Novelty fabric. Day 3

As much as I love hand dyed fabrics and also enjoy the actual dying process and then using the super pieces in my work

 

 

I am still drawn to Novelty fabrics. I adore the printing of so many images that relate to a specific thing. I use them in all sorts of work including my quilts. Not quite sure how to use these lovely ones that my darling ( very non-textile) daughter found for me for my birthday. I do wish she would learn to sew !

Produced by Makower @ the Henley studio in the UK. Its called Sew retro Montage and was released earlier this year. Its just prefect for sewing types like us.

And this is the other one in the range, smaller images but still textile stuff. Look at those sewing machines !!!, the darning mushroom ( I haven't darned a sock ever!) and the quick unpick tool.

Need to keep the fabrics for a while and let my mind get into creative thoughts on how to use them.
I might add it to a white shirt, facing for the front bands and cuffs.
I have tubs full of very different novelty fabrics and I often use the printed  images as applied pieces in my bigger work.
I have a really great book by an artist who uses printed images and incorporates them  into her work- Roberta Horton. The Fabric Makes the Quilt explains how to use novelty fabrics in an innovative and arty way.

Its published by C & T Publishing and is available from Amazon and Roberta's website too.
Highly recommended.


 

 

 





Painted Fantasy Birds Day 2

Here are my fantasy birds flying in to day 2 of my new blog.

Painted with Derwent Intense pencils and blocks ( really great to work with) onto pale coloured cotton fabric and then bands of marble and  patterned cotton used as the sashings.

 

 

Free hand drawn with pencil then using the darning foot and the feed dogs down, I free motion machine stitched around the shape.  Outlined with a black fabric pen to give a graphic look to the birds. Then free motion quilted.

Great fun to do .

I have made 12 and they will be made up into a wall hanging with the theme of Gardens.

How many of these delightful silly birds do you see in your garden?

 

 

 

Silk Escape Maps. Day 1

As many of you know I have long been fascinated by the History of Textiles - having taught this for many years and using old textiles in my art work. Today, for my birthday my dear husband Trevor has given me a lovely present of something I have wanted in my textile collection for many a year. He tracked it down on an auction site and in the post today came this wonderful Silk Escape Map.

This one is from the Cold War era around the early 50's and shows Yugoslavia, Czechoslovakia and Austria. The reverse depicts Austria, Poland and Hungary. It would have been used by RAF and SAS service men and women.
Escape maps were used by the Allied Forces in WW2 and the Cold War when they needed to find their way home ! from behind enemy lines. They were sewn into clothing and being silk were strong and durable-  and didn't disintegrate as a paper map would do.

Beautifully printed and issued by the War Office, these really were a useful textile item.

 

It begs the question of how many silk escape maps were made into knickers by forces wives and girlfriends !!!!!

I might just frame mine !!!

new Textile Blog

So here I am with my brand new Blog. - Little Scrap of Cloth !
And what's it going to be about I hear you cry?
All things TEXTILES of course.
I hope to add a post every single day ( if I remember !!!! And have the time !!!) Bare  with me while I get the hang of this new blog.

I will be showing and chatting about

• My own Textile work (I make loads)
• Antique textiles (I have a large collection)
• Art Quilts
• Machine Embroidery
• Art Dolls

And any beautiful textile that I see that I think will interest you.

Please do pop by often and see what's going on
Here are some pics to get going.