Conferences and why we go to them

As artists we spend a lot of time alone in our studios.  We all love what we do but the reality is that much of our time is spent by ourselves.  As humans we also like to spend time with like minded individuals and groups.  This is where conferences come into the picture.  Equate going to a conference to being in the best play group in the world where you get candy all the time and no one takes your crayons.  You get to talk all day about what interests you the most and no one is bored by your conversations.  Then there is the aspect that all of your new found friends are full of ideas and want to hear your ideas.   What could be more fun than that.  You come home full of new ideas and way more plans than any sane person could carry out in a reasonable time.  But some of those ideas become reality and that's the best part of all.

Here are two pictures that Floris Flam took when she attended the Quilt/Surface design symposium.  The first is the design that Floris chose when the teacher said that each person should choose a neutral three or four letter word and the second is what happened to the letters "CITY" when they were modified by the hand and mind of the artist.

 

Many of the chosen fabrics were hand dyed by Floris and some of them were done by a technique using oatmeal as a resist.  More about that later.

Surface Stitchery/Embroidery #5

Embroidery has been seen to embellish fiber/fabric works by adding line and/or pattern. An additional way that embroidery can enhance fiberart is by creating texture.

In hand embroidery, texture may result from directional stitching as well as lumpy stitches such as those that produce loops or knots. Couching can also be used to hold down textured threads like thick and thin yarns, bouchles, eyelash yarns. Couching may be done by hand or machine. A third possibility is to use stitches to attach three dimensional objects such as beads, buttons, wads of fabric or found objects.

In machine embroidery, the stitches are formed by two threads looping together within the fabric--one from the spool on the top and one from the bobbin below. In a normal sewing line, the tensions of the top and bottom threads are balanced such that only the top thread is visible on the surface of the fabric and only the bobbin thread is visible on the back side. If the tension is not balanced, loops and nubs of thread can be produced either on the top surface (tighten top and or loosen bobbin tension) or on the bottom (loosen top and/or tighten bobbin tension). Either top or bottom can become the "right" side of the finished piece. In addition, thicker threads may be wound on the bobbin so that sewing may be done with threads too heavy to pass through the eye of the needle. In this case, the bottom will become the "right" side and the design must be stitched from the "wrong" side.

Julie Booth uses directional hand stitching to add texture to the lips and eyes of her totem dolls.

Direction of stitching also figures in the machine embroidery "Three Apples" buy Joanne Bast to differentiate the texture of the painted windows from the cement sill and the apple skins.

When the background strata is thick, stitching lines compress areas and puff out others as in the wet felted wool wall hanging "scaling the Great Wall" by Joanne Bast or the needle felted bracelets by Paige Garber.

Hand stitched seed beads, sequins, buttons, wire curlicues, carved stone flowers and/or fresh water pearls embellish felted brooches by Zita Simutis, Anne Sanderoff-Walker, Paige Garber, and Joanne Bast.

Olena Lar, one of our newest members stitches beads and stones onto a leather slave bracelet ring combination.

A textured evening bag by Beverly Baker combines couching and beading.

Ann Liddle and Eileen Doughty leave thread ends to texture necklaces of felt and paper.

Machine couching of a thick and thin yarn embellishes a purse by Dorothy Miller.

All over couching of a textured thread in a wall hanging by Fran Spader.

Couching only a few of the painted squares on Janet Barnard's scarf emphasizes shapes.

Anna Ebersole stitches bits of fabric and threads to form a 3Dimensional wall piece "Dragonflies".

Joanne Bast stitches leaf veins on a barrette using perle cotton in the bobbin from the wrong side and then turns the piece over to add the freeform stitching from the right side.

Eileen Doughty contrasts the texturing of freeform machine stitching with the straight stitching of the tree trunks in a blue satin bag and a Washington city scene.

Joanne Bast uses loose bobbin tension to pull loops of thread up from the bobbin to texture barrettes and to add dimension to the flowers in the window boxes of the machine embroidery "Red Window".

Mother's Day is fast approaching. Come on in and see the variety of fiber work available in the Potomac Fiber Arts Gallery for gift giving. Hand made items become heirlooms to be treasured by generations and not duplicated. April is coming to an end and I will soon be turning the blog posting over to Floris Flam. I hope to blog once more before the week is out. Until then, Joanne

Surface Stitchery/Embroidery #1

Hello, This is Joanne Bast, back as blogger for the month of April. I see that the vast variety of fiber techniques to be found in the Fiberart Gallery at the Torpedo Factory in Alexandria, VA discussed so for have spanned the gamut from weaving and spinning to quilting to silk painting to beadwork to fabric collage. I would like to continue on with an explanation of surface stitchery otherwise known as embroidery. My old college dictionary defines to embroider as to ornament, to embellish, to add fanciful details to. Stitchery has long been used to beautify items from the common every day functional to the strictly ornamental.

Embroidery is usually considered as work done with a threaded needle. In the embellishment of items, one way that embroidery can be used is to add or emphasize line. Embroidery may be done by hand or with the needle of a sewing machine.

Julie Booth hand stitches fabric pieces onto one of her totem figures with decorative thread in such a way that visible stitching outlines each piece.

Two of Julie's Totem Figures.

Lines can follow and enhance the patterns of the base fabric. Using a sewing machine, Eileen Doughty outlines the motifs that she has printed onto her fabric journal covers, purse and fabric boxes.

Floris Flam stitches rows of parallel lines to emphasize the landscape effect of her wall quilt "Blue Hills".

In Betty Ford's "Red and Yellow Grasses", stitched lines follow the growth of the fabric strips to give a linear and waving feeling.

Ruth Blau uses lines of machine embroidery in contrast to the edges of fabric patches to embellish her hand woven tote bag.

The elements of a felted necklace by Ann Liddle are stitched using different line configurations.

Dorothy Miller uses a wide machined zig zag satin stitch to give a stained glass effect to her pieced evening bag.

Hand and machine stitching need not be mutually exclusive. In the pink bag below, Dorothy uses machine satin stitch to outline the large fabric color blocks and a running hand stitch to emphasize the small circles.

Sewing machines also often have built in pattern stitches that can also be used to separate and outline areas of design.

Floris Flam has satin stitch outlined the edges of petals as well as used finer stitched lines to develop internal structure in her fabric bowls.

Couching is a method of embroidery where one thread (usually either too thick to pass through the fabric or too dear to waste any on the back side) is held in place by overstitching with a thinner thread. Merle Thompson has used couching to add linear interest to a satin purse.

There are many ways in which embroidery may be used to add linear decorations to fiber work. In future posts this month, I will continue to explore embroidery as a fiber embellishment technique. Monday April 11 is also our next jury day. By the end of business on Monday, the gallery will be filled with all new goodies. Stop in and enjoy. Joanne