Stitch or Die

The Phat Quarter embroidery swap from Mr X Stitch moved for its latest instalment to the new stitching community Weave.

 

This time the theme was Beastiary - a book or tome that details mythical creatures. I instantly thought of a unicorn but I didn't want to do a pansy girly one - I wanted a shire horse inspired one!

 

I did this sketch on my iPad and really like the airbrushed quality so thought I'd have a go at that as well.

I played with airbrushing and couching on a tea stained background then outlined the image with a shield shape as unicorns are used in heraldry. I also added a Latin phrase to finish it off that translates to stitch or die!

My swap partner like it a lot and I like the new techniques I played with - maybe some more airbrushing in the future!

 

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The Stitch & Craft Show - Stitchy Goodness!

I just wanted to share a few photos of the Stitch & Craft show, specifically the Mr X Stitch Contemporary Embroidery Exhibition with my pieces in it!

I am so honoured that Jamie chose three of my pieces to be in his exhibit to promote embroidery and show people that you don’t just have to sew pictures of houses and kittens – you can do anything!

This is my second exhibition this year. It is very exciting for me to have my artwork on display for the world to see. I haven’t had pieces in exhibitions since college so I feel like I am a legitimate artist once again.

Thanks Jamie! You rock!!! Everyone go over to Mr X Stitch and tell Jamie that he is awesome, and Bridget too :-)

Also, some of these photos were blatantly stolen from Jamie's Flickr so go check that out too here

Child of the 80's

Originally I designed this piece for the STITCH Magazine Glimpse of Childhood competition, but I had to use Madeira threads in it. I couldn't find any Madeira threads in the stores that are open in New York on Sundays so couldn't enter, but stitched it up anyway.

The theme Glimpse Of Childhood made me think of toys I liked when I was a child, and characters I liked. I decided to combine the popular toy the Fashion Wheel with three of my favourite cartoon characters. My favourite characters also happen to be three strong women!

Jem from Jem and the Holograms

I used different colours of fabric behind each section like the different texture sections on the Fashion Wheel. I used Jem for the top section as she has the most recognisable face.

She-Ra

I used She-Ra's torso as she has the most interesting outfit. I actually stitched this section first. Originally I was going to just stitch the outline, but when I finished this section I realised it needed more colour so I coloured each section with coloured pencils to add more definition.

Rainbow Bright

I chose Rainbow Bright for the bottom section as her shoes are just so fabulous! Plus the 80s was all about bright colours.

This piece did make it to the Stitch & Craft show eventually as part of the Mr X Stitch Urban Cross Stitch Exhibition from 17th-20th March at Olympia 2 in London! If you're going to the show please do go check it out in real life :-)

Music makes the world go round...

We're taking a break from my Sketchbook pages this post so I can show you my latest swap piece!

The theme for the December Phat Quarter Swap was Music. Immediately I thought of David Bowie's Aladdin Sane album cover. I have wanted to experiment with pencil tinting in my work and the use of finer stitches, so this was the perfect opportunity.

I used no more than three strands of floss on this piece, and that was only for the metallic threads on the lightning bolt. The outlines were done using two strands and the hair and eyelashes used only one. I used backstitch, satin stitch and brick stitch on this piece. I like the simplicity of it and really liked the way the coloured pencils came out. I'm going to use this technique more in the future for sure!

Work In Progress Shots:

Pencil Tinting


One strand of floss for the eyelashes


Finished hair


Metallic threads for the lightning bolt


Satin stitch for the title

This piece went to Giggly Mama and I think she really liked it :-)

OMG! The Horror!

Happy New Year everyone! I hope 2011 is treating you well so far!

I am currently on a new 10 day itinerary on my cruise ship which is a bit hectic and I'm also working hard on my Sketchbook Project. Photos of that coming soon!

I did realise however, that I haven't shared with you might latest Phat Quarter Swap Piece!!

The theme for the October swap was OMG! The Horror! Along the lines of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies and Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, you had to do a horror mash-up of sorts.... so I did this:

Jubileed!! Vampire showgirls! Jubilee is one of the longest running showgirl shows in Las Vegas, so why not have vampires in it??!!

I used this piece to practice my satin stitch the the sign. I also practiced mixing stitches and using beading on the showgirl. I really like the way it came out and so did my swap partner. I hope you like it too!!

Also, my piece was the first one in the post on Mr X Stitch about the swap - yay!!

The Subversive Stitch

The Subversive Stitch: Embroidery and the Making of the Feminine by Rozsika Parker is a must read for anyone interested in the world of Embroidery. Primarily it looks at how embroidery and its usage has shaped what we believe is 'feminine' and how women, society and artists and embraced or rebuked this.

As a woman I found this text to be very interesting. Seeing over the course of history how what I am perceived to be (or should be) was built and who influenced this opened my eyes to a lot of things. As an artist and one who is not a painter (and therefore not a 'fine artist) is was also very interesting to see how what is considered 'craft' was pushed away from the 'fine arts'. Back in the middle ages Embroidery was considered as fine an art as sculpture or painting, but gradually the disciplines broke apart and the 'arts and crafts' movement appeared.

This book is not only for the women, however. A Manbroiderer will find also find it interesting as it looks at the styles of embroidery over the years and their uses. I found this a useful jumping off point to explore the styles that I found most interesting and wanted to try.

As an art student I always found art history and textbooks to be hard going. This isn't too bad. At times it can be wordy, but the information it contains is well worth it. I recommend this book to anyone who is interested in embroidery, be it for it's history or for it's art. Now that it is republished it should be easy to find as well! Find it on amazon here