In The Studio
I've been working on my textile projects at a studio in Catford (South London) for about a year now. I only have my space for one day a week and don't make it in every week, but it's gradually coming together as a workspace and my thinking/making about my textile projects has been piecing itself together too.
I started out designing quilts and have made a couple of small wall hangings so far (more on those another time). At some point I decided to play around with some appliqué experiments as a fun break from the very long and intensive process of quilt making.
Following on from paper collages I’d played around with as part of my Armour zine, I first began my appliqué pieces by free-cutting and collaging fabric scraps, trying out different combinations and seeing how they turned out. I was encouraged by how these scrappy tests looked, so started drawing out my designs and planning them more carefully. I really like that appliqué lets me aim at making something precise that inevitably becomes more handmade and tactile (ie, full of wonky mistakes) in the process of making it.
Here’s how I tend to design my appliqué pieces now:
I use Procreate to sketch out ideas on my iPad and end up doing lots of cutting and pasting and trying different elements with each other until I find something I like.Â
The starting point for this idea (which you can faintly see at the start of the video) was a drawing of a shield with a dog rampant on it - something I originally drew from my Armour zine but ended up not using.
Recently I’ve been working on ideas for combining patchwork and appliqué elements, but more on that next time…