Module 3 Chapter 1 - Research for Spirals - Man Made & Natural

NATURAL SPIRALS

MAN-MADE SPIRALS

SPIRAL DRAWINGS

SPIRAL RUBBINGS

 

the rubbing on the left is from the back of a chair, top right is a home-made rubbing plate made from spiralled string glued to card, bottom right is a rubbing from a fire surround. 

Evaluation of Funtional 3D Embroidered Item

The completed embroidered assessment piece for Module Two is a zebra inspired bag based on the design topic of tone and animal markings.

How do you feel about the resulting conclusion?

I am extremely happy with the bag. I feel that I carried out each process to the best of my ability, from design to pre-production and experimental samples which helped to eliminate any potential construction problems.
I learned a lot of processes throughout the module, many of which were utilised in the construction of the bag, which made it a very exciting process.
I think the bag is very attractive and I will be proud to carry it.

Is it fit for its purpose - give reasons?

As a final assessment peice for Module Two, it is fit for its purpose as its design is based on zebra markings. It uses fabrics contrasting in both light and dark tones.
As a bag, it is funtional, quite strong, and large enough to carry a number of items.

If you were asked to make it again, what changes would you make to the way you designed it and the way you made it?

If I were to make the bag again, I would probably include a zip closure.
I would also probably rethink the tassles at the ends of the bag. In retrospect, I think they were probably rushed as they were the final stage, and lacked the attention and planning that the rest of the bag received. I would have probably stitched some tassles, frayed some, and varied the lengths making them more of a dramatic feature.

Health & Sefety Considerations

Bleach: use in a well ventillated area to avoid breathing in fumes. Wear rubber gloves to protect skin. Store away from children & pets.

Dyes: wear mask to avoid inhalling particles. Keep away from draughts. Wear rubber gloves to protect skin. Store upright with lids secure. Keep well away from food preparation areas, and also away from children & pets. Clean tools after use.

Paints & inks: keep tools specific to painting and dyeing seperate from kitchen utensils. Keep away from food preparation areas. Store upright with lids secure, away from children & pets. Clean tools after use.
Adhesives: always read manufacturers instructions before use. Use in a well ventillated area, away from naked flames. Keep away from food preparation areas. Store upright with lids secure, away from children & pets. Avoid contact with skin. Clean tools after use.


Knives, scissors and Rotary Cutters; Never pull a blade towards you. Keep fingers well away from the path of a rotary cutter, and fasten closed after use. Put tools away after use and store well out of reach of young children.

Pins and needles: store well out of reach of young children, and ensure that no pins or needles are left lying around on floors or work surfaces.

Iron: always unplug after use, and do not leave unatended. Store away when cool with flex lightly wound.

Sewing Machine: unplug and keep covered when not in use.

Storage of Work, Tools, Materials & Equipment

Design work in progress: kept flat, in a large folder.

Completed embroidery: wrapped in acid free tissue paper inside a box.

Completed design work: kept flat, in a large folder.

Papers for design work: kept flat in a large portfolio.

Inks and paints for design work: kept upright with lids secure, inside store cupboard.

Other items like glue, bleach & sprays: as above.

Embroidery work in progress: Inside a workbox with needles, scissors etc, kept in store cupbooard away from children & animals.

Fabrics: folded neatly, wrapped in acid free tissue paper and kept flat inside storage basket.

Threads: In special clear storage boxes for easy viewing, seperated into colour groups.

Beads, metal threads etc: In acid free tissue paper inside storage box in store cupboard.

Dyes, paints etc: kept upright with lids secure, enclosed in container inside store cupboard.

Sewing machine: kept upright on table in workroom, covered when not in use.

Other electrical equipment: On shelves in store cupboard, flex lightly wound.

Chapter 13 - Artist Study

Chapter 12 - Finished at last!

Here is my finished bag!

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I didn't think I would ever manage to complete it!

I took Sian's advice on the lining, and although I was a little dismayed when she suggested that I should cut the fabric into strips and rearrange, I must admit that it looked amazing,

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I finally decided to make the links for the handles from friendly plastic. Sian suggested that I edge the small pieces of plastic with marker pen to define the edges. This gave a lovely irregular, random effect. I think they now look beautifully hand crafted as opposed to the manufactured look that I was originally trying to achieve.

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 I used a magnetic catch to fasten the bag. I attached the one side to the body of the bag before attaching the lining, and the other side of the fastener was attached to the bag 'flap' before stitching the silver leather to the end.

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I interlined the strap and the 'flap' with two layers of fusible quilters interlining. This gave a little more stability where it was needed, but also maintained a soft, flexible handle. I'm happy that the strap slightly resembles a zebra's mane!

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The knotted tassles add a little bit of fun to the bag!

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2130 - BACK OF BAG

Chapter 12 - Continued!

... and so I've let myself down again, not, this time, through being lazy or allowing myself to become side-tracked, I genuinely feel that this project is bigger than anticipated! I did, however, promise Sian that I would post on my blog at least once a month, so here goes!

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I spent approximately 10 hours gathering stupid little circles to shibori dye the lining for my bag (a nice little job to do whilst sitting with dh pretending to watch telly of an evening - otherwise known as 'quality time!'). This has now been dyed and I am in the process of unpicking the stitching. The result does not look as good as my sample piece - I would guess that this is either because I was dyeing a greater amount of fabric, or because my dye powder is older.

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I spent approximately 4 hours printing and stitching the 'white' fabrics, and a further 4 hours piecing the log cabin patchwork design ready to cut out my 'white' panels. I am very proud of the resulting patchwork - it seems a shame to cut into it!







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A further 6 hours were spent dying, bleaching and decoratively stitching my 'black' fabrics.








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Stitching, cutting, stitching and cutting the crunchy fabric for my 'black' panels took about 4 hours. There is only enough fabric here to cut out the panels for one side of the bag, so am in the process of producing another 2 identical pieces of this, one for the other side of the bag and one for the gusset.