Chapter 12: A false start in 3d

I began this chapter by making several three-dimensional shapes. I stuffed these and when the module is complete they will become toys for Willow my cat.

Fig.1

This image is a bit blurred - sorry, it was taken on my i-pad and enlarging the initial very small image has blurred it a little but I think it is still possible to make out the shapes. I made a cube, a pillow, a biscornu (covered in blackwork embroidery), a pyramid, a second pyramid made from four diamond shapes with the bottom point cut off, an open cylinder and a vessel made from nine octagons. The tall vessel at the back of this group was my first idea for a finished item.

Fig.2

 

I had originally thought of making a vase which would be tall enough to accommodate some lace flowers which I made some time ago, and to this end I began to pull images from magazines of possible shapes. Inspired by the lizards in my earlier research I eventually settled on the shape with curled back top edges seen in Figure 1 above. 

 

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I worked with this idea for a few days and then ... I decided that actually the sides of the vase were not really wide enough to show off the patchwork patterns that I had worked so hard to develop. So ...

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I decided to return to a note that I had jotted on my initial brainstorming page - the idea of making a 'little' container for holding secrets and dreams. More research on the internet, and through catalogues and booklets collected from various visits to the Victoria and Albert Museum in London over the years, ensued. I was drawn to the shape of a reliquary, with its ridged lid. This, I felt, fitted better with my idea of a box for holding precious secrets, and also gave a perfect vehicle for mimicking the spines on the back of my chosen lizard.

 

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The spine of the lid will be reminiscent of Gaudi's dragon back roof in Barcelona with prairie points along the ridge.

 

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Having made a paper model of the box I shall actually make the ends 6" square, rather than just 4" wide as they are in this image so it will look to have better proportions to its height of 6". The front and back measure 8" across.

 

 

Chapter 11 - fabric samples

I began this chapter playing with paper - the combinations of strips, colours and patterns are, I suspect, literally endless. I stopped after doing eleven samples.

 

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I then stitched on some of my printed and bleached fabrics, though forgot to take photographs of some of these before I started cutting into them to make pieced samples.

 

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At Sian's suggestion I also overdyed some of my purchased fabrics with interesting results.

 

 

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The next task was to choose some of my designs to translate into fabric. I made three small samples ...

 

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I also pieced a larger sample with embellished seams - lots of prairie points, bundles of threads, wrapped threads and bullion loops.

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Finally in this chapter, we were asked to produce a larger sample similar to the one made for chapter 10 but this time from embroidered and patterned fabrics. As I had hated the earlier piece so much, this time I had to produce something neater and more attractive to my eye ...

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... and just hope that it is acceptable.

 

Chapter 10: Piecing

I did the paper exercises, cutting a strip of black and white papers in different ways to produce ever more intricate patterns

 

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I then tried the challenge - to take a strip each of black and white fabric, cut, cut and cut again, piecing them together each time until my sewing machine could take no more. Actually, in the end, it was I who could take no more. 

Fig.4

This piece of stitching is, without doubt, the ugliest ever to come from my hands and I hated every moment of its production. I eventually gave up on it, and was very surprised by how frustrated and irritable it had made me feel.

 

Chapter 9: Fibonnacci is golden

I thought that I hadn't heard of either Fibonnacci or the golden section before and, although I grasped the sequence quickly enough, it took me a while to get my head around working with it to produce patchwork designs. Actually, whilst looking for something else I came across this image in one of my needlelace books so it turned out that I had actually heard of it before - it just hadn't registered in my maths-averse brain.

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The first exercise was to cut four patterned papers into Fibonnacci proportions (1cm; 2cm; 3cm and 5cm wide), stick them down and then cut into strips, again in the Fibonnacci sequence and lay them down with small gaps between. (Fig.2)

 

Fig.3

Next I again cut four different patterned papers into the Fibonnacci sequence, again cut at right angles into the Fibonnacci sequence, making two strips of each size. I then laid these in alternating directions to make this pattern, which expands as it moves outwards in both directions. (Fig.3)

 

Fig.4 

Figure 4 shows one patterned and one plain paper cut in the Fibonnacci sequence laid with gaps, which are also in the Fibonnacci sequence between the strips.

 

Fig.5

Figure 5 has again one patterned and one plain paper cut in the Fibonnacci sequence. This sheet was then cut at right angles in the Fibonnacci sequence, again with two strips of each width. These strips were then laid with alternate strips flipped. This pattern reminded me of some of Bridget Riley's geometric paintings as you can see the beginnings of a piece that appears to bend.

 

Fig.6 

In Figure 6, five strips of patterned paper were copied and doubled up, cut into equal strips and arranged in a stepped design to give a 'fractured' appearance. For something which is actually so precisely cut, this design has a surprisingly random appearance. With the paper that looks a little like leopard spots this is reminiscent of how well camouflaged big cats are when in their native landscape.

 

Fig.7 

This has exactly the same sequence of papers as in Figure 6 above, but this time arranged in an overlapping square.

 

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In Figure 8 the same sequence of papers was used again but this time the resulting sheet was cut at a 45 degree angle and some strips were flipped to mix up the pattern even more.

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My final design with this sequence of patterns is shown in Figure 9 where the sheet has been cut into four triangles which have then been put together to form an 'on point' square.

The Golden Section:

The golden section is a series of squares whose dimensions fit the Fibonnacci series, a design often found in nature, for example in a snail's shell, or the pattern of seeds on a sunflower centre.

I began by drawing my own version of this, connecting the corners to show the resulting spiral.

 

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I then made a copy of this in patterned papers (sample 9 in Figure 10, above).

 

 

Fig.11

I made a block design using the golden section  ...

 

 

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... and finally two more versions on a theme, both of which would make interesting patchwork quilts!

This chapter caused me quite a few headaches as I struggled to get my head around how to cut the pieces to such a strict ratio. My attempts at patchwork in the past have only consisted of scrap quilts and one Liberty masterpiece made from a pattern, but that is only a log cabin design. Having worked my way through these exercises though I'm feeling much more confident so more ambitious quilts may well follow.