Sunday 19 October 2014

Painting with Stitches

Wow!  What a day!

This workshop was a while ago now but I would like to share it with you as the technique used for creating stitched pictures is a wonderful way for those of us who cannot draw to create our own unique pieces.

First let me introduce you to Sue Dove author of Painting with Stitches.  A very talented lady with a passion for painting and embroidery, Sue creates colourful, quirky textile pictures by creating a collage in paper and oil pastels first, before turning this into a hand stitched embroidery.


Sue came up from her studio in St Ives to do a one day 'Collage and Stitch' workshop. To provide the inspiration for the final piece we began the day by tearing up magazines (very therapeutic!) to create a collage. To keep things simple, the theme was flowers.

This is how mine looked in it's first stage of construction.


The next stage was using oil pastels to fill in the background.


Having completed our 'drawing' it was now time to create the fabric version.  We began rummaging through loads of scrap fabric that Sue had brought along, chosing pieces to replicate our 'drawing'. We started by laying out the background fabrics and then adding the detail.  Once this was done we could then begin tacking the pieces in place before beginning the embroidery.


Time was running out fast and unfortunately I only managed a little embroidery on the day. Below you can see the comparison between my original 'drawing' and the stitched piece.


Sue's work is mainly embroidered by hand and I know she always has a piece in her bag to work on when she has a spare minute.  I found it quite hard on the fingers, to sew through all the layers of fabric so I'm afraid I cheated and did most of mine by machine.

You can see though, I got there in the end!  To keep all the large background pieces in place I added stitching creating the illusion of a jigsaw puzzle and to finish it all off I added a crocheted border.


I had no idea how this was going to turn out when I started although I was rather pleased with the result. It's not my usual kind of work but the process used was interesting and I would definitely use this technique again as it is a wonderfully free way of creating a picture.

We will be spending the weekend with friends when this post goes out so I shall look forward to seeing what everyone has got up to this week on Handmade Monday when I get home.





19 comments:

  1. AMAZING!! i love it, what a great idea and interpretation.. xx

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  2. Wow. I love seeing the whole design process, and the final piece is lovely. The jigsaw puzzle stitching is a great touch.

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  3. What a fantastic technique! I love your finished picture, its so full of life and colour x

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  4. Fascinating to see a piece of work from start to finish. The jigsaw effect looks fab, I think.

    Have a lovely crafty week,
    Alison

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  5. This is delightful! It's really interesting to read about the stages you went through to create the final piece. Great idea to add the jigsaw piece detail! x

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  6. Wow, your picture is amazing. I love the idea of creating the picture first then recreating in fabric, the results are stunning.

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  7. Very interesting process to get a beautiful end result. :)

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  8. COOL! And, what Everyone Else said! ;-D
    "WHEN"ever I find some time, I'll have to give these techniques a try... ["Ideas" are already running through my crafty-crowded brain!]

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  9. That is so cool, I love the jigsaw effect (I love the rest as well but that is very clever/cool) overuse of the word cool, but seriously - very cool!

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  10. It's beautiful! It looks like a framed painting that has been lovingly made. It's really amazing that you recreated your painting with fabric.

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  11. It looks very very sweet !! :) what a fun workshop!!

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  12. Your finished pictures looks amazing and I really like the jigsaw effect.
    Ali xx

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  13. It really is lovely and such gorgeous colours used! I love the jigsaw stiching, don't think I have seen that before. Hope you have a good week.

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  14. Oh, I love love love this! I quickly looked online for my local library and the book was there so I ordered it. Your piece is absolutely gorgeous, well done!! And the crocheted edge was a nice finish too... so glad you enjoyed yourself and have such a beautiful keepsake to show for it :)

    Sharon xo

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  15. I love your stitched picture and the process you followed to get there can be used for other projects to. I like the jigsaw puzzle effect you have created and it doesn't matter that you used a machine. Anita

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  16. What a great picture you have created and love the way you arrived at the finished piece. Will have keep a look out for that book, looks interesting.

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  17. What a great technique, I just love the vibrant colours! The jigsaw stitching is also wonderfully eye catching, you had such a productive time x

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  18. Your finished picture is wonderful - and it is lovely to find a way to be creative that doesn't rely on an inborn ability to draw.

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I really appreciate all the lovely comments you leave so thank you for taking precious time to do this.