Fine Art - Stitch Workshop

  Today, I worked in the Fine Art classroom practicing embroidery/stitch skills and creating a final embroidery of my choice. Prior to this i hadn't used embroidery or learnt any of the techniques of the stitches, so throughout the entire one day workshop I was learning as I was creating. That I really enjoyed and I will go into more detail about the processes/techniques below. 

    When learning the different stitches I firstly began by learning a basic running stitch (typically used in hand sewing for sewing seams) that I had learnt previously in textiles lessons, before moving onto another basic yet similar stitch the backstitch, where you start off as you would a basic running stitch by going from front to back on the first loop of the stitch before moving forward from underneath the fabric within the embroidery hoop and bringing it from back to front and back through the front where the first stitch ended. Then you just keep repeating those steps to create a very secure backstitch which is typically used again in hand-sewing but to attach two pieces of fabric together. I found both of these stitches to be both successful and fairly easy to use, I also feel as though although they are basic stitches now that I feel more confident in using them they will become a necessity throughout my stitching techniques. 

    Another stitch that I have used is the cross stitch that can be used to secure an object such as what I chose to practice using the pink pipe cleaner and the plastic cross spacer used in tiling. The cross stitch is another one of the basic stitches, the cross stitch involves first starting it as though it was any other stitch and then pushing the needle back through the fabric from back to front from a central position in comparison to the start and end of the stitch that you just sewn. Then from that starting point you sew diagonally over the top of the other stitch creating a secure cross stitch, I think that the cross stitch was successful as it secured both the pipe cleaner and the tile spacer tightly restricting them from having any movement showing that it was a successful stitch. 

    The next stitch I created was completely new to me and not one I have used before, the next stitch that was demonstrated was the stippling stitch. The stippling stitch is created by sewing back to front, then using the loop created at the start of the stitch threading through that loop and back down through the fabric creating small dots. We then used this process in two different ways the first being with the dots further apart and the second doing the stitches a lot closer together creating more of a cluster affect. The stippling stitch was actually one of my favourite stitches out of them all because I feel as though it gives the effect of a drawing look if they was shaped right and reminds me of an outcome if I was to draw something in fine liner. 

    After the stippling stitch I created a satin using two colours of thread, the satin stitch is seen as a much more decorative stitch and is typically used for things such as surface embellishments. I created the satin stitch by drawing two short lines in pencil as a guideline for how wide the satin stitch is going to be to create the satin stitch I started it as if you would most stitches threaded the thread from back to front and tie a not at the back of the fabric. Then to begin the stitch I made a stitch by pushing the needle through the opposite line front to back before bringing it back up next to the side where the stitch was made as closely together as possible before repeating the same process a few times to create the satin stitch. I think that this stitch was one of the most successful stitches out of them all because I managed to keep the stitches as closely together as I possibly could creating an even, neat, straight stitch that I think is very successful.

     The final stitch I learnt about that was completely new to me is the V-stitch where I begin by just making a basic stitch then bring it from back to front at the point at which it would be like the third point of a triangle, then use the needle to bring the loop downwards and stitch over the loop from front to back to form the letter V. Then to use this stitch to create a tree/ branch-like stitch you just repeat the method by repeatedly stitching the V shapes off of one and another to create the shape of a branch. This was also one of my favourite stitches that I learnt about because it creates a whimsical branch-like picture stitched into the fabric that I believe works really well and looks beautiful on the fabric. I believe that this stitch was the most successful as I worked out the pattern with this stitch and after repeatedly creating this stitch in order to practice it I believe that I mastered it and it works perfectly. 

After learning all of the techniques for the stitches and becoming confident in using them we was given creative freedom to create an embroidered piece themed around anything we could possibly think of, as a way of applying our new learnt skills to a piece of art. My chosen idea/design for my art piece is themed around my Nan and Bamp's but with a pure focus upon my Bamp's. To start this design process I began by writing out the lyrics to my Bamps' funeral song "Wind Beneath My Wings" by Bette Midler onto a plain sheet of A4 printer paper to create the background for my piece. I then stuck a large plain sticker onto the back of a sheet of fabric and placed the writing along with a photo of my Nan and Bamp's into in the photocopier, then printed the photo and writing onto the sheet of fabric before placing the fabric back into the embroidery hoop (as shown above). I then began to plan out how I was going to add to the picture using the stitched I had previously learnt/used throughout the day and I decided on using the running stitch, cross stitch, stippling stitch, V-stitch and the satin stitch.

I decided on adding a halo above my Bamps' head using a yellow thread, I believe that this was successful and that I have chosen the right stitch for creating the shape for the halo. This was successful because I created the right shape and positioned it perfectly above the head giving the illusion of the halo. My decision to use the V-stitch for the whimsical branch like stitches I think made the piece successful, because it worked perfectly underneath the cross stitch that I used to secure the willow twigs I used to represent the natural elements of the flowers/leaves. For the flowers I hand stitched into the fabric I used the stippling stitch and stitched them closely together to form a cluster and a flower head. I think that the use of the stippling stitch for the flowers was successful as it gave a rustic yet detailed feel to the piece. After I stitched the flowers and branches I decided to alter it slightly and work back into the green branches and turn the ends of them into leaves, to create the leaves I decided on using the satin stitch to make a embroidered flat like leaf using each individual stitch as a way of representing the veins of the leaves and adding a further bit of detail. If I was to recreate this piece I would experiment firstly with text I used for the background whether that's typing up the song and experimenting with fonts digitally and using that as my background, or even choosing a different song all together to see how the words flow better as apart of the background. As for the embroidery on top of the background if I was to change something I would make it more identical by making sure the cross stitch on top of the willow sticks is all done in the same green thread rather than having the one furthest on the right yellow. Also, I believe that to improve this piece if I added possibly more flowers with the stippling of different colours it'll give the piece more dimension and colour variety. However, if I was to approach this piece in a completely new way I could use the satin stitch to make the petals of a larger flower such as a rose and I could add further details to the larger flowers that would be scattered around the edges of the fabric using the stippling stitch to add in the smaller details, creating a much more realistic affect.