Embellished jacket 3

I’m still pushing the “not starting anything new” from No, no resolutions on 3 January, and working on existing projects. For several reasons, I’ve started working on my jacket again; the weather has had the odd warmer day and I can start wearing it again, albeit under my waterproof on a couple of occasions, and I’m using the jacket to follow the “in the stitch zone” sessions.

The first session was a re-cap on feather stitch. I’m working directly on to the sleeve, using a selection of weights of perlé, including a lovely Stef Francis variegated one that matches the colours on some of the applied pieces. I was working downwards (it’s easier to work it towards yourself) from the bottom of the sleeve…….

……. but really it’s going upwards.

I’ve got to the shoulder seam with some of the threads now, so it appears to be hanging / growing down from the seam.

I’m still working on this, but it’s easy to pick up and add to it. I’m planning on going between two seams on the sleeve.

The next session was the first of Colour-play photo palette: crazy patchwork. I’m going off piste as usual and using my jacket instead of a photo. I’d sorted out a selection of cotton fabrics that are colours in other pieces on the jacket. It’s good to be using and recycling / upcycling scraps from my stash. It’s really meant to be raw edge and the feather stitch goes over the join, but because it will be worn and washed, I feel it will be more robust to cover the raw edges; so I’ve ironed them and folded under a hem on one side.

My plan had been to put it almost like an elbow patch on the sleeve, but the consensus was that it didn’t look right.

I didn’t want to put it on the other sleeve, as that in my mind is going to be leaves from previous sessions in a variety of stitches, with reverse chain stitches linking them together.

The other front pocket was dismissed too, which leaves two panels on the back. After much shifting around of fabrics, the left side one ended up like this.

Some of the fabrics bring back good memories of friends. I’m not sure where the flowery piece came from. I love the pinking sheared edge which will be hidden by the feather stitch, but it looks better balanced this way up.

I was hoping to stitch it directly to the jacket, but Alex thinks it will be better to back it with calico and apply the finished piece. This also has the advantage that I can continue wearing it without fear of pins, needles or losing bits.

Alex had a very fine cotton (almost a lawn) that she gave me to use. It’s got a lovely little placket that I might salvage somehow!

It now has tiny stab stitches to tack / anchor it down, apart from the flowery piece which might get moved / applied afterwards to keep the zigzag edge. We have four more sessions on this project, so at the moment I’m only going to work on it in class.

I’m still working on my canvas work piece when not in class. It’s coming along, but more on that soon, hopefully a finish.

Kogin / pattern darning

We started a new project this week at “In the stitch zone“. Liz had seen a project in “Stitch” magazine a while back, and had suggested Kogin / pattern darning when Alex had asked for ideas of things we would like to do. Alex had done several samples, including the one below, and found a selection of patterns for us to try.

I chose to work on a beige Aida fabric using a “go to” dark green perlé, thinking that it will go on my embellished jacket (when I finish it!). I had my usual problems with counted work of any sort and following a pattern. I started with trailing the thread from one row down to the next, which made it a bit loopy, and this is only a section of the motif.

I started with a slightly different pattern, but couldn’t work out the spacing between motifs, which wasn’t helped by not knowing how many would fit across my fabric. (I’m thinking cutting it off along the fold line.) After several attempts and making silly mistakes, I decided to start in the centre of the fabric with what is the bottom row below, and working from the middle out to the left, having left enough thread to work from the centre to the right.

I started a new length of thread for each row, working from the middle out to the left, then the middle out to the right. My thoughts were first that if I made a mistake I could correct it more easily and not have to undo it all, and then by leaving the threads I can meander them across the jacket when I get that far!

I have begun to work a little faster now the pattern is beginning to develop. The motif mirror images from the bottom row. One of the lovely things about it is that the back has the negative image of the pattern, which is something to experiment and play with. We’ve got two more weeks on the project, but lots of possibilities for developing it further.

Embellished jacket 2

I’ve been continuing with my embellished jacket, finding experiments and samples to add to it. This is another piece of Kantha that I did at “In the stitch zone“, way back in April 2022. Both pieces play with circles on wool (Harris tweed?), this one following and echoing the lines and weave of the fabric.

I used a variegated thread and deliberately left the ends and the knots visible.

I had no plan for either this or the brown piece from last time, but the colours work well with the jacket….

…… but which way up and where?

The green kantha circles on the slightly patterned cotton fabric needed to be on the slant to fit on the shape of the jacket, and not be hidden under the collar. This piece has also been around for a long time, from a Grasby workshop that we did at one of our exhibitions, I think. I liked both sides, but hadn’t come up with a way of using it to show the back as well. So, it’s found a good home at last!

In the end, having tried the wool piece in several places, I settled with it on the diagonal, echoing the angle of the green piece.

I’m enjoying wearing it as it slowly progresses, but the weather is supposed to change this weekend, so I may need something warmer and more waterproof over the rest of the winter!

Embellished jacket

A couple of weeks ago I finally made a start on a long-planned piece of work. In fact it was started some time ago, as many of the pieces were just waiting to be stitched on, and with some of them it was a case of finding them, having been tucked away in a variety of folders. The main one was the “bubbles” piece, which was returned to me after the Lincolnshire Textiles exhibition at the Chapter House in Lincoln Cathedral at the end of August. It was / is to be the focal point on the back of the jacket.

I’d envisioned it before it was even finished stitching last year. Once I had it back, I’d had it pinned on the back of the jacket on my tailor’s dummy, but I tried it on and got somebody to take a photo at “In the stitch zone” a couple of weeks ago. I felt it needed moving a little higher or even…..

….. putting across the back yoke. But it isn’t symmetrical in shape and not unsymmetrical enough to look intentional. It just didn’t look balanced. The bottom piece was done years ago – a workshop with Mary on Kantha work, which I’d never heard of at the time, but I loved the effect. Ironically I’d decided I should make a whole jacket in it, but it hasn’t got any further since! It may end up on this jacket, or maybe another project, who knows?

I also tried other pieces on the front. I thought the cream one would be more likely to get grubby near the bottom, so stitched the brown and orange one down over the pocket, making sure not to stitch through the front as well, so that the pocket is usable.

I rotated it ninety degrees anti-clockwise as well, and extended the stitching on to the jacket using the same variegated thread. I was so excited about it, that I wore it with just this piece on.

I then added the bubbles to the back, slightly higher than the top photo, using tiny ladder stitches and turning the excess under as I went.

By the end of the second session, I’d got a couple of inches left to do, and again wore it with a few threads dangling – it was the easiest way to carry it, rather than it being crumpled up in my bag. It’s all stiched on now.

I’ve found some more pieces for the front, and have made a start on adding more stitches to the orange crazy patchwork butterfly piece. There’s still a long way to go, but it will evolve as I go along and I can at least wear it while it’s a WIP.