Here comes the Sun!! :D

Bin dying threads and fibres

to use with the

stitched and knitted

'Land Impression' blocks!

Bin preparing linen for smocking!

This beautiful cloth is kindly donated by a dear sister.

She gave me a pile of linen shirts!

I love working with linen as it seems to melt in your hands as you work with it.

Touch is such an important part of stitch and our relationship with cloth

(I've run out of pleated fabric that I've had stashed 

from a time when I borrowed a friend's pleating machine -

that was years ago)

Now it back to the 'iron' and 'gather' method

it takes time but it 'purrfect' for an evening with the cat

and 'Lewis'

Therese de Dillmont described 'smocking'

in her Encyclopedia of Needlework:

Decoration of the gathers, known as 'smocking'

This kind of work occurs in the national costumes of the Hungarians, 

as well as in England where it is still in vogue.

"Smock" is an old English word for shift or chemise, hence the term "smocking" came to be applied to the ornamental gathering of the necks of these garments

and also of the elabourate, beautifully embroidered "smock-frock" of the labourers...

( from page 13, under the chapter heading "Plain Sewing")

Stitched and Knitted smocks for Collector's dolls 2003-5

 I first became interested in knitted and stitched smocks some years ago

as they seemed to represent the nearest the English had to a national costume

I spent happy hours researching children's clothing

visiting the costume collection at Platt Hall in Manchester

and studying French layette and children's underwear.

Why French?

Because the stitches were so small and the seams so tiny!

Then I cut scaled patterns for Collector's dolls

This doll above is 25" high, but most were 14 - 20".

The cardigan was knitted from Appleton's crewel wool

with size 20 needles (about the thickness of a paperclip)

Most of the dresses were made from Liberty's Tana Lawn

This how I remember being dressed when I was little-

in hand-me-down smocked dresses

Smocking and Authenticity

Last week I was using a linen yarn to knit CABLES

 from Cornish Knitted Smock patterns

I've also been stitching on linen 

using smocking patterns

and the flat embroidery found on the 'boxes', shoulders, collar and cuffs

of stitched agricultural smocks

to create TEXTURED SURFACES

that seem to me to echo marks in the landscape

       these patterns seem to me

 to echo the marks left by ploughing and harvesting

     

      by altering the stitching,

  marks can suggest marks from long ago

   or that are faded by weathering

   

 The tubes of the gathered smocking also reference the fieldscape

   The knitted cables have now been stretched   
 and made into blocks that can be used for 'Rubbings'.

 So over the next couple (of doubtless more-snowy) days

      I'll make the stitched smocking into blocks

 And then the FUN can begin!

     I use the traditional stitched and knitted 'folk art'

     as an 'authentic' reference to the rural history of our culture.

Work on the Wall- (part 2)

    

Well back to Work on the Wall-

After working 'Raginnis Farm' on the twill tweed

I wondered how a striped tweed would look.

      'Raginnis Farm Field Boundarys'

   'RFFB'  (detail)

The weave and colouring of the fabric has assumed a greater significance.

To embroider a 'filling' on the field would (as my Grandmother would say)

"be too much of a muchness"

      'RFFB'  (detail 2)

                  To contrast with the linear striped weave I exaggerated the curves of the field markings.

                                                 

'Above Trevalgan Hill'

Using the sketches I made on the workshop with Andrew Hardwicke

I made field images using a totally different trajectory from the aerial map.

'ATH'  (detail)

The elongated field pattern needed a different approach to the stitching

I used a 'kantha', stem stitch type marking

building colour and texture

    'ATH'  (detail 2)

                         

 Sometimes the stitch is spare, sometimes diagonal

     and sometimes overlaid.

 'ATH'  (detail 3)

  French knots make up the foreground heather

                                                                           

  See what I mean!

  

St Ives School of Painting workshop with painter Andrew Hardwick

I used alot of different textures on the ground, including original soil and plant material.

                                                            

  Building up layers of colour

     The 'white' is actually PVA, which of course dries clear, 

      but then makes a very interesting resist

        when rubbing or glazing over the top.

