This textured vessel wrap is my response to a workshop by Emily Notman.
I used textile strips and stitching, adding texture with textile scraps and thread.
I loved adding vibrant colours with ecoline paint.
The sun is created with a silk yarn, and the whole piece is enforced with backing fabric and iron-on adhesive.
It has turned out a happy sunny piece!
In 2018 (you can read the blogpost here) I dyed some yarn with onion peel. 4 of the skeins, all of a different shade of yellow, I knit into a piece with wide stripes.
This piece I washed on a high temperature and high spin cycle, to get it felted. It worked : the fabric is firmer, smaller and thicker now.
And this week I decided to make it into a handbag of my own design.
I chose a nice fabric for the inner lining. It’s all hand-sewn, because I wanted to do some slow, meditative stitching. The wooden handles fit perfectly, in my opinion.
This project is is a good example of slow crafting: hand-spun and naturally dyed yarn, hand-knit and hand-sewn into a bag. It reminds me that the journey is so much more important than the goal. That it turned out to be a nice handbag is a bonus š
This piece came about through a workshop led by Stewart Kelly.
First I made a still life drawing. Then I used a view finder to look for two interesting parts I could use. It was like looking at the still life from different perspectives!
These two views I tried to capture in textile, for one of them using only embroidery and for the other adding appliquƩ as well.
They look quite interesting together, so I sewed them onto one background.
I very much enjoyed the thinking and exploring that came with this work!
