Self-initiated and Gawthorpe Brief: Week Eight

I Quilted my finalized working samples on the quilting machine this week, four were machine patched and one was hand patched which was extremely time consuming. When continuing this project through unit X I will make sure that I am booked on the quilter, I have already booked on for the first week as slots are taken up so quickly. I carried my colour scheme through and used a technique of creating cut outs in the materials. This mimicked my drawings and added a focal point to the patches. I used a variety of wadding in these samples including; Thick polyester wadding, Cotton wadding, raised cotton and cotton bump. I felt the raised cotton and cotton wadding worked best as it was a subtle texture change. 

Dyed cotton bump and plain white cotton

dyed cottons

Hand patched dyed cottons ans silks

Dyed raised cotton and cotton poplin

Although the work is being handed in it isn't finished and I will be continuing it through unit X.This week I Sketched up some ideas on how to forward my work for example double quilting and double sided. I also looked into and sampled edge treatments; Mited corner, Bias Binding and Bonded fold, I will incorporate these into my samples as I continue through Unit X where I will create a finished quilt.

Self-initiated and Gawthorpe Brief: Week Seven

I’ve been researching contemporary quilter this week and came across Owen’s Olivia a company which creates geometric style quilts. For context similar to where I see my work; contemporary interiors one offs for a select group of consumers rather than mass produced. Something that I also find interesting is how Owen’s Olivia uses patchwork design to create products similarly to the Bauhaus and HAY. This is where I see my work fitting in the market. My drawings could be translated into quilts for interiors ie chairs, table tops or could be used to create designs for products and sold in higher end high street shops such as Harrods, Selfridges or even stationary shops such as Paperchase.

Owen's Oliva 

Owen's Olivia

 I continued sampling this week to create patches to be sewn on the quilter next week I experimented with composition and when choosing the materials I chose varied weights for example plain cotton with a cotton bump which has a pile. I also washed a sample I had quilted it was interesting to too how the fibers molded together and changed the quilted area. This is something I want to further look into.

Self-initiated and Gawthorpe: Week Six

I booked myself on the quilter before the Christmas break but because of the high demand I only got on for this week. I created some coloured cotton patches. The quilter was quite technical and hard to use however with technical guidance I overcame this. I used the machine to create geometric it was successful as on the bernina free hand quilting it’s almost impossible to create a circle. There are a lot of measurement and maths when using the quilting in terms of plotting out points etc as one inch out could ruin a design. Some testers were successful and others weren’t due to composition and shapes.

Quilted patch turquoise

Quilted patch pink

I created a small hand patched sample this week, It was time consuming but in my opinion worth it. I plan to scale this u and then quilt over on the machine.

Hand patch sample front

Hand paper patched sample back

Self-initiated and Gawthorpe Brief: Week Five

This week I researched traditional quilters; Gee’s bend and Pojagi (Korean quilting) both of these quilters use techniques of patching by hand and using scraps. The long history of quilting for necessity is with both of these movements. There are examples of geometrics in the quilts however because on the most part it is off cuts there are no sharps geometric lines which I want to create so I plan to keep researching and find quilters more relevant to my body of work and context. However looking at these has influenced my material choice and has also made me want to create a hand patched sample

Gee's Bend quilt

Pojagi quilt

I spent the majority of the week dyeing natural materials of cottons and silks to create my colour pallet. As this was my first time in the dye lab so there were issues at first for example patches of colour however due to persistence and learning the correct process I came out with a variety of materials in the colours I wanted. I plan to use these t create geometric forms of patchwork.

Dyed cottons and silks