                                                       

And sometimes I paint!

Work on the Wall (at the moment)

It's probably a good idea to fill you in with the work that is currently 'On The Wall'.

I'll post the images with a bit about them

Then in later posts show you some 'Historic Work' that will show where it comes from.

I am a firm believer that in the ebb and flow of life - all these things eventually settle - and find their place.

The work may come slowly

And appear 'Random' at times

But it never fails to amaze me that it all makes sense in the end

(This is why I photograph the work as it is being made)

     'When All Else Fails: Stitch'

Almost like a diary I often just stitch-  it's very soothing and settles the spirit

 

'November in Sussex'

Last November we spent some time in Sussex.

Driving along in the car

I stitched and recorded the colours of the Turning of the Year.

      'NIS'  (detail)                                'NIS'   (reverse)

This form of Diary makes the miles pass happily.

              

  
      'Bosigran: Iron Age Fields'

During October I was back in West Penwith, on a workshop at the St Ives School of Painting

with the painter Andrew Hardwick

whose mixed media painted works celebrate the textures and moods of the Landscape.

This experience generated a series of stitched works

where the textures of the fields were explored in stitch

                                                                       
  'B: IAF'  (detail)

            

                                                         

           

     'B: IAF'     (details 2, 3 and 4)

It was fun using different stitches

Maybe the surface would be richer for having spaces    

'Layered Silk Fragments Field Samples"

  'Layered Silk using Reverse Applique'  (detail)

Cutting through the layers to reveal different textures and colours

       much like the geology of the Earth.

   'Layered Silk using Reverse Applique'

  'Layered Silk Fragments Embroidered as Field'

These were 'fantasy' field patterns, but I liked the spontaneity of the marks

Something I have picked up from the drawings and paintings I made in the workshop                   

                          

     'Layered Silk Field Markings'

 details recalling lost paths, plough marks

                         

    and mysterious markings from the past

                         

   THAT'LL DO FOR THE MOMENT!

Knitting Cables in Linen

Sometimes the Hands are tired of being pricked and want to Knit!

Using linen yarn I've been knitting cables, in order to make new 'impression blocks' for make rubbings in oil on my dyed fabrics. These then become patches in the composite field systems.

The patterns taken from knitted fishermen's smocks are part of the rich tradition of textured knitted stitches describing elements  in the land and sea scape.

I'm going to be knitting a few more to make a selection of rubbings that will describe the surface of the fields.

I haven't used linen yarn before. The sisal (garden twine) I used was too hairy and made the rubbing not as distinct as I would like, as this is a 'cleaner' yarn I'm hoping it will make good sharp lines when coated in PVA glue.

More later....

The Mindful Hand by David Owen

Bin keeping Alice Kettle and Jane Mc Keating's wonderful  'hand stitch- PERSPECTIVES' as a treat to read when the brain has enough space to compute new information...

The whole is a series of essays by artists and academics specialising in art and textiles. 

I particularly enjoyed 'The Mindful Hand' by David Owen.

Owen explores the relationship between the hand and the brain.

                 

       Tate St Ives July 2011

As someone who has often thought the problems of frizzy hair and wardrobe crisis could be totally avoided by a transformation of self to what is essential!, and considered that this could be achieved by a 'reincarnation' as a cyber-form consisting of Hand- Eyes- Brain,  this is of particular interest...

         

self working in studio, acrylic on silk

           ".....Consider: the eye observes, focuses and gazes, while the hand touches, holds and wields.  Through the eye we encounter the appearance of the world as spectators and, within the context of the face, express reactions:the subtle glance, the wide-eyed stare, the cheeky wink the frank or hooded gaze. Through the hand, we encounter the appearance, and engage the substance, of the world as agents: we run our fingers across the ply of fabric, stretch it between our hands, fold or tear it into shapes. (The importance of the difference becomes clear if we try to imagine a world in which it is the look that acts physically on the material of the world and the hand that spectates.)......"

      self working on 'Eccleston' and 'Farndon' in studio, 

  here stitched water ripples to the river reflection with silk thread 

       onto the painted substrate