Fabric manipulation

This was the start of my final piece, i went with slightly darker colours than what i used when sampling and i changed the fabric type to leather as it was easier to structure for what i wanted.

This was me starting to experiment with placement and colours. I liked the way i had placed it together so i placed it on a mannequin and added to it from there. 

This is what it looked like on the mannequin. I thought it looked a little plain so i decided to do little bits of embroidery around the circles.

This is what it looked like from the side. 

Fabric Manipulation

This is the last project i did at college, it was all about fabric manipulation and turning something pain into something big and bold. For this project i decided to go with the fashion side rather than textiles. We started out with creating samples, so at first i decided i wanted to try and make a shoulder pieces so i was concentrated on designing for a shoulder piece.

Here was the start of my designing, this was three different samples placed together. 

This is the side view of the image above. 

On this picture i was adding other samples together to try and make a garment front.

On this picture i added some embroidery and a sample in a different colour to make it look complete. 

Lino print/Hand embroidery

This design was part of my collection for a previous project. The past few posts I've made were all part of the same collection. The picture is quite bad quality so it doesn't do it much justice! For this design i used lino print to get the leaf print and then screen printing to get the flower, i used the silver foils again! To make the design stand out more i decided to hand embroider over the leaf prints and add embellishment to the middle of each flower. I am very happy with how it turned out in the end. 

Hand Embroidery

I really enjoyed making this design, i started out with a block screen print of a leaf in the middle of my fabric. Then to add all the leaf detail i printed in a silver foil over the top of the block leaf. I really loved the effect it made. Then i decided to hand embroider two leafs either side of the middle one, it was very time consuming but worth it all in the end! Hand embroidery has to be one of my favourite techniques, i love the results you get at the end. 

Screen printing/Embroidery

This is one of my final designs i did for an older project. I started out by screen printing the middle flower in a bright colour and then i printed two leafs on either side of the flower in silver foil. To make the leafs stand out more i decided to embroider around them in a green thread. And then to finish my design off i added some reverse appliqué to the leafs by adding purple fabric underneath so the colour came through when i cut away certain pieces of the top fabric. 

Weaving

I love making a weave out of fabric,  Its so easy and fun to do. To make your own weave all you need is fabrics and any other materials you want to use and you need to cut them into strips. You will need quite a few so make sure you have enough fabric. You will also need a piece of cardboard, however big you like. Then you will need to make little cuts all along the top and bottom of the cardboard, then using a piece of string you will go from the top hole to the bottom until the board is full with string. The next step is to weave your fabric in and out each section of string, you need to keep adding fabric until it is tight and you cant fit anymore in.

This is what you should end up with. ones yo have finished adding your fabric, tie the left over sting and take your weave of the cardboard. 

Reverse Applique

This is one of my favorite techniques I've done. So i started out with the same pink fabric from the last post i did and i used screen printing with glue and silver foil to create the silver leaf. Then i added a green piece of fabric underneath it and using an embroidery hoop i did reverse applique. I only did this on a few sections of the leaf because i liked the effect it made.

Princess Pleating

Hi everyone, today i'm going to post some of my older work. For this piece i had some thin fabric, it was sort of see through and it frayed a lot. With the piece of fabric i decided to experiment with screen printing block coloured leaves and also leaves which had all the detail on. This worked rather well although it did look rather boring so i decided to experiment even further by princess pleating over the top of the leafs.

Fabric Manipulation

Hi everyone,
So i just thought id show you some of the techniques we've been learning. This post is about fabric manipulation. I don't think I've ever done fabric manipulation before but we've learned a rather easy but possibly time consuming technique. Basically you need to start out with a piece of fabric of a decent size. Then you need to find yourself a grid, so anything metal with holes in it. I used a metal cutlery tray to do mine.

You start out by soaking your fabric in water just until its wet and then ring it out until it just damp and not dripping. You then need to place your damp fabric over the metal grid, and using a pen or a pencil poke the fabric through the holes of the grid. you can create a pattern depending on which holes you leave and which you push your fabric through. Once you've pushed the fabric through the holes you need to leave it to dry. If your in a hurry use a hair dryer for quickness. Once your fabric is fully dry you then need to iron a piece of bonder web onto one of the sides depending on which side you like best.

(This is what mine looked like when i took it off the metal tray.)

(Then i ironed the bonder web onto the back.)

I also tried using a piece of cream fabric and doing the same process but while it was still on the metal try and still damp i used a pipet and dropped food colouring into the little holes. I then ironed the bonder web onto the other side of the fabric as i found this side more interesting. 

Drawing Techniques

Hi everyone,

So I've recently started a new project at college where we had to choose a theme, produce samples in our chosen colour palettes and then produce a finial piece. 

So for my theme I chose Gothic Luxe, the reason I picked Gothic is because I wanted to do something different to what I would usually do and i liked the look of the darker more mysterious colour palettes. 

So we started out by producing some drawing. For this we each brought in objects which were to do with our chosen themes and we basically just drew them in different medias and styles. 

This drawing above i did in a black pen and I used the continuous line technique which I rather like as it gives it a very loose, sketchy look. This drawing was from a piece of jewellery I bought which I thought was quite Gothic and different. 

The drawing above I also did in the same black pen, but I used a tonal technique. This is one of my favorite drawing I've done for this project because it looks three dimensional and I'm just very happy with the way it turned out. 

Hand Embroidery

Hi everyone,
This week i have been experimenting with hand embroidery!

For the past few weeks at College i have been doing a lot of screen printing, so i started out by buying fabrics to match my colour palette which i have been using for my current project.

I have been using my fabrics and then printing my own designs onto my fabrics using a technique called screen printing which is a very easy technique but its also rather messy!

I then decided i would try out a bit of hand embroidery on top of my printed designs, but first i started out by using a plain piece of fabric and experimenting with different embroidery techniques to see which techniques i liked best.

(Me trying out different embroidery techniques)

I thought i would try out a technique called 'seeding' on top of a screen print for my first go as i thought it would be a nice technique to use for this particular design and i thought it gave it a nice effect. Plus i feel like the colours compliment each other rather well. 

(Seeding technique)

The next technique i thought i would try was just a simple backstitch. I really like this technique because its very simple, yet you can get some great results with it. I decided to use the backstitch technique by taking a silhouette of a leaf that i had drawn, then screen printing it onto my fabric and then using backstitch to then hand embroider all of the delicate lines on top of the silhouette. 

(Backstitch technique)

I have left one side of the leaf bare just simply because i like the effect of it. In time i may add beads and different threads to it to see what effects i get with that. Underneath is my finished sample, i really enjoyed this technique and i will definitely be using it more thought this projects and other projects in the future. 

(Backstitch technique)

Experimenting with Lino print

Hello everyone, my name is Sophie and i am a Textiles student, i am currently studying at Newcastle College completing my first year of my degree course.

For my first ever post i thought i would show you's my Lino cutting, I've not done much Lino cutting in the past just little bits here and there so i am rather pleased with how this piece turned out.

I started out with a nice sized piece of Lino, big enough to fit my design onto.
Then using a heat press machine which we have at College i placed a printed out version of my design and placed it over the top of the Lino, i then put it under the heat press until my design had transferred onto the Lino.
Then using a carving tool (Must be quite sharp) i began to carve around the lines of my design.
If you don't want a block background on your print you must also remove the background from the Lino, this does take some time but you get a nice effect in the end.

Once you have your design all cut out and you are happy with it then you can go ahead and print it onto either fabric or paper. For mine i decided to print on a piece of brown textured paper i found. 

For this process all you need is paint in the colours of your choice and a roller. 

You need to put some paint onto a flat surface and roll it out with your roller, this is just so your roller gets a nice even coat of paint. 

The next step is to roller over your Lino until your design is covered. 

Then press the Lino face down onto your fabric or paper and using a clean roller, roll over the Lino pressing firmly. 

When you remove your Lino your design should be printed onto your fabric or paper. 

You can repeat this process as much as you like, just make sure to clean your roller and Lino after each use. 

Enjoy!