The Accidental Embroiderer

A large Jacobean and a small break

Here is another trial of a large design – a construction involving the combination of several different extravagant floral designs in the Jacobean style. Like the goat that I posted a few weeks ago, it’s drawn and digitised in several different sections and assembled on the background fabric, using the video facility on the machine to orient the different sections properly

Ignore the colours - they'll be better next time

Jacobean designs do lend themselves to somewhat manic colour schemes, but I would be the first to admit that I got the colours of this design wrong, and sometimes spectacularly wrong. However it’s genuinely difficult to visualise in advance the effects of the hundred or so thread colours and the dozen different applique fabrics that make up this complicated construction. Next time I stitch this out I’ll use this stitchout as a reference and will be able to make a better job of putting the colours together

Now – I will be taking a small break from the blog. This isn’t because I’ve stopped designing – in fact, quite the opposite. I’m working on several new projects, but they’re all big projects and it will take several weeks to finish them and get them in a condition that will be fit to be seen. Also, one of the projects is intended to go to a competition, and because one of the conditions of entry is that the design will not have been seen or publicised anywhere, I think I’ll better not take the chance of putting it on the web

So I’m signing off for a couple of weeks and will be back in January sometime. Have a Happy New Year!

The Silver Darlings part 2

Right – here is a collection of herring, done in different fabrics and with different patterns and detailing. I particularly like the effect of the silver lame, although it’s not an easy fabric to work with. I’m not sure what I’m going to do with these – they’ll probably be popular at out next exhibition so I may do some more to sell

A school of herring

The Silver Darlings part 1

Recently I’ve been working on ideas that combine machine embroidery with other crafts to make different kinds of decorative objects, and here’s one that's based on the unlikely idea of a string of herrings. The coast of the north-east of Scotland (where I live) has a strong tradition of herring fishing, and around here if you refer to the “silver darlings”, everyone will know that you’re talking about the herrings. So here is the first stage of a tribute to the little silvery fish I sketched several different versions of herring and digitised one to use in trying out various ways of making the fish. The fish itself was easy enough – I just stitched out the right and left halves and then stitched the two together, leaving a gap with which to turn the fish and stuff it with a little batting. The fins and tail were a trickier proposition, but eventually I worked out a way to add embroidered fins that were translucent and rigid (this technique is too long and complicated to describe here but if anyone’s interested, just drop me a line) The result is, I think, a modest success, and I will now go on to make more herrings from different fabrics with different embroidered details

The first of several herrings

A really big goat

As anyone who reads this blog regularly will know, one of the things I find most frustrating about computerised machine embroidery is the fact that you’re limited to quite a small area for your work. My largest hoop will only give me a maximum size of 8 x 12 inches (20 x 30 cm) and that’s just not large enough for some ideas. Of course you can piece things together (that is, stitch small pieces and sew them together) which is OK for some things, but not everything

But it was only after I’d had my new Innovis-i for some time that I realised its potential for making really big embroideries. It’s all because of the video facility on the machine. This is a small video camera built into the machine that gives you a clear, detailed view of the stitching field, and lets you adjust the position of the design to within a single stitch. At first I’m embarrassed to admit that I couldn’t see the point of this, but eventually I began to realise what a fantastic tool the little camera could be

To test the facility, I drew a really big design of a leaping goat. I divided the figure into ten sections and digitised each one separately. I also digitised a grid over the design to make it easier to adjust the position of the design on the machine. Then I prepared a single piece of backing fabric, and basted the grid markings onto the fabric

Now I just hooped the fabric as usual, moving the hoop around the fabric as necessary to stitch all the different parts, and used the video camera to adjust the placement of the design so that the sections lined up with the grid and with parts that had been digitised earlier. I think the result was a real success and did exactly what I was hoping it would. There were one or two minor glitches, but nothing serious, and considering that this was the first time I’d tried the technique I’m surprised that there weren’t more

The goat just off the machine, with the basted grid still in place, and a foot rule and a bottle of wine to show how big it is

The final embroidery measures about 20 x 14 inches, (51 x 35 cm) stitched on to a single piece of fabric, something which would normally be impossible to do on my machine.

 

The Leaping Goat finished

As far as the design is concerned, I’m not sure if it’s a zentangle animal or a tapa animal, but it works pretty well (apart from the head, which I will change next time I try this). This design incorporates a lot of applique. I think doing the design all in embroidery might be a problem, because the pull problems would be considerable. It would also use a LOT of thread! But I am very pleased with this approach, and now I don’t feel limited to work in any particular size. Of course this method imposes some technical constraints on designs, but that’s true of any craft