates to the original Roman flagon drawing in colour and shape, whereas the sun prints and a cut out applique are from the same origin but far removed. For the underwater scene, I didn't have a drawing but worked from memory and imagination.  The sample evolved from playing with the materials in a colour bag with the techniques and fabric qualities inspiring the shapes.
 

 

 

Was it helpful to work from the drawings in the applique exercise?  Would you have preferred to play directly with cut shapes and materials?

I preferred to work my applique designs out on paper first in the same way I had a design ready for the stitched collage workshop, whereas for the raised and structured surface exercises, I preferred not to.  I presume is was because applique tends to be flat like paper and needs clear contrasts in shape and colour.  With altered surfaces the contrast tends to be in the texture. 

 

How do you feel about working with stitch in general?  Is it an area you would like to pursue in more depth?  Do you find it limiting in any way?
I think of stitch as a way to attach, enhance or embellish something, rather than something I would be inclined to use on it's own.  I do find it limiting and sometimes tedious, particularly hand stitching, because technically, I'm not too good.  It tends to be slow and I have to get a book out to remember how to do anything but basic stitches.  I have been lent a very inspiring book of how to use stitch to restructure a fabric and I have Post It notes stuck all over it with ideas I'd like to try to relate to some drawings from a visit to Scarborough beach at half term.

Reading List:
Woolf, Colette (1996) The art of manipulating fabric. Iola, Wisconsin: Krause Publications