Inspiring images from Indigo

Here are some lovely images from Indigo at Premier Vision. I like the pattern, colours and light, and love the x-rayed flowers!

Photograms

In an effort to create pattern from my textiles I exposed the patchwork onto photographic paper. I love the way the opaque seams block the light and I think the pattterns created are nicer than the original textiles. I want to try and use the textiles I've made to create secondary patterns on other people, as a kind of gift. I've very crudely illustrated this with little images of t-shirts and dresses patterned from the photograms.

Samples

Here are some of the samples I've been making - using sublimation printing and then patchwork and some laser cutting and smocking. I think the samples work best when layered up and/or with light shining through.

I tried to add hand stitching to the top sample - it was taken from a drawing I did of an old discarded dollie from a charity shop - but it got over complicated and fussy. The second sample shows smocking, and I like the fact I've done it only in certain areas, not all over. It seems like you can appreciate the pattern more when it is contrasted with plain areas. The third sample shows laser and patchwork, which was really tricky to work out the cut plan for, so the laser design lines up over the patched fabric. Unfortunately, I think it looks too fussy and I don't like the laser design I created. The repeating patchwork of the top sample works a lot better with the irregular and bright print than this irregular patchwork. Finally the bottom image is a couple of samples layered up to see how they work. I think they look really flat and they need movement and light to come alive.

Shine a light

I've been thinking about how a garment/textile could connect the wearer with people, by 'gifting pattern' onto others. As the material I've been using is transparent it looks good in layers and you can see the stitching detail more clearly when a light is shone though it. First you notice the colour and then other layers become visible in the light. I want to think of a way of using the sunlight, wind, rain, etc to reflect the locality onto the wearer and then project patterns onto other people and the environment. The idea is to make the garment a pleasure to wear and to get that connection with other people through the wearing. In quilting, the process is pleasurable because it is creative, individual and also social and the process is more important than the product. I want to take those important qualities and see if the wearing of the product can encourage them, so the wearing of the textile is more pleasurable than the acquisition of something new.

This made me think of a portrait of Isabella Blow that I saw in the National Portrait Gallery recently.The work was created in 2002 by Tim Noble and Sue Webster, it's made of stuffed animals (birds and rats etc) and looks very gothic, reflecting her character (authentic). The silhouette only become visible when a light is shone at the sculpture.

Quilting

I've read 'Quilting' by Marybeth Stalp (2007) which, although focused on contemporary American quilting, shows some similar sentiments to books about Amish quilts. The book made me think about carework/gifting, process/product, creative acts being good for well-being, time and layers of meaning.

As Elizabeth Safanda suggested in 'Amish Quilts', Stalp also believes one of the reasons women quilt is to give physical form to their 'carework':

'Other forms of attending to the emotional needs of others (e.g., cooking family meals, driving children to leisure activities) leave little evidence of women's regular carework for themselves and for others. Even other gendered leisure escapes for women, like reading romance novels and participating in book clubs, do not leave tangible evidence of their activities. Quilting instead leaves a finished product - a quilt which can link the maker with the recipient in sentimental ways. In addition to producing a tangible object and often gifting the finished product to a friend or family member, the creative process of quilting is personally fulfilling. The quilting process provides women the opportunity to engage in leisure, produce something tangible, and document physically and visually the carework that they engage in for others.' p.6

Stalp also believes that quilting is good for well-being:

'Quilting as a form of women's art- and craftwork provides physical and mental benefits (Anderson and Gold 1998). Delaney-Mech (2000 :6), a physician and a quilter, notes:
A simple sewing task, such as sewing together two patches, lowers your heart rate and blood pressure. It sends a wave of relaxation through your whole body.' p.63

'Quilting provides inner peace, creative outlets, and time for reflexive thinking. For some women, quilting is the relaxing equivalent of taking a bubble bath, having some alone time spent at their own choosing.
Quilting benefits women emotionally, leaving them with a calmness and focus not achieved through other requisite, everyday activities such as childcare, laundry, meal preparation, or housework.' p.63

'The repetitive motion, or flow, of quilting exhibits religious or trance-like properties. For some women quilting even had a spiritual nature.' p.64

Stalp positions herself as a quilter and writes that her book is focused on the quilters, i.e. process, not the finished product. She believes that quilters themselves are more focused on the process as demonstrated by the fact they often gift the finished quilt.

Stalp found in her 4 years of fieldwork with quilters:

'... women consistently talk about quilts in relation to their selves, as well as their personal and family connections, aspects heavily emphasized in women's traditional gender roles. Any overarching linear concepts, such as time (e.g., hours, days, weeks, months, years) and quantity (how many quilts a quilter has made), are secondary to the meaning-making processes women used to measure and discuss their quilting activities.' p.41

The author gives examples of quilters (we assume the norm) who don't place value on their quilts based on money or time, but on how they felt making them, if they like them and why. (p.68).

Contrastingly, Stalp comments that the majority of non-quilters when faced with a completed quilt will ask how long it took, and then how many quilts the quilter had made - this shows a completely different value system to the quilters.

'Quilts made within the framework of the traditional family, or those quilts gifted to family members, summon family-related memories. Through quilting, women make meaning in their own lives, preserve and transmit quilting heritage, a secure historical markers that represent them, their life events, and their families.' p.117

Stalp states that quilts can have personal meanings and significance to the quilter that may not be obvious to others, and gives an example of individually constructed meaning from an interview with a quilter:

'Heather continues to discuss the personal connection she has with quilts she has made after becoming interested in quilting from her grandmother: "That's what I want for my quilts - for there to be layers on layers on layers of information that you can access so that as you live with the quilt, it's like a person, you get to know it better and there is more to learn than just what's on the surface."' p.122

There are also instances where quilts have collectively constructed meaning, like the NAMES quilt for AIDS victims. Sometimes individually and collectively constructed meaning overlaps:

'As illustrated by these quilt stories, there is important hidden meaning in cultural objects. As a cultural product, a quilt has layers of meaning, which are understood and appreciated both at multiple levels and by multiple audiences.' p.125

Finally, Stalp believes that as well as the quilts having layers of meaning, so too does the process of quilting:

'Once they learn and enjoy quilting, women find deeper layers of meaning the longer they pursue it.' p.133

As Jonathon Chapman, in his book 'Emotionally Durable Design' believes that consumers need products t have multiple layers of meaning that are revealed over time to keep the user interested, the idea of layers of meaning embedded in quilts and quilting could be a really exciting one to pursue.

Sublimation Print and Patchwork

Here is an animation I made to show the process I used for printing my old grey curtains with a sheet from the sublimation printer. I designed a print with geometric shapes and then cut out the individual shapes and arranged them over the fabric. I used the heat press to transfer the dye onto the fabric. The printed sheets can be used to print over and over again (up to about 6 times) getting lighter with each print. So I kept rearranging and printing the shapes until all of the dye was exhausted. In this way I was able to print a larger area than by using the A3 sheet in the normal way (one single print) and utilise all the ink in a way that embraced the fact the colours get lighter each time. Also, the print is completely unique – I wouldn’t be able to get the shapes in the same places even if I tried. The print was inspired by diamonds, with overlapping colours.

After the printing I cut out diamond shapes for patchwork. Then I moved rearranged them until I was happy with the composition and stitched them together. See the previous post for the steps involved in the patchwork.

New sample

I'm pleased that I've finally got on with making some samples. The time it takes to stitch something can be frustrating when you don't feel like you have much time, but it also gives me time to think and reflect and to enjoy the making - why I wanted to be involved in textiles in the first place. Also, one of the reasons I believe Amish quilts are so enduring is the time, and therefore added value, that has gone into making them.

I've been reading 'The Designer's Atlas of Sustainability', by Ann Thorpe, and that has some interesting thoughts about time, she writes:

'We seek quicker and easier routes to well-being and expect our individual needs to be satisfied instantaneously or in the immediate future (next week at the latest).' p.118

Thorpe believes speed and short-termism are major themes in modern life, and unsustainable. Under the heading of 'Culture', she also writes about user involvement in design, giving examples and positive aspects to open-source design and praising more interactive media rather than turning the user into a passive watcher. I believe people get a lot of pleasure out of making things themselves. For these reasons I'm trying to show and explain more clearly what I'm doing and why. Here are some images showing how I've been working on this new textile piece (I'm not sure if this is really involving anyone else - maybe I need to think of some ideas that communicate more clearly and are more informative, not just technical). I forgot to take pictures to show how I built up the print, but I'll take pictures next time and then post them.




Screen grab of patchwork design in Ethos laser cutting sofware, before seam allowance has been added - you can see where I have outlined a few shapes in the bottom left corner with 4mm seam allowance. The shapes don't need to be laser cut but as the fabric is synthetic if it's laser cut it won't fray, saving the need for edge finshing and meaning I can have small hems, and the full fabric can be utilised by working out the best uses of material in the cutting plan.



Screen grab of diamond shapes in Ethos software, showing shape with seam allowance and notches. Some shapes needed to be cut individually to make best use of the printed fabric.



Screen grab of bottom and top shapes

Sublimation printed and laser cut shapes from my old grubby net curtains. I did lay all of the 64 pieces out first and arranged them how I wanted (unique and individual)




I laser cut notches 4mm from the edges going in 2mm so I could line up the shapes more easily




Pinned shapes




Stitching on my domestic machine



Sewn together!





Opened up




Next piece ready to be stitched




Row one stitched together







8 rows, each with 8 pieces, laid out ready to be stitched together

 

The piece stitched together. I'm not sure if it would have been better brighter and with larger shapes, and maybe I should have put similar colours nearer to each other - I like the parts where the shapes belong next to each other so the printer pattern looks distorted. Now I need to decide what to do around the edge - make a binding? And whether to add some stitching to add another layer of interest.