A few days ago I decided to combine weaving fabrics with holes and machine stitch to see what that is like. The back ground ribbed fabric is a kind of thick cotton and the rest is silk dupioni and cotton velvet. I used triple, free motion, and satin stitches and the overall result is thick and soft but I don't particularly like it - especially not the area around the focal point where the free motion stitch hardens the fabric. And when I went to clean my cutting board, I remembered a technique my CWB classmate, Helen, taught us and gathered up all the thread and fabric lint bits and sewed them together into a thread bead. Fast, fun and waste free!

I've also begun adding stitch to this one and did some decluttering and organizing in the studio. Alot of little piles of fabrics having conversations are piling up!

And I basted more of this and have another block for it in the design stage.

One block at a time...

Drawing and Learning

After trying the cutting back technique, I wanted to explore it with natural fibres I had dyed and stamped to create a pleasurable feel and texture. I sense a joining here, of learning from the two classes I've been taking - it's not woven, but it does have multiple layers. Machine stitched, but I could add some handstitch or do another one that way. It has raw edges and I've added to the texture with patches on top or folded cut flaps back and stitched them down. In the Mark Making With Machine class we were each given the same image to trace with free motion machine stitch on the same ground fabric with black thread. What I really liked about this exercise was seeing how unique each class mate's flower was afterwards, in spite of the identical parameters. I've been in a painting class before where everyone has painted using the same image to copy from , and they all turned out differently, but this was even more revelatory, because we traced the same image!

Then we partnered up and drew each other's portrait with our machines as we looked at each other - very fun and it sparked a variety of ideas for me.

What next?

The snow and flowers are reflecting movement towards spring, with it's unpredictable changes in weather.I made some colourful holes of my own as part of the Mark Making With Machine class - something I've wanted to try for a long time and hadn't gotten to until now.

This palette of pieced silks with some of my snow dyed linen also seems to reflect the changing season.

And I made a few more woven blocks. Contemporary Woven Boro will be over in a few days and I still have much I would like to do.