3D needlework

I've been adding a number of interesting books to my needlework library,
either from a book club or from local thrift stores and bargain used
book stores. I've been taken with the concept of trying to incorporate
some three dimensional aspects into my needleworking, especially after
reading the threads here a few weeks ago about Matilda Mallstomper which
was a truly unique and creative adaptation by a fellow stitcher here.

Two books in my library in particular have inspired me: _Botanical
Embroidery_ by Annette Rich and _Embroidery Illusions_ by Gary Clarke.
Annette Rich has done some stunning three dimensional renderings of
local Australian flowers in rayon threads. Gary Clarke has incorporated
found objects such as a twig or seashells into his work which he
embroiders on organza and places his work in layers over other stitchery
or artwork, or even in the case of the picture on the front cover, a
piece of plain old chicken wire. Really gives his pieces depth in
addition to the dimensional aspects of the main piece of surface
embroidery.

I wondered if anyone had tried incorporating three dimensional stitching
or adding unusual objects into their work. This is beyond adding
charms, beads and specialty stitches like french knots, etc.

What sorts of things have you done with your stitching to make it a
piece of textile art?

I haven't formulated any concrete ideas yet about what I want to create
for myself, but I have been looking in my stash at my left over beads,
fibers, my books, my stash of fancy cloth remenants from the bargain bin
at a local sewing store and wondering what sort of creation I could come
up with. I have never really been a creatively artistic person -- I am
more by-the-book, logical, black and white way of thinking and so
accessing my hidden creative side has been difficult for me. I recall
when I was little I would always ask for help in chosing acurate colors
to use in my coloring books. If Donald Duck had a blue shirt then he
was getting the right colored blue shirt and not a purple one! :-)

Looking forward to hearing any stories, ideas and suggestions.

Cheers,

--

Laury

Laury Walkey said
I've been adding a number of interesting books to my needlework library,
either from a book club or from local thrift stores and bargain used
book stores. I've been taken with the concept of trying to incorporate
some three dimensional aspects into my needleworking, especially after
reading the threads here a few weeks ago about Matilda Mallstomper which
was a truly unique and creative adaptation by a fellow stitcher here.


Thanks for the kind words. Necessity was the Mother of Invention on that
project. If I had thought things through before transferring the pattern to
cloth or if my stitching skills were better, it probably would have turned out
very differently.

--
another Anne, add ingers to frugalf to reply

Hi Laury

Awhile back I made a posting about something my DW does on some of her
cross-stitched items. Back then I noted the pattern and designer she
had recently finished.

It's the designer that has quilts in her designs, her last one was the
one with the house in the background a rocking chair by a large tree
in the foreground and the quilt on the rocker.

She builds UP the objects to 3D. Take the tree trunk for example, it
is standing almost a full inch (in the center) above the backing and
curved back to the backing, making the tree trunk round as it should
be. By using darker floss on edges than called for in the pattern she
can add relief to an object making it appear to stand out much further
than it actually is if you touch it.

I was watching as she built up the tree trunk before stitching. She
would stack decreasingly smaller layers of aida over the backing and
then wrap all of this with (if the backing is 14 count, she would use
a 28 count cover. Sometimes she just uses Dacron under 28 count on
top of 14 count to get a 3D effect after it is stitched.

TTUL
Gary

I've used fabric paint. Also, for one piece, I cut socks out of cloth
and mittens out of felt, then hung them with tiny clothespins on
bridal beading that made a nifty clotheline.

There is a well known teacher & designer named Anne Strite Kurtz (hope I
didn't reverse her name).
Anne has published several books of techniques for canvas
embroidery.......one of these books is about creating three dimensional
effects, where she stitches small pieces of needlepoint which is
carefully cut out and then stitched to the main needlepoint piece using
the techniques in her book.

Unfortunately, I don't have the books in front of me but you'll probably
be able to find more info with a web search.

This technique is similar to the "slips" Tudor embroiderers used where
they'd stitch, embroider a small motif such as a strawberry or a flower
which then would be cut from the fabric very carefully......the stitched
motif was then appliqued to the larger needleowork piece.
I think some of these "slips" were padded underneath before the the
applique was finished to create a padded or raised effect.

On a personal note, I've posted about embroidery plans to explore and
create a variety of mixed media collages based on the textile arts.

Once I get the current deadlines I'm working on done, plan to "play"
with computer printouts using my scanned illustrations in repeat images
and then applying applique techniques for padded or raised effects with
embroidery stitches, trapunto effects and the use of other materials
such as bugle and a variety of shaped beads and found objects to enhance
the designs.

I'm also thinking of using embossing powders, a popular technique for
scrapbook arts where hot air from a heat gun is directed to colored
powder crystals causing these to melt, bubble and puff up.....basically
would like to try out various techniques that'll give me a dimensional
quality to fabric art.

Another plan is experimenting with types of crackle glazing.....I've
actually had dreams about the effect giving an "antiqued" crackled look
to some of my illustrations! In my dreams, everything looks great!
---
Lula
http://www.woolydream.com
Needlework Adventures

Laury Walkey wrote:

I've been adding a number of interesting books to my needlework library,
either from a book club or from local thrift stores and bargain used
book stores. I've been taken with the concept of trying to incorporate
some three dimensional aspects into my needleworking, especially after
reading the threads here a few weeks ago about Matilda Mallstomper which
was a truly unique and creative adaptation by a fellow stitcher here.

Two books in my library in particular have inspired me: _Botanical
Embroidery_ by Annette Rich and _Embroidery Illusions_ by Gary Clarke.
Annette Rich has done some stunning three dimensional renderings of
local Australian flowers in rayon threads. Gary Clarke has incorporated
found objects such as a twig or seashells into his work which he
embroiders on organza and places his work in layers over other stitchery
or artwork, or even in the case of the picture on the front cover, a
piece of plain old chicken wire. Really gives his pieces depth in
addition to the dimensional aspects of the main piece of surface
embroidery.

I wondered if anyone had tried incorporating three dimensional stitching
or adding unusual objects into their work. This is beyond adding
charms, beads and specialty stitches like french knots, etc.

What sorts of things have you done with your stitching to make it a
piece of textile art?

I haven't formulated any concrete ideas yet about what I want to create
for myself, but I have been looking in my stash at my left over beads,
fibers, my books, my stash of fancy cloth remenants from the bargain bin
at a local sewing store and wondering what sort of creation I could come
up with. I have never really been a creatively artistic person -- I am
more by-the-book, logical, black and white way of thinking and so
accessing my hidden creative side has been difficult for me. I recall
when I was little I would always ask for help in chosing acurate colors
to use in my coloring books. If Donald Duck had a blue shirt then he
was getting the right colored blue shirt and not a purple one! :-)

Looking forward to hearing any stories, ideas and suggestions.

Cheers,

--

Laury

Linda Wright wrote:

I've used fabric paint. Also, for one piece, I cut socks out of cloth
and mittens out of felt, then hung them with tiny clothespins on
bridal beading that made a nifty clotheline.

How did the fabric painting go? Did you use actual fabric paint or an
all-purpose crafting paint with fabric medium added? Did you stitch first
and then paint or paint and then stitch?

Cheers,

--

Laury

"Gary V. Deutschmann, Sr." wrote:

Hi Laury

Awhile back I made a posting about something my DW does on some of her
cross-stitched items. Back then I noted the pattern and designer she
had recently finished.

It's the designer that has quilts in her designs, her last one was the
one with the house in the background a rocking chair by a large tree
in the foreground and the quilt on the rocker.

She builds UP the objects to 3D. Take the tree trunk for example, it
is standing almost a full inch (in the center) above the backing and
curved back to the backing, making the tree trunk round as it should
be. By using darker floss on edges than called for in the pattern she
can add relief to an object making it appear to stand out much further
than it actually is if you touch it.

I was watching as she built up the tree trunk before stitching. She
would stack decreasingly smaller layers of aida over the backing and
then wrap all of this with (if the backing is 14 count, she would use
a 28 count cover. Sometimes she just uses Dacron under 28 count on
top of 14 count to get a 3D effect after it is stitched.

TTUL
Gary

This sounds very interesting. Do you have any pictures of your wife's
projects? I'm curious to see the finished effect.

Cheers,

--

Laury

Hi Laury

I wish I did have some discernable photos I would gladly put them on
my web site. The trouble with cameras are that they produce two
dimensional images! And when you take an edge or angle view to see
the relief of the image, it too becomes two dimensional but gives some
inkling of what the top looks like.

I never even saw the last finished item myself. I knew she was
nearing completion and even bought batteries for the camera so it was
ready.
Somehow between leaving the house in the morning and getting home that
night, not only did she finish it, but the person it was intended for
just happen to stop by. She was already about a month late finishing
it for the event it was for (a birthday).

I still have not found all of my stitching supplies since moving. But
am back to working on the Old Mill again, hopefully I will finish it
this year. How we went from perfect organization to complete disarray
in only 4 brown boxes for stitching things, I will never know. All
cutting implements related to sewing were placed in a white box inside
of one of the larger brown boxes. We have yet to find the brown box
with the white box inside. My nearest guess is that somehow something
for long term storage was placed in the box as a filler and it is in
one of the storage garages with an orange tag, which we won't be
opening any orange tag boxes until we finish building a new house.
So my simple system of red tag boxes for open need now, white tag for
office, blue tag for settled in and orange tag for opening after we
get a new house, obviously backfired, hi hi.....

TTUL
Gary

Oh you poor soul. I moved last year, so I can relate. I numbered all my boxes
with a corresponding list of contents. Anything I really needed was packed near
the end, which is when the process sort of went awry. I didn't have time to
stitch for 3 months, but fortunately I had stored all my supplies at a friend's
place so I knew exactly where they were.

Eventually it all gets sorted out, although I began to wonder if I really
needed all that stuff if I could live so long without it.

Dora
p.s. I'm curious to see if my reader picks up this post. All 'new postings' and
replies have disappeared, although they can be googled. Very strange.

(Gary V. Deutschmann, Sr.)

I still have not found all of my stitching supplies since moving. But
am back to working on the Old Mill again, hopefully I will finish it
this year. How we went from perfect organization to complete disarray
in only 4 brown boxes for stitching things, I will never know. All
cutting implements related to sewing were placed in a white box inside
of one of the larger brown boxes. We have yet to find the brown box
with the white box inside. My nearest guess is that somehow something
for long term storage was placed in the box as a filler and it is in
one of the storage garages with an orange tag, which we won't be
opening any orange tag boxes until we finish building a new house.
So my simple system of red tag boxes for open need now, white tag for
office, blue tag for settled in and orange tag for opening after we
get a new house, obviously backfired, hi hi.....

TTUL
Gary

Hi Dora

We made lists and numbered the boxes also.
But basically what happened was around the 2/3 point of packing,
thinking we still had 30 days to vacate, closing got pushed up 3 weeks
and we ended up having only 3 days to finish packing.

Needless to say, we flew through everything like a house a fire,
renting several storage sheds and getting the house empty.
Then we moved to temporary quarters locally while making several trips
530 miles away to relocate from the local storage sheds to the ones
way down south. I STILL have things in St. Louis in storage and most
of my things are now down here in Knoxville in various storage sheds.

Most of the boxes are numbered and color coded and correspond to typed
lists of whats in them. But WHERE are the boxes, hi hi....
Some boxes are in a climate controlled storage facility (things we
knew could be damaged), some things are in free standing storage
areas, and some in those strip garage type places.

We are currently only living in temporary very cramped quarters here
too, no room to unpack anything really. All we know for sure, was the
stuff we saved for last to pack in a rush, is all in one storage shed.
That we have been tackling a box at a time, but it is really slow
going, as everything needs to be repacked, listed, boxes numbered and
marked and sent to the type storage suitable for what was repacked.

After having such a large auction and getting rid of tons of stuff,
it's amazing how much we still kept. But as usual, much of the stuff
we auctioned off is the stuff I wish we still had.

TTUL
Gary