Module 4 - Chapter 5 - Drawn Thread Work

I selected a nice evenweave linen scrim and cut it into 7" squares. The linen was already a 'manilla' sort of colour, so I decided to try painting areas of bleach onto it to get a lighter 'off white' colour. This worked really well, but I now understand why Sian suggested painting with cold water dyes as when I washed the bleach out of the fabric, it frayed quite a lot. When it was dry I painted additional bands in a turquoise blue procion dye.
I mixed up a jar of dye, a jar of soda ash and a jar of salt so that I could mix a small amount of dye whenever it was needed, enabling me to colour just a few squares at a time.

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I was reasonably pleased with the end result, but felt that the natural colour of the scim did not contrast highly enough with the bleached areas, so I painted over these with a strong tea solution.

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Before re-planning my bleaching stage, I wondered if it was neccessary to wash out the bleach, so I tried a small sample & let it dry. I thought the bleach might affect the procion dye when I painted this over the top, but it didn't. The colours remained strong. As an added bonus, I didn't loose the firm handle of the scrim.

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This achieved, I proceeded with the first exercise of the drawn thread work. Threads were withdrawn (in pairs so that the weave structure remained intact) from each square of fabric, forming different patterns.

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Random groups of threads withdrawn horizontally.

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Threads withdrawn in a pattern of 4x4

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Groups of threads withdrawn to form both large & small holes on the fabric.

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Groups of threads withdrawn randomly in both directions.

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Threads withdrawn in fibonacci series.

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Weave threads pulled sideways in both directions creating a distorted edge and also displacing the colours internally, similar to Ikat weaving.

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Weave threads pulled inwards from the central area, creating loops and displacing colour. I like the way the holes are created when pulling threads from opposite directions. It forms a sort of contrast to the loop effect.

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Several neighbouring threads were partially withdrawn. These were re-threaded into the weave in one 'clump' as a band and then anchored with a twisted knot.

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The weave has been withdrawn in bands in both directions. The groups of threads have then been re-woven in rotating patterns. These were then held in place, and decorated with additional machine stitchery.