Posted by Agnes Iley , Tuesday, October 26, 2010 7:41 AM
Resolving a sample
My first test was appliqueing the figures. There are some issues to resolve here. First of all the silk is to light as a background fabric, it needs stabilizing and the blue fabric shines through the faces.
I used a regular tension setting on top and the bobbin was still set for a whip stitch. And although this gives a loose, sketchy effect, maybe it will look to messy if it was used for the whole piece?
I like the tonal difference between the background and the faces in the foreground. This happened by accident, I grabbed a piece of black fabric that was next to my machine to stabilize the silk. It gives the background a greyish tone, which makes the faces pop out a bit more.
Overall I am quite happy with this little sample, all the issues can be easily resolved. But the question remains if this will show enough “stitch” to suit the assignment.
My second test was to machine embroider the figures. For this I gave my fab-u-motion (stitch regulator) a trial run.
I still appliqued the figures to create that tonal difference between fore- and background. There are some issues to resolve here as well.
I started by making the darker folds in the fabric and embroidered around them.
I don’t like the effect, I much prefer the loose, sketchy outlines of the first test.
I need to use a finer needle in the machine, this one leaves holes which are very visible on the outer right figure.
I played a bit with the density of the stitch and although I like the lighter feel of the figure on the right, I feel this is not the most suitable for my sketch.
In my sketch the crowd is lined up shoulder to shoulder, like a solid block, quite regimented. To recreate this I think I need solid fills for the clothes.
To outline the figures I used a silk thread, I picked this because it’s a little heavier then the rayon I used for the clothes. I’ll have to up this a notch and go for an even heavier thread, maybe a buttonhole or jeans thread. So the outline won’t disappear into the background.
So what I am going to do? I like the painterly effect of the first sample a lot.
The second sample undoubtedly fits in better with the assignment…decisions, decisions…
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