Chapter 9 - Traditional and modern

I attended an exhibition by Grassington branch of the Embroiderers Guild whilst I was working on this chapter and there on display were two authentic molas!

I added photographs of the  real thing and having tried this for myself I have to say that I'm filled with admiration for the women who make such intricate designs. My own very small attempt has four layers of plain cotton fabric in alternating colours. I do like the finished article, wish I'd added more layers so the design ended up bigger, but how they work out designs such as the bird is a mystery to me!!

My three contemporary samples all use the same five-sided star.
Sample A has the outside shape stitched first and the fabric cut away inside the stitching. The edges were frayed back to the stitching.
Sample B has the inside shape stitched first and then the fabric cut away outside the stitch line. The same stack of fabrics was used as in Sample A and it is striking how different the two appear.
Sample C has some fabrics which did not form complete layers in an attempt to show different colours around the star.

I really like the star shape that I used for these last three samples but I learned that if I had left a bigger gap between the stitch lines I could have frayed the fabrics more which would probably have given a more pronounced result. In Sample C several of the coral coloured fabrics were very similar in colour and more contrasting fabrics would have helped the finished effect.

Chapter 8 - Layers of stitch

The following six samples use padding and stitching to indicate the star shapes  - some more successfully than others!

First, the one that really didn't work. I treated myself to a new sewing machine, one with lots of set embroidery stitches, one of which is a row of stars. Well, I had to give it a try didn't I? But as you can see it proved impossible to manage the stars around the corners of the design so it was back to the drawing board and straight machine stitching.

 Sample 1 has a printed cotton background and a machine stitched cotton layer topped with the same four pointed design stitched at 45 degrees in Holbein stitch. I added long straight stitches in the arrow heads couched in place and a double cross stitch in the centre.
Sample 2 is a soft silk fabric shape machine stitched onto plain cotton with diamonds of long straight stitches added to form points in the corners.
Sample 3 is a star of transparent voile bonded onto a printed cotton fabric outlined in running stitch. A second star is stitched off centre outlined in running stitch and filled with fly stitches. I'm very happy with this sample as I think it looks quite delicate.

Sample 4 - I bonded transparent voile onto handprinted cotton and outlined it with two rows of machine stitch before trying out one of those fancy stitches again. I'd learned my lesson though and just put four short straight lines down the centre of the arms. I worked a second four-pointed star in chain stitch and added a web stitch to the centre.
Sample 5 has two strips of contrasting voiles bonded to hand-printed cotton and a five-pointed star based on one of the starfish images from my initial research outlined with three rows of running stitch. The centre of the shape was padded from behind and seed stitches added using the same two threads. I really like this sample - maybe its the padding, maybe its the shape - it's probably both!
Sample 6 is a complex 8-pointed star in silk fabric bonded onto plain cotton and filled with machine stitching leaving the centre free to be padded. I stitched a four-pointed star on top with several rows of running stitch. I like this one too so maybe it is the additional dimension of the padding which appeals to me.

Chapter 7 - Embroidery at last!

So good to have a needle in my hand at last! But first things first ... a photograph of me working on my coursework, which I've kept forgetting to add.

I think that the following six samples are self-explanatory with the notes alongside, but just in case ...

I used three different designs for the first three samples - one symmetrical, one with two symmetrical shapes placed off-centre and one completely asymmetrical also using a negative shape.
Sample 1 consists of two layers of printed cotton and the top turquoise star is a painted wet-wipe, stitched with running stitch in stranded cottons.
Sample 2 has two layers of purchased patterned cotton fabric with many rows of running stitch in perle thread. One of these rows is in orange to add contrast . The top layer is painted cotton attached with small cross stitches.
Sample 3 uses the starfish shapes with a background of printed cotton, a negative shape in satin fabric stitched with running stitch and straight stitches at right angles over the edge of the fabric to enable it to fray. The top layer is silk dupion stitched with backstitch. I buttonholed around the edge of this sample as the fabric was fraying so badly.

Samples 4, 5 and 6 all use the same design in three different colourways and I really like the way this has impacted on their appearance.
Sample 4 consists of two printed cottons and one painted cotton, stitched with running stitches and french knots in stranded cotton. This one is my favourite - I'm pleased with the effect of using contrasting coloured thread to stitch each layer and the slightly more muted colours are more pleasing to my eye.
Sample 5 - I decided to use three blue fabrics this time, two of them printed and the top one made with painted bondaweb. I used a mix of chain and running stitches using orange perle thread for contrast but I think the thread is too thick on the middle layer and the orange somewhat too bright.
Sample 6 has a dark orange silk background with two painted cottons on top stitched with french knots and running stitch using perle thread. the orange thread is variegated and, although it's the same as used in sample 5, it looks less offensive on the orange fabric.