More Stitched Story Chat

Hi Everyone

The Stitched Story Project continues again today. I’m collecting and developing all my elements for the first ‘patch’ of the piece (read back yesterday for more on this). I’ve re started my embroidered phrase ‘All will be well’ - I had made good progress with this element but decided the embroidery thread was too thick. I had used 6 strands of the thread and have chosen to use only 4. The result is more definition for my letters and much easier to work with. Initially, I used Stem Stitch for the letters and decided Whipped Stitch May look better. Bad decision ! and I’m back with Stem Stitch. Stem Stitch looks more elegant and I’m finding the technique helps to create the letter shapes more fluently. Images will follow when I’ve completed the phrase

So, I’ve got my theme for the first patch ie my Art Dolls, specifically Miss Mitchell . I’ve got my phrase - All will be well. I want to include a date - in this example to record  a memory of when I created my first Art doll ie 27/04/2012. Other elements of the stitched story will include images, symbols and appliqué elements of my actual Art Doll, Miss Mitchell. I will keep thinking about these as yet ‘unidentified elements’ as I develop the first patch. Having decided on the theme of the patch, I find I’m coming up with lots of additional ideas as I ‘create’. I love this part of the process. 

I’m using the four elements (identified above) - the theme, phrase, date and (I’m using the name) - bits and pieces to provide guidance for developing my Stitched Story. I also want to add another element which I’m calling ‘pretty things’. In this section, I’m including ribbons, small bits of fabric and special embroidered stitches such as French Knots (I’m sure there will be more). All of these five elements are, of course, linked and interchangeable. I think, the point of identifying them as distinctive parts, is simply to give guidance to The Maker and help plan.

One exciting development, which I mentioned a few days ago, is an image transfer onto fabric. I’ve done this a few times and learned that the medium used for the transfer is quite important. I’ve had several unsuccessful attempts in the past, using PVA glue. Yesterday, I had another complete disappointment - again using PVA. I didn’t learn from the previous disasters ! However, all is well and I’ve got a little sample of my image transfer, using Modge Podge as the transfer medium. These images isn’t quite big enough, so - I will give it another go today. Here is a quick look at the successful example.

                  

You can see the far left image has been slightly damaged but the other four images are good. They are tiny and not much use for my plan. However, I’ll keep them in mind for adding to my Stitched Story at a later date.

I’m working on the larger patch again today and will develop more elements, time permitting. I’ll share my results as they develop.

Thanks for calling in today.