Textile

Tamil Nadu’s Rich and Varied Legacy

Perhaps one of the first things that comes to mind when you think of Tamil Nadu is the region’s colorful, often over-the-top cinema and temples dedicated to popular actors. The image is enhanced with lush green landscapes dotted with stunning architecture like the opulent Chettiar mansions in Chettinadu, a flourishing software industry and the expressive dance form – Bharatanatyam. If you took a trip to Tamil Nadu you would be introduced to its legacy of literature that goes back centuries, take a walk on the Marina beach in Chennai, dip into Chicken Chettinad and you wouldn’t come back without a beautiful, rich Kanjeevaram saree – a staple in every Indian bride’s trousseau.

But if you looked around a little more, you would chance upon a wealth of cotton weaves and silks from different cities and regions in the state – each one unique in its technique and stories. Here are some of these beautiful textiles:

Madras Checks

Easy on the pocket, great for summer and never out of style, Madras Checks or the Madras plaid is a fabric with an interesting history. Of unverified origin, the Madras plaid fabric has been made in and around the present day Chennai region since at least the 12th century. Starting life as a gaudy textile that was exported to Africa and the Middle East to be used as headpieces, this charming cloth caught the attention of the Dutch and then the British in the 1600s who came looking for trade in the much demanded Indian ‘calicoes’.

Since the Dutch had already monopolized Armagon town where the cloth was being woven in large quantities, the British moved to greener pastures – the small fishing village of Madraspatnam. Business was so lucrative that they established a trading post there and started sending the fabric to Europe. Madras plaid finally reached America in 1718 and was at the epicenter of one of the most memorable advertising campaigns by David Ogilvy – “Guaranteed to Bleed” - that managed to successfully offset negative perception of the fabric bleeding on the first wash. But that’s a story for another time!

Chettinadu Saree

Everyone has heard of the spicy, mouthwatering Chicken Chettinad. You may have also heard of or visited one of the lavish, well-appointed Chettiar villas in the area. But this beautiful region in the Sivaganga district of Tamil Nadu is also famous for its vibrantly colored cotton sarees called Kandanghi. With their trademark checks in contrasting colors from an earthy palette of reds, browns, chromes and mustard, the Kandanghi or the Chettinadu saree is available in the busy town of Karaikudi. Still thriving because of the continued support of the affluent Nattukottai Chettiar community, the Kandanghi is decorated with checks and temple borders and comes in several varieties like `paalum pazham kottadi,' `palukka,' `varaoosi and `vazhaipoo'.

Chungidi

You know all about the mesmerizing Bandhani from Gujarat…the colors, the perfect symmetry of the dots on soft silks and cottons. But there is another type of tie-and-dye fabric, embellished with the all too familiar dots on the softest cotton and it is made in Tamil Nadu. Chungidi, chungadi or sungudi has traditionally been made in Madurai since the 16th century in the days of the Nayaks who brought artisans from Saurashtra to work on the craft. The immigrant weavers were called Pattunoolkarar and their descendants are still making this beautiful textile in the city, using traditional techniques and colors like manjal, arakku or neelam with the borders clamp-dyed in contrasting colors. The job of plotting the pattern on the fabric and tying the portions that should resist the dye is always entrusted to the women, many of whom wear their nails long to help in tying the delicate knots.

Korvai and Mayilkan dhotis

Woven fabrics from Tamil Nadu are most often fashioned into sarees but weaves for men have a strong case too. Two of these are the stunning Korvai dhotis and the Mayilkan dhotis. The Korvai dhotis are woven in silk or cotton and require at least two weavers working together to manage the complicated process. With a total of three shuttles, two each on the sides for the borders and one in the middle for the body of the dhoti, a Korvai is worn at auspicious occasions and weddings.

The Mayilkan dhoti is named for its traditional motif - the stylized eye of the peacock and is one of the most coveted garments in Tamil Nadu. Worn mostly at weddings and religious events, the Mayilkan dhoti is woven in the Salem region of the state and uses a three-shuttle loom like the Korvais.

Kanjeevaram

If you’ve been wondering why we haven’t talked about that divine six-yard dream in zari and silk called the Kanjeevaram, it’s because we’re saving the best for last! The Kanjeevaram saree is only woven in the holy city of Kanchipuram in Tamil Nadu and is made of pure Mulberry silk with motifs like peacocks, coins, parrots and the kairi. In a genuine Kanjeevaram, the border and body are woven separately and interlocked later.

A Rich Embroidery Tradition

Tamil Nadu is also home to two beautiful textile embellishment techniques - Convent and Toda embroidery. The first is a petit point embroidery taught to women in rural areas around Kanyakumari by the missionary sisters that ran several convents in the area. It has survived decades and is now part of the region’s culture. With delicately embroidered motifs of bouquets of roses, poppies, cornflowers on table linen, handkerchiefs and even sarees, Convent embroidery is unique to Tamil Nadu.

Toda embroidery meanwhile is done by the pastoral community of the Todas who live in the Nilgiri mountains in the state. Locally known as Pugur, the embroidery is done without any tracing on the fabric, usually cotton. All embroidery is done in striking reds and blacks, counting the threads of the warp and weft on the fabric. The final piece is so fine that it could pass for a weave rather than threadwork.

Textile

The unrecorded history of women of Northumberland

My passion and love of textiles, stitch and Northumberland—the most northerly of England’s counties— has combined two creative strands linked by the area in which I live. The first being grey, moody, misty Northumberland. The “Land of the Far Horizons” where vistas are simply stunning and history lies interwoven with the land. From ancient rock carvings to medieval castles and battlefields - a reminder of its strategic position as a border with Scotland.

I’ve been thinking about the women who lived in the hills, the “forgotten” women, who are never recorded in history, who lived through the battles, the raids from Scotland and the long hard winters. I’ve photographed old abandoned homesteads and combined my photographs with printing and stitch. My dresses of Blaewearie and Kirknewton are digitally printed and then free motion embroidered firstly in black, to enhance the cottages and secondly in red…. to signify the blood in the land that has soaked into this area from centuries of battles and border feuds. The threads are left loose and hanging to signify the buildings collapse into ruins.

An alternative method I’m using is natural dyeing and weathering, so the fabric itself is “of the land”. Combining this with inspiration from ancient rock carvings my stitches and brush strokes aim to capture a sense of place and time. My Land and Sky dress is created with naturally dyed and weathered fabric. Silks and cottons are used to give a variation in dye uptake. The outer dress is embroidered with rock carving motifs. Labyrinth is a work based on similar techniques.

A recent wall art series uses paint and batik to mimic weathering textures and carved patterns. Echo’s on the Moor and On the Forest Floor are created with painted canvas, batik on silk and cotton and long stitches in a heavy silk thread.

I enjoy drawing with my machine in work such as House on the Moor. Depicting a woman outside her homestead, high on the moors with a curlew (a symbol of the National Park) flying overhead. Created with many layers of different fabrics for texture and depth and using several thread colors. The Watchful Hare is also drawn with the machine, on silks weathered with rust and natural dyes.

This brings me to my second strand of work - Hares and more colorful depictions of Northumberland. You see I have also a passion for bright color and pattern. So I’m quite a contrast. I’ve learned not to fight it, but to go with it and enjoy it all. The Rose Garden Hare and Autumn Moon Gazer are created from painted hares, scanned and printed onto fabric, appliquéd onto felt then I’ve applied silks and hand and machine embroidery. Lindisfarne - an island off the coast with a causeway access at low tide and its own castle - is also created using felt and silks with hand and machine embroidery.

Helen Cowans is an award winning, qualified tutor and lecturer. She has exhibited both nationally and internationally and is published in several magazines and books.

www.helencowans.co.uk

helen@helencowans.co.uk

Textile

Natural Dyes

Textile art from Japan

Cotton has been around since the Neolithic era (between 6000 to 5000 B.C.), but is a relatively newcomer to Japan— appearing a mere six centuries ago. Despite it’s youth in a country whose textile history has centered on silk, cotton has been influential in Japanese culture, according to author Teresa Duryea Wong in her new book, Cotton & Indigo from Japan.

Divided into three sections: Quilts, Cotton, and Indigo, Duryea Wong features a number of of renowned quilt artists such as Yasuko Saito recognized for her bold use of color and her contemporary designs, and Keiko Goke, a self-taught quilter whose art quilts are filled with color and are infused with embroidery. Also included in the first part of the book are Japan’s quilt fabric manufacturers with an overview provided on each of their specialties.

But the heart and soul of the book is cotton and indigo. For the historians, Dureya Wong offers a concise history of cotton of when it was introduced, but also how it affected farming in Japan. During the Edo period (1603-1868), rulers of that age dictated that farmers farms, dyers only dyed, and weavers only weaved, and merchants were solely responsible for sales transactions. However, small-scale cotton farming changed this dynamic. Family farmers were now allowed to grow, spin, dye, weave and sell or trade.

Once cotton had a strong foothold in Japanese textile society, its prized fibers were turned into cloth that provided warmth and durability. Material made from cotton was often reused and patched over and over, which became known as the iconic boro. These antiquated upcycled garments are now highly coveted for their history and modest beauty.

But it all and the blues, which has a special meaning for the Japanese. According to Duryea Wong, “It is symbolic or water and rebirth. Blue is magical. Indigo from Japan is so adored it even has its own name: Japan Blue.” Associated with indigo, we learn that in today's society Japan Blue is equated with denim. For the fashion conscious (known as “denim head”) many seek the best blue jeans, traveling to Japan for its quality cotton and its renowned Japan Blue. These fashionistas find the high-fashion denim they yearn for in specialized boutiques. Later in the section, readers get the chance to learn how Japan Blue is achieved by master dyers.

Duryea Wong's credentials as a researcher shines throughout Cotton & Indigo from Japan. She provides enough information to satisfy readers’ curiosity without overwhelming them with an academic information dump. With more than 300 photographs and behind-the scene details, Cotton & Indigo from Japan is a beautiful volume and the ideal gift for readers with an interest in Japanese textile art and indigo.

Textile

Welcoming new Americans via sewing

The International Institute in St. Louis, Missouri, is a welcome center for new Americans. Serving immigrants and refugees from over 80 countries, the International Institute provides language classes, employment training, and a wide variety of community integration support services. The Institute is, for many, one of the first steps towards establishing a new life in St. Louis.

As part of the employment training program, I teach a sewing certification course in alterations and commercial sewing. Beginning with the basics, students learn to use domestic and industrial sewing and overlock machines. We cover many aspects of garment construction and tailoring, from simple zipper replacements to constructing clothing from patterns to altering blazers and pantsuits.

The International Institute has a large staff, and the employees are our practice clients. During class hours, they are invited to visit the sewing studio and bring garments that need altering or repair. These projects provide my students with hands-on experience taking measurements and making alteration notes. Most importantly, they ensure each student has a diverse assortment of items to practice on and learn from.

In my classes, there is a range of prior sewing experience. Some students may have worked in the textile industry in their home countries while others have never used a sewing machine. As most students have very recently arrived in the United States, the majority are learning English while simultaneously learning to sew. It is rewarding to see the simultaneous development of language and craft, and to experience the openness with which my students approach one another and their work, even when communication is difficult.

The International Institute is committed to helping its students establish careers in each discipline. In the St. Louis area, there are garment factories, small-scape alterations businesses, and other opportunities in the fashion and textile industries. After completing the certification program, the Institute continues to work with each graduate on their job search – through guidance with applications and interview preparation, and follows up to ensure success.

This article first appeared on WARP: Weave a Real Peace. http://weavearealpeace.org/warp/creating-connected-textile-communities-us/. Kelsey Viola Wiskirchen is a textile artist & educator living in St. Louis, Missouri. Kelsey currently teaches sewing classes at the International Institute & community workshops from her studio in St. Louis.

Textile

Creative Stitchery and Quilting with Asia’s Ancient Technique

Anna Hergert’s Inspiration Kantha: Creative Stitcehry and Quilting with Asia’s Ancient Technique arrived right at the moment I’m exploring to challenge myself with a new textile hobby. As mentioned in the previous review I knit and crochet, but my practice is limited to blankets and scarves. Practical items, but they can get somewhat tedious no matter how many different patterns I use. Because we get many submissions about kantha, I’ve been pondering whether it’s time I try my hand at stitching. Lo and behold, Schiffer Publishing sent me Hergert’s book and it has been love at first sight.

Hegbert opens with Historic Kantha and discusses both embroidery and quilting (technically is a form of embroidery), adding that with quilting there are two layers of fabric as opposed to one. She deftly transition to the meaning of Kantha and provides a good historical overview of where Kantha and its variation originated. The latter part of the chapter consists of the variations of kantha and the different types.

For beginners like me, there’s a crucial chapter: Supplies. Obvioulsy, you need more than needle, thread and some cloth. She breaks these down by the types of cloth, thread, marking tools, needles, sharp embroidery scissors.

Once you have the tools, it’s off to the races with the running stitch. In this chapter, she breaks down the method and notes,”The most alluring characteristic of kantha is that every area of the cloth is worked in successive rose using small running stitches ultimately achieving a ripple a wavy effect. Is important to keep the spaces between the stitches longer than the stitches themselves. This will result in a pleasing, highly textural outcome.” For a novice, like me this is an important lesson.

Hegbert also provides step-by-step visuals for outlining kantha motifs, and the following chapters are projects you can try for yourself. Once you’ve mastered these stitches, she provides projects that are more sophisticated that allow you to create textured work by using assorted fabrics.

Also included is a chapter on kantha as meditation, a gallery of stunning work and sample drawn motifs to get you going. At the very end there’s suggested reading and a glossary of terms.

Inspiration Kantha: Creative Stitcehry and Quilting with Asia’s Ancient Technique is the perfect introduction for anyone looking for a new creative outlet. I can’t wait to get started.

Inspiration Kantha: Creative Stitcehry and Quilting with Asia’s Ancient Technique is available on Amazon.com.

Textile

Weaving

Secrets of Spinning, Weaving, and Knitting in the Peruvian Highlands

A decade ago Nilda Callañaupa Alvarez introduced textile fans to Peruvian weaving. Her new book, Secrets of Spinning, Weaving, and Knitting in the Peruvian Highlands, Alvarez and the weavers of the Center for Traditional Textiles of Cusco bring a colorful and inspirational view into the world of Andean textiles.

Secrets of Spinning, Weaving, and Knitting in the Peruvian Highlands is part instructional handbook and part cultural guidebook. Divided into four sections: spinning, weaving, knitting, and finishing, each of the chapters coupled with Joe Coca’s striking photography transport us to the Andes where we learn the most basic of activities.

In the spinning section, we learn of the organic process of spinning—from when a baby puts the pushka (spindle) in its mouth to using one for its true purpose by the age of five or six years old. We learn how spinning provides emotional support to community elders; how the repetitive motion of the pushka offers both a physical and mental rhythm that becomes a form of meditation. However, the best part of the chapter is the discussion on the variety of fibers and the various techniques shown to spin and ply.

As a knitter, I skipped directly to this section, marveling at all the stunning geometric motifs and the various hat designs (maybe this will be the year I progress to making something other than lap blankets and in one color). The detailed step-by-step section is intimidating, but a fun challenge.

Each section includes a glossary of terms and sidebars with historical and cultural tidbits, as well as sidebars about the proper hand position for weaving or spindle-to-spindle techniques.

Secrets of Spinning, Weaving, and Knitting in the Peruvian Highlands is an inspirational book that might persuade novices like me to leave their comfort zone and challenge themselves.

Secrets of Spinning, Weaving, and Knitting in the Peruvian Highlands is available on Amazon.com.

Textile

Natural Dyes

A Seasonal Exploration

My project ‘Threads of Summer’ is a seasonal exploration of local plant-life foraged from the Gorleston area of Norfolk, UK, inspired by the early cyanotype cataloguing of Anna Atkins and Anne Dixon in the mid-1800s.

Cyanotypes are a traditional photography technique, sometimes known as 'blueprints' due to their rich blue color. The technique was first discovered by Sir John Herschel in 1842, at a time when the early use of photography was primarily for documentation and reproduction. It was Anna Atkins, and later Anne Dixon working in collaboration together, who first explored cyanotype photography for its practical and beautiful application.

Atkins was a botanist at heart, nurtured from a young age by her father to follow her passion. When she met Henry Fox Talbot she learned of new photography techniques to document her passion. Whilst Henry Fox Talbot is widely credited for his role in pioneering photography, I think it's important to remember the important early work of women photographers.

Atkins, whilst working from the meticulous perspective of a botanist making records, her work didn't lack elegance and careful composition. She later produced a series of photo books, which will feature in her retrospective at the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam this summer.

In my 'Threads of Summer' project, I created my own cyanotype photographic prints of foraged flowers, leaves and branches from my local area. The plant-life used includes roses, grasses, lavender and 'weeds' - a mixture of self-seeded, planted and wild plants growing locally. The prints are fixed onto repurposed and recycled fabrics and then traced with hand-stitching, immortalizing them beyond their natural season.

The cyanotype process involves combining dried Potassium ferricyanide and Ferric ammonium citrate separately in water to create two solutions. Once the two solutions are combined together, they are photo-sensitive. At this point, working with the chemicals must be done in a darkroom. The photo-sensitive solution is then coated onto materials such as fabric, paper or other suitable surface by dipping or brushing, and left to dry in the dark. I find that having the objects I'm making images of (in my case, foraged plants) ready in a suitable arrangement before bringing the dried materials into the light makes the process more efficient. This is because once of the material is in the light, it will start to develop. Depending on the light quality, it can take anything from 30 seconds (bright sunlight) up to 30 minutes (over-cast/cloudy) to fully expose a print. To stop the process, simply rinse the exposed materials in clean running water for 1 minute and leave to dry/develop over 24 hours. Over the day, the blue becomes richer and deeper.

I worked into my textile-photo works further by cutting, patching and using hand-embroidery. I wanted to take the work beyond making records of local plants and into representations of the varied plant-life growing wild in my local area. This is why I chose to use textiles to make photo prints onto, rather than paper, which lends itself naturally to patch-working.

'Threads of Summer' has been regularly exhibited in the UK since it's creation and details of future exhibitions can be found on my website. Prints from the artwork as greetings cards and postcards are also available for sale.

To find out more about my work, visit my website www.genevieverudd.com or find me on facebook www.facebook.com/genevieveruddartist, Instagram www.instagram.com/genevieverudd and twitter www.twitter.com/gruddphoto.

Textile

Weaving

Weaving contours with a fan reed

For adventurous weavers who want to break away from the straight, parallel and gridlike lines, they might want to consider ondulé—weaving with curving warp threads. Ondulé Textiles: Weaving Contours with a Fan Reed by Norma Smayda with Gretchen White is an informative and instructional book featuring more than 180 color photographs.

The first section of the book provides historical context of the fan reed. The subsequent chapters include profiles of innovative British 20th century weavers Peter Collingwood and Theo Moorman who were recognized for their techniques. Collingwood developed a method of manipulating warp and weft that produced curves without the need of a fan reed. Whereas Reed created a simple fan reed in the 1960s that she used in her smaller woven textiles, but also used for her larger pieces.

Examples of Japanese ondulé from the collection of John Marshall are included. Known as mizouri (water weave) These pieces date from the 1960s to 1980. The “waves” are created by using a technique called bruising in the which the warp and/or the weft are manipulated with a pick. Smayda and White also provide readers with a special treat by featuring five contemporary fan reed weavers who write about their individual work and aesthetics.

The second section of the book consists of Smayda’s first attempt in weaving a sampler, becoming familiar with the reed and discovering its many possibilities followed by a series of projects she creates. Each of these come with patterns that are provided in an appendix.

Ondulé Textiles: Weaving Contours with a Fan Reed is the perfect book for intermediate to advances weavers who want to expand their technique.

Ondulé Textiles: Weaving Contours with a Fan Reed is available on Amazon.com.

Textile

Embroidery

Afghan women creating a future

Embroidering within in Boundaries: Afghan Women Creating a Future by Rangina Hamidi and Mary Littrell and photography by Paula Lerner is a powerful book that introduces readers to Hamid’s native Kandahar, Afghanistan, where she started Kandahar Treasure, an enterprise centering on the stunning traditional embroidery that would help women earn a living and find a degree of independence in a patriarchal society.

Early on in the book, Hamid and Littrell present a grim picture of life for women in Afghanistan. Statistics compiled by the United Nations reported in 2015 that women over the age of 25 had attended an average of 1.2 years of school compared to 5.1 years for men. Women earned—on average—$506 while men made $3,227. Six out of ten girls, not yet 16 years old are already married and on average have six live births. The risk of death is high for children under the age of five and for their teenaged mothers, who are pressured to continue having babies until a male child (or more ) is born. Women’s lives center on taking care of children, cooking, cleaning, washing clothes, preparing meals. Because a woman’s status is so low in the household, she often is at the receiving end of emotional and physical abuse.

The one area of their lives that men don’t control is khamak embroidery. Hamid and Littrell shine in telling the revival of khamak embroidery in the 21st century via the enterprise Kandahar Treasure and how it has created stability in the lives of many women, helping them generate income by allowing them to work at home. In writing the book, the authors asked a series of questions from to whom is khamak important? Is khamak making a difference to the women? How has the tradition evolved? Why form an enterprise centered on embroidery? Each of these questions are answered in the subsequent chapters along with poignant stories of women who fend for themselves by earning an income through their embroidery work.

The late Paula Lerner’s photography captures the beauty of the detailed and intricate work (some kahmak embroidery can have as any as 70 stitches per inch ) in a number of items including household textiles such as tablecloths, wall hangings, bedspreads, and pillow cases, but also burkas and men’s tunics.

Embroidery within Boundaries is also the story of Rangina Hamidi and her family who fled Afghanistan to Pakistan and then to Virginia. She returned to her homeland in 2003 with the mission to help rebuild Afghanistan.

Embroidering within Boundaries is a gorgeous visual, but also touching testimony of how traditional textile craft and the women behind the needle and thread can forge a new path for themselves in a region so wrought with conflict and hardship.

Textile

Wall Art

Although we’re soon approaching the madness of the holiday season, if you have a moment, or actually a couple of hours to yourself, settle in with a big cup of coffee or tea and immerse yourself into Wall Art by Anne Lee and E. Ashley Rooney. Wall Art is the first volume of the "Artistry in Fiber" series published by Schiffer Publishing. This first volume features the work of 100 textile artists whose out-of-the-box creativity pushes boundaries with techniques, processes, and materials.

Each artist profile features a description of what inspired them, their process and technique. Materials can include traditional fibers like cotton, wool, silk, and plant derived fiber to metal and high-tech polymers. Techniques run the gamut from felting to quilting to weaving to wrapping.

For the piece Habitat Ruben Marroquin layered yarns, mason twine, paracords, and metallic threads over a bamboo armature. Marroquin says about his work, “I gravitate towards sculptural quality in textiles, often expanding this aspect by incorporating bamboo poles as an inner armature. I am interested in the experimental combination of materials, the spontaneity intrinsic to the assembly process, and the physical act of wrapping, knotting, and weaving all these elements together.”

North Carolina-based Sharon Parker’s Prophecy (diptych) made from unspun wool and, silk and yarns is inspired by the past and an uncertain future. The piece’s imagery depicts weathered, rusted surfaces (the past) with luminous, misty surfaces (the future). Her process, Parker writes, “..lets me respond to what I experience from the past and present, and from there create something new.”

The colorful and vibrant Springs Energy by weaver Susan Klebanoff is a multilayer tapestry in cotton, wools, and synthetics. She says of her tool of choice, “The loom is the predecessor of the computer to the computer and remains a relevant tool for artists today, It can be used for various expressive applications such as ones. That are painterly, sculptural, conceptual, and even mathematical.”

Artistry in Fiber, Vol 1: Wall Art is akin to walking through a museum or an art gallery in the comfort of your home. An appendix of the artist’s websites and contact information is included for readers who want to learn more about the artists and where their work is currently exhibited.

Artistry in Fiber, Vol 1: Wall Art is available on Amazon.com.

Textile

Embroidery

Two hundred years of quilts

Gilding the Lily, an exhibit at the New England Quilt Museum that will run until December 30, 2017, is a diverse collection of quilts from private collectors, historical societies, American museums, and quilt artists that span more than 200 years. Novice and experienced quilt makers will be able to view a number of techniques used in quilt making that includes embroidery (hand and machine), thread painting, ribbon embroidery and other embellishments used by quilt makers.

Early pieces of work on exhibit include a 1750 petticoat embroidered with crewelwork flowers that was turned into a quilt two generations ago, and an exquisite Odd Fellows Coffin cover from 1900 from the Pilgrim and Roy Collection. According to the exhibit’s curator Pamela Weeks, “The Odd Fellows are a fraternal organization similar to the Masons. The coffin cover was likely used for funerals of their members. The three interlaced rings are their international symbol. The bee skep/hive is another symbol associated with both Masons and Odd Fellows.”

Among the contemporary quilters whose work is included in the exhibition is Rhonda Dort’s Second Chances. Dort, a third generation quilter, incorporates a number of embellishments to her quilts including vintage embroidered pieces, hand-dyed felted wool, needlework, and crochet and knitting. Second Chances, a hexagonal quilt, measures 36.5” x 40.5” with 46 full 3 1/2 “ hexagons. The quilt is made from damaged old linens, including doilies, dresser scarves handkerchiefs, crochet, laces, embroidery, and trims. The project took a little over a year to complete.

Quilt maker Susan Stewart became fascinated with textiles and various techniques at an early age. Radiance, measuring 74”x 75”, is a machine pieced quilt. She said of her work. “I often include digitized machine embroidery in my quilts, and strive to make the embroidery an integral part of the design. The triangular machine embroidery design in the diamond star points was the inspiration for the entire quilt, as well as the determining factor for the size of the star points, the size of the small pieces diamonds making up the star points, and the size of the strips between the star points. I wanted to develop the secondary pattern created by the embroidery over the pieced top.”

I’m So Tired of Cleaning Up Your Mess is part of Alaska-based textile artist Amy Meissner’s "Inheritance Project". Meissner started with her personal collection of domestic linens she received in the last four decades from other makers. Not knowing what to do with the vast collection of doilies and embroidery, she decided to crowdsource for more textiles—finished and unfinished pieces. The Inheritance Project, she writes on her blog “…an exploration of literal and conceptual inheritance, and my relationship to materials and makers. The work values the valueless, honors the hand and reveres the fragility of memory through an interpretation of inherited cloth's narrative. Because so much of this history is unknown, much of it is myth.”

To learn more, please visit www.nequiltmuseum.org.

Textile

Artifact

Stitchwork and photography that do all the talking

The core foundation of my artwork is my photography. I began taking photographs while traveling several years ago, to record the various places that I visited and the many patterns that I came across. I have always been fascinated with imagery that contains repetitive patterns. My background in textile design and experience with detailed handwork helped set the stage for my current work.

As I took more photographs, I naturally began framing the angles in my mind’s eye and visualizing the images in repeat pattern. This intimate internal dialogue has proven to be the first step in my creative process. Although I never considered myself a photographer, the camera soon became an important new resource for my imagery. With a continuous drive to create new work, my (iPhone) camera is in near constant use, as the arsenal of digital images on my computer ever expands.

Once I have chosen the patterns to work with, I create composite sheets of reformatted imagery that I print on transparency paper, cut up, sort and then tape together into new compositions. The final part of my process is hand stitching all the pieces together but first, I poke holes in the plastic that will serve as the trail map for my needle and thread to follow. Once the holes are in place, I begin the meditative progression of stitching, tying, and knotting. I always allow the ends of each thread to hang free; I am drawn to the juxtaposition between the smooth plastic surface and the irregular puckering and hanging thread that meander across the pieces.

I take a minimalist approach to hanging the pieces, using only push pins. This allow the pieces to sit away from the wall, inviting light and shadow to create a 3-dimensional dynamic against the wall that breathes new life into the pieces.

Often the motivation behind my work comes from my life. One theme that has recurred for me is the desire to create dresses in various forms. I am intrigued by the way that fashion and textile define the body. Perhaps this emanates from my childhood and the time spent playing “dress up” with my mother. Dresses have become an important symbol in both my life and work. Two years ago, my daughter got married and the experience of helping her find the perfect wedding dress inspired me to create my own take on a life size wedding dress. When my son and daughter-in-law had their first child, I made a series of tutus, reminiscent of ballet class as a child. Sometimes a simple pattern intrigues me; a chain link fence in downtown LA was used to create a dress called “Unchained.” The inspirations for my dresses pop up at various times in my life and seem to be my most popular works and most satisfying to create.

I am always most excited about what I am working on now, but then I never know what’s coming next and how it will be revealed.

For more information visit www.gwensamuels.com.

Textile

Michael Rohde’s woven tapestries

Travel and textiles from around the world have often been the basis for the weavings I have done. I began weaving in the early 1970s, from a curiosity about how cloth was made. At first I taught myself from books, but then followed the path of learning my craft in workshops taught by many teachers over the years. When I lived in Houston, I enrolled in the Museum of Fine Arts school, studying Color and design along with art history and drawing.

Since I’ve never made my living from my weaving, I developed an affinity for geometric designs, honoring the natural grid of the loom.. Having chosen a way of working, my eyes are always open to what is around me that might be reinterpreted in woven cloth. Many times, I’ll explore a geometric challenge to a final plan for what I will weave.

The weaving process is long and I’m often asked how I find the patience to see it through. There are also comments about how meditative the process must be. My own take on both these observations I’ve found echoed later in writings by the painter Agnes Martin, and choreographer Twyla Tharp. Both encourage going into the studio every day, no matter what, which is what I try to do. That first step what it takes to set the path: turn on the light, and start.

I find comfort in the slow repetitive actions of weaving, which leaves my mind free to wander, often contemplating what I will weave next once I’m done with the one on which I am working. However, I find I am most productive when I listen to spoken word books. This gives me an anchor to the loom, and rescues me from the temptation to drift to other temptations, far too many of which are embodied in a nearby computer or other electronic detractions.

From time to time, my subject matter has made reference to political concerns, but most always not in an overt way. It is always my hope that the quiet beauty of the cloth that I construct will be the first impact on the viewer. Sometimes, no, usually there will be more.

For more information visit www.michaelrohde.com.

Textile

Celebrating aging via textile art

I am a fiber artist and visual storyteller, piecing together personal stories, using hand embroidery and digital photo transfer techniques.

I always work from an idea. My piece, If it Wrinkles it Must be Real began years ago when my father, who owned a men’s clothing store, placed an ad in the Los Angeles Times for sear sucker and linen suits. The title of the ad was “ If it Wrinkles it Must be Real”. Many years later when I decided that I wanted to make a body of work celebrating aging that saying became my inspiration. I chose to embroider the wrinkles on my face and go Big!

I began by having a professional headshot taken in black and white, but before I printed it on fabric, I needed to make a sample. I was fortunate to have a friend who owns a business that creates posters for buses. She printed a 40x60” image of the photo on vinyl that I could mark with colored sharpie pens.

For all my work I use a variety of photo transfer techniques, but I wanted If it Wrinkles to be printed 40x60” so I chose Spoonflower, an online printing service that has the ability to print your design on a variety of fabrics in a large format. I chose several fabrics for the samples and finally settled on Crepe de Chine.

Once I received the photo on silk I looked at it for several weeks and decided that embroidering my wrinkles wasn’t quite enough. Each line on my face has a story to tell, so I created a mapping legend reflecting how I got them. Joy…Guilt…Courage…Shame…Wisdom…Worry and Empathy each with it’s own story. I embroidered with silk thread; the colors of the legend coordinated with the colors of the embroidered wrinkles.

I enjoy all the stages of creating conceptual art from the concept to the research to creating the samples the editing and finally the meditative work of embroidery.

For more information visit www.rozritter.com.

Textile

Susan Hersey fiber art interprets the environment

My art has always been my interpretation of where I live in the natural world. At this time I am surrounded by rolling hills, fields of grasses, oaks, buckeyes and fences in Northern California. Twenty years ago we moved into a live/work barn that my husband designed and built on the edge of a creek in a pasture in Marin County.

I started painting at a young age using oils and acrylics on various surfaces, mostly canvas and paper then fabric. In the late 1970s I was exposed to handmade paper and became totally seduced by the paper and its endless possibilities as a medium and a surface.

In 1985 I was invited to spend a month at the Djerassi Resident Artists Program in Northern California where I was challenged and able to further explore the potential of paper pulp. In that environment I was able to totally focus on what I was doing without any interruptions or distractions. I wanted to make larger work so I had the idea to collage sheets of paper that I made there onto large pieces of fiberglass screening. It was a breakthrough for me giving me a lot more flexibility. After that I became even more free when I got a pulp sprayer which allowed for me to create any size including sculptural pieces. The Forest Series V and the large folding screen are examples of layers of built up sprayed paper.

Since moving to Northern California, I have been using more mixed media with different fibers and metal pieces in addition to paper to interpret the textures of this environment. I am now using metal screening, rusted sheet steel, copper wire and various natural fibers in addition to hand made paper all products of our contemporary society. Every morning I walk around in the hills and fields before I go to my creek side studio and every day is different. I am truly inspired by the changing environment that I live and work in.

For more information visit www.susanhersey.com.

Australia

Textile

Textile design empowers Australian Indigenous women

In a remote Indigenous community at the top end of Australia a textile boom is taking place. The designs produced are in demand nationally and internationally—but there’s more to this story than meets the eye.

It’s a story of women from more than 12 language groups in the Maningrida region who gather to share knowledge and ideas through art, design and textile production. They gather on their country, in their space – at Bábbarra Women’s Centre, home to multiple social enterprises governed by women for women.

After work I go home and talk about my printing with all my family, and then I dream about it too. I am always thinking about my new designs.

One of those enterprises is textile studio Bábbarra Designs. This is women’s business—the women design, print and sew products on site, in their community. It’s an opportunity for women to be creative and financially independent, supporting themselves and the community for generations to come.

“The money we get from Bábbarra helps us buy food for our kids,” says Lucy Yarawanga, an artist from the Gurr-goni language group—one of the least commonly spoken languages in Arnhem Land. Like all of the artists at Bábbarra, Lucy references her ancestral stories in her work.

“I feel good waking up in the morning, knowing I am going to Bábbarra for the day,” says Lucy. “After work I go home and talk about my printing with all my family, and then I dream about it too. I am always thinking about my new designs.”

Since 1983, generations of women have worked together in the studio, passing down stories and techniques. “When I first printed, it was a little bit messy,” says Lucy. “After that they were teaching me and I watched. But now, this time, I do it good way and I’m happy. I’m happy with my family here.”

During the day the printing studio is a hive of activity. The women print along a nine-meter table using multiple silk screens. It takes two women to print a screen and one length of fabric can take a whole day to complete. They also use linocut techniques to print designs, making each textile piece a limited edition. Drawings are transferred to linoleum tiles and chiseled outdoors. They are printed using up to four colors to tell ancient stories of country, land and sea.

Maningrida, the land of these stories, is a remote Indigenous community in the heart of Arnhem Land, on the North Central coast of Australia. It has a population of around 2,500 and is home to some of the country’s most well-known artists.

The women of Bábbarra cite these creative roots as the source of their flair for design. They are innovative in their use of bold colors and forms providing the marketplace with an unprecedented range of textiles.

Designs vary from artist to artist. Some carry on the legacy of Arnhem Land painting, others have developed bolder patterns, but they all have one thing in common—an important story to tell of their country, their land and their sea passed down from their ancestors.

For more information visit https://babbarra.com.

Textile

Sylvia Brestel textile intuition

My fiber art is an evolving symbolic communication that strives to transcend cultural or historical boundaries. It is a direct result of my experiences and education with a strong reliance on my intuition and senses. My pieces are greatly influenced by nature’s textures, especially bird feathers, trees, and other natural organic materials. I am honored to carry on a craft that has an 8,000 year old history.

I create distinctive, elegant silk and wool wearable art, sculptures, accessories, and wall art. My original designs are hand dyed, hand painted, shibori, and nuno felted. Surface design, textured work, and sculptural qualities of wool appeal strongly to me. I incorporate many other techniques in my work including crochet, embroidery, hand and machine sewing, wool drawing, thread painting, wire wrapping, wet felting, and needle felting.

Striving for a natural, handmade appearance to my work while maintaining consistent high quality craftsmanship, my process often begins with creating the fabric by hand felting using various wools. I frequently work with wool and silk and may add other organic fibers as well as synthetic fibers. I may incorporate additional textures during the felting process such as yarn, tencel, silk, threads, etc. Sometimes, instead of beginning with a wool base, I may choose to begin with silk chiffon or silk habotai and use a nuno felting technique.

The process of felting is rather lengthy and physically demanding as it involves alternately rolling, rubbing down the fibers, inspecting work, forming edges, and making any necessary changes during wet felting. Once satisfied the fibers are fully integrated, I "throw" the felt against the table several times to further help the fibers to bond and compress to become a solid piece of fabric.

After the fabric base has been created, I may manipulate the cloth either by hand sewing, binding, and/or wrapping. I enjoy different ways of dyeing the fabric often by hand painting and dye immersion. The final stages of felting involve several rinses and a soak in vinegar water solution to balance the pH, hold color dye, and remove any residual soap. If I haven’t dyed the wool, the fiber is ready to dye and bind at this point and then it will be steamed to set the colors. The piece is then set out to air dry thoroughly.

I enjoy surface design and add as the piece calls for it. Additional embellishments to my felted work may include hand sewing, hand painting, beading, embroidery, and manipulating the fabric to create a textured surface. I also might add various combinations of silk yarns and threads, tinsel, lace, wood or glass beads, sequins, lampwork buttons, ceramic, or handcrafted wood buttons.

For more information visit www.feltedfeather.com.

Textile

Innovating for modern consumers

I come from a family of traditional Kutch weavers. I inherