Complex Cloth Scotland

 

I was invited by Gillian Cooper and Sam Townsend to be a guest tutor at their City & Guilds Spring School near Sterling in Scotland. 

I spent 3 days with a group of students from all over the country creating unique pieces of complex cloth before piecing these with the Pojagi stitch technique.

Students had arrived the day before and been set tasks to draw personal objects and take inspiration from their surroundings. 

We took these drawings, identified areas of interest, and made stencils and stamps. I continued to work with the laces from my little shoes.

Working with three different fabrics - cotton - linen - organdie - we used acrylic paints to stamp and stencil onto fabric

Students were asked to restrict their colour palette to three colours

Each fabric had two or three overlaid designs. The plan was to use similar imagery to create a complex cloth with layers of depth.

These stamped and stencilled fabrics were then dyed in three separate dye baths - aagain with a limited colour palette

Washed out and dried overnight

One day two we got out the decolourant and using the same stencils removed some colour from the cloth to add another layer of complexity

Some fabrics were 'saddened' with a tea solution

Gelliplates were used to print onto cotton organdie with acrylic paint with acrylic inks used to add further depth and colour.  Everyone now had a pile of complex cloths ready to stitch.

Time to stitch!

Varying the different fabric weights and colourways the fabrics were joined using the contemporary machine Pojagi piecing technique. 

With the Pojagi technique each seam is stitched twice so that all raw edges are hidden. The seams become an integral part of the design.

The way that the paint lies on the surface of the different fabrics helps to give the feeling of depth

The way that the procion dyes 'strike' different fabrics gives a subtle tonal range to the colour palette

The varying levels of opacity of the different fabics changes the way that light is reflected

The repeated imagery gives a cohesion and as the eye links similar shapes it gives movement to the piece

Here are some of the works in progress at the end of the Spring School.

Everyone had the same teaching and resources but each person created their own unique panel

It was an intense 3 days and we covered a lot of ground but I hope that the students can take some of these techniques and ideas forward into future projects

I asked that when the panels were completed that students might send me images.

This is the finished piece by Susan Reay

Liz Collinson produced this lovely piece

A huge thankyou to the eleven students in the workshop. You all embraced the techniques and the process. 

I wish you all every success with your City & Guilds courses

More images of completed pieces will be most welcome or come and show me at Festival of Quilts where I will be on stand QIA15