Textile Postcard Project - Week #13

December 24th -30th 2017

Week #13 'Christmas Bell'

I have used eucalyptus leaves to dye this piece of silk. It is quite dark so I hope you, my viewer can see it clearly. There was a faint shape of  bell on the silk, so it has become my Christmas postcard. I have embroidered the Christmas Bell with a variegated thread.

Reverse

Textile Postcard Project - Week #12

December 17th- 23rd, 2017

I have featured some embroidery stitches on this week's postcard. I think they have been very successful.

The names of these stitches are..from left to right

 'Embroidery sampler'

Pekinese stitch; Raised chain stitch; top---Daisy stitch forming a flower with French knots in the centre, below--- Daisy stitch representing leaves on a stalk; finally - Laced running stitch.

Detailed view

Textile Postcard Project - Week #11

December 10th - 16th, 2017

In my book case I have an old book titled 100 Anchor Embroidery Stitches. It belonged to my daughter when she was in Year 9, (c 1984). It is a very useful book because the sketch of each stitch is so easy to follow. The scraps of indigo dyed cotton proved to be an attractive base to try out a couple of new stitches on.
The top stitch is known as  'Wheatear Stitch' and the bottom one is 'Fly Stitch'.

 Both stitches are easy to do and would make an attractive addition to any design.

Some new stitches!

Detailed view Week #011

                                                                                                                                 

                                                                                            

                                                                           .                              

Textile Postcard week #10

December 3rd - December 9th 2017

Detailed view of Week#10

Slow Stitch or Running Stitch

A piece of Indigo dyed fabric...a left over scrap from the dyeing day. I have hand stitched this with hand dyed yellow/blue cotton thread.
The frayed edges make it appear very scrappy and 'unwanted' (until now)

Textile Postcard Week #9

 November 26th - December 2nd 2017

Reverse side with details recorded on rusted paper

Week #9 November 26th - December 2nd

This postcard looks like the beginning of a

'post &  rail' fence.

The 'off cuts'  are the last scraps from my
wall hanging  'Crossing Streaky Bay'.

I found the Indigo colours most attractive and easy to stitch.

Textile Postcard Week #8

November 19th to 25th 2017

'Blue and White' off cuts

 Detailed view of Week #8

These are some of the off cuts from my quilt

'Crossing Streaky Bay'. The indigo dyed fabric is hand stitched with yellow/blue cotton thread. 

Textile Postcard Week #7

November 12th to 18th

Close up view

Arrangement of 'Off Cuts'

 These are some of the off cuts from my quilt

'Crossing Streaky Bay'. The indigo dyed fabric is hand stitched with yellow/blue cotton thread. 

Textile Postcards Week #6

November 5th - 11th 2017

'Crossing Streaky Bay' - photographed by Cynthia Brown

Earlier this year I took part in an Indigo Dyeing class. Using some of the resulting fabric I made a small wall hanging. I now find that I have a number of 'off cuts' which I plan to use as the feature on my postcards for the next few weeks.

Here is my wall hanging which was inspired by the crossing of Spencer Gulf on a punt. After this crossing we drove across Eyre Peninsula and camped near Streaky Bay.The water was quite obviously affected by wind. The streaky/wavy effect of the Indigo dye patterns inspired by my memory of this short water crossing resulted in the stitching of the quilt named 'Crossing Streaky Bay'

Week #6 -  November 5th -11th

Reverse side

Textile Postcards Week #5

October 29th - November 4th 2017

Week #5 October 29th- November 4th 

These two scraps were left overs from a piece of Japanese Silk which I had rusted by wrapping the fabric around rusty objects.

Below is a piece of the same Rusted Japanese Silk which I have now mounted ready for framing. I stitched the whole piece, which was about 20cm square, with a variegated thread.

A piece of rusted and stitched silk.b

Textile Postcards Week #4

October 22nd -28th 2017

Week #4 October 22nd-28th

Detailed view 

These two snippets of cotton fabric have been eco dyed
and hand stitched with eco dyed thread.

It is good fun using the leaves from my garden and a few scraps of rust to dye fabric.
The base fabric has been tea dyed.

Textile Postcards Week #3

Week #3 October 15th-21st

October 15th-21st 2017

This is a simple torn scrap of eco dyed
pre-loved cotton. It was very faintly printed with the shape of hexagon wire. Over this I have embroidered a 'cross hatch' in fine variegated thread.

Reverse side

Textile Postcards Week #2

October 8th-14th 2017

Week #2 October 8th-14th 

 These left over torn cotton scraps have been eco dyed with eucalypt leaves and  mounted on tea dyed cotton. Hand stitched with variegated thread.
Reverse side details are printed on rusted paper.

Detailed view of Week # 2

Textile Postcards Week #1B

Week #1 October 1st-7th

October 1st -7th 2017

This is my first postcard of the series.
The off cuts are very pale eco dyed cotton fabric which were trimmed from the edge of a small quilt. I had hand stitched the quilt with a variegated thread.
The base fabric of the postcard has been tea dyed. For the reverse side I have used rusted paper.

Reverse side

Textile Postcards Inspired by June Brown Week #1A

Textile Postcard Series

October  2017

I really enjoy having a continuing project in my artistic life. I began by making a textile postcard each week.  My theme was based on the 'stuff' that I have collected and stored for later use.
I was then inspired by Brenda Gael Smith's article in Down Under Textiles magazine, Issue 28 to record this series of work as a blog beginning in October 2017.

My plans are as follows:

*To complete a postcard from textiles each week
Size 4 X 6 inches (approx) or 10 X 15 cm (approx)

*Because I have so many small pieces of textiles hidden/stashed away after years of collecting fabric and making quilts I have decided to use some of these.

* The postcards will have fabric on the front and printed details about this particular card on the reverse side.

* I plan to create a postcard each week beginning this month, October 2017.

* My plan/aim does not reach out to a finishing date. Hopefully twelve months, but who knows when my enthusiasm and the scraps are depleted.

* Wish me well with this project, and the sorting through of scraps from over 30 years of Textile Art practice.