Exercise 2.4: Developed and composed samples

The aim of this exercise is to begin to explore the role of evaluation, selection, development and refinement in the design and making process.

The brief for this exercise was to develop two more considered and larger stitched paper pieces that build upon the samples created in Exercise 2.3. Two different drawings from Part One had to be selected to inform these larger samples.

Sample 1

The first drawing that I selected was this one as it had some unusual lines because it was the sketch I did without looking:

I wanted to reference the original textile in a couple of ways and so chose to create a bigger (A3) woven sample based on this one created for Exercise 2.3:

When I wove the paper strips on the A3 sample I intentionally attempted to recreate the woven structure evident in the Paisley coat which can be seen in this sketch:

I then used a viewfinder to isolate areas of interesting lines and selected the following area to be inspired by:

I decided to use the couching technique that I tried in Exercise 2.3 to produce the lines. I chose a grey wool and a matching cotton thread that appeared to be similar to the colour of the pencil lines to recreate this section. I chose to leave the ends untrimmed on the edges of the work t give the sense that the design continues beyond the sample and the ends of the woven paper were not stuck down as they have a tendency to unravel (like old textiles). I did not solidly couch the wool but rather tacked it to the paper so that it has some movement.

As the couched lines remind me a bit of contours on a map, if I were to develop this piece further it would be interesting to stitch a section of map showing either Paisley or Worthing (where the original textile piece is held) over the woven base and underneath the couched lines.

Sample 2

For the second sample I chose to use this drawing as inspiration:

As this piece has an almost sculptural and textural quality to the mark making I decided to created a bigger textured background similar to the one used in this sample from Exercise 2.3:

When the layered paper was dry I decided to create further texture by folding and bending the piece. At that point I used a running stitch to hand embroider marks as a stitch translation of the original drawing above.

The finished stitched sample photographed upright to emphasise the shadows created by the three dimensional structure.

I chose not to take a small section of the sketch as I was interested in the shapes that the dotted lines formed and so decided to make the finished piece twice the size of the original to see the effect of scale. An extra element of randomness was added to my stitching as my poor proprioception means that when I cannot see my hands (for example when stitching from the underneath) my brain doesn’t know exactly where they are. This did create an occupational hazard of stabbing myself repeatedly but also made the line more haphazard which was the intention.