Stitch and Structure: Design and Technique in two- and three-dimensional textiles
By Jean Draper
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About this ebook
This beautiful and very practical book includes diagrams, detailed drawings and stitch information to guide the reader through the techniques, which include hand and machine embroidery. It covers: Design, including recording information for translation into stitch (with lots of drawing tips); Choice of Threads, including some unusual threads and customizing them; Constructing with Thread, everything from knotted forms, with decorative threads, grids and stacks, and coiled structures; Stitches in Thin Air, constructing with stitch alone using moulds and soluble fabric; Using Mixed Media in Stitched Structures, such as paper, sticks, wire and plastics; Adding Structure to an Existing Fabric; Three-Dimensional Fabric Structures.
Working in two and three-dimensions is a growing genre of textile art and this incorporates a fresh approach and great design advice.
Jean Draper
Jean Draper is an experienced textile artist whose work explores the impact of time, weather and man on the environment. She is an exhibiting member of the prestigious 62 Group of Textile Artists and the Textile Study Group and her work is in public and private collections throughout the UK and abroad. Formerly she was a Senior Lecturer and examiner for various degree courses but more recently she has taught, on a freelance basis, all over the UK as well as in Australia, Canada, the USA, Italy and the Netherlands. She was National Chairman of the Embroiderers’ Guild from 1995 to 2001.
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Stitch and Structure - Jean Draper
INTRODUCTION
This book has grown out of many years of practising, researching and teaching art and stitched textiles. It is solidly based in my continuing work around themes and textile techniques that interest me. While my natural way of working is hand stitching – and this is the way much of the work shown in this book has been made – some pieces are machine stitched. Many of the hand-stitching ideas shown could also be translated as machine embroidery.
In these pages, I aim to explore how structure in the natural and built environment can offer inspiration for the design and construction of stitched textiles. As artists, embroiderers and makers, we can use these structures to shape our vision and to make that vision a reality through the ways in which we work with thread, stitch, cloth and other materials. Through a series of logical exploratory stages (beginning with thread and concluding with fabric) and based on the design concept of structure, I attempt to show how formations we see around us can be interpreted and represented in our chosen materials and methods which, in turn, allows us to create new structures. These can be very varied: different two-dimensional structural surfaces made from stitching, or more complex three-dimensional constructions fashioned either from stitch alone or from stitching, fabric and mixed media combined. Shown here is my progress so far in this immense subject.
The overriding principle during my teaching career has been to encourage creative growth in others, giving them the opportunity to develop their own ideas and personal style of working. I certainly do not want to prescribe the outcomes of your work, but by suggesting starting points and possible additional working experiments you might carry out (under the heading ‘Further Work: You Could…’), my intention is to inspire and encourage you to develop interesting ideas for yourself.
I have chosen only to illustrate and explain those methods that you may not already know or be able to reference easily. I have stated where my ideas begin and how my methods have evolved, in the knowledge that you can easily source basic information about stitches and techniques from the many good specialist books already in existence.
I hope that you will enjoy reading and using this book and that it will help you to make expressive, individual and innovative work of your own.
IllustrationAfter the Fire (54 x 38cm). Hand- stitched background in dense vertical lines of raised whip stitch, supporting an arrangement of wrapped sticks, thorns, stitched and painted hand-made paper and loose threads. Constructed from cotton fabric, various threads and mixed media.
DISCOVERING STRUCTURE AS A SOURCE FOR DESIGN
Defining structure. Natural structures. Man-made structures. Increasing awareness of structure in the environment.
IllustrationCactus Form 1 (height 58cm). Tall three-dimensional work constructed from heavy cords wrapped with space-dyed cotton threads, based on drawings of dried cacti shown later on 1 and 2. For method of construction see Chapter 5.
IllustrationPen and wash drawings investigating organic structure from various sources, including eroded stones, rock, cross-section of bone and cell structures.
ORGANIC OR NATURAL STRUCTURE
‘Structure can be defined in a number of ways, but it is generally accepted that the term refers to the framework or constituent parts or elements making up an object. It also refers to the way in which these parts are put together and connected, determining the particular nature, character and shape of the object.’
The Shorter Oxford English Dictionary
There has been a great deal of study into, and writing on, the theory and science of structure which, while interesting, is not essential reading for the purposes of this book. Here we are only beginning to explore structure in a general way as an aid to the creation of stitched textiles. However, more in-depth research might be needed if you wished to develop very complex work, particularly if you are thinking of making large-scale standing structures. Size in relation to the strength and weight of the materials used would need careful consideration. At this stage, however, we are predominately concerned with discovering the visual impact and inspirational qualities of structure in its broader sense. Whatever its form, every living, growing thing around us has some kind of structure that affects its appearance and determines its shape, size, strength and character. The structure of some objects is immediately recognizable, being on the exterior or surface, while less obvious interior structures are hidden and, therefore, are more difficult to discover. Outwardly, for example, the human body seems to be made from muscle and flesh, but our shape, strength and ability to stand and move is largely dependent upon the concealed bony skeleton that supports the muscles and soft tissue and also protects the inner organs. By contrast, some creatures, such as shellfish, turtles and insects, have a bold, protective outer shell or carapace instead of an interior skeleton. You will be able to think of many more examples of both surface and interior structures in the things you see around you.
Essentially, the structure – the way in which the elements relate, conjoin and shape an entity – is entirely practical in order to give strength, flexibility and protection. Its structure enables an object to exist and hold intact against whatever forces and dangers may affect it in its environment.
Organic structures – interior or exterior – although primarily practical, can also be very decorative and intriguing in their form, construction and coloration. Often, exterior decoration serves a practical purpose too, perhaps to attract a mate, or for the benefit of camouflage. The complexity and variety of structures within nature can supply us with almost unlimited information and inspiration, providing compelling scope for interesting design. Some structures, when examined closely, seem impossibly delicate but, in fact, because of the way in which their elements, (often including a framework of lines) are organized, linked and overlapped, together with the way they function in their environment, the fineness and lightness we see belies their strength. Examples of this type of structure are cobwebs and the inner lacy construction of bones. In fact, many fascinating structures, such as cells and other biological organisms, are so minute and fine that they are completely invisible to the naked eye and only become apparent through magnification. Nevertheless, some of these forms provide very beautiful and exciting starting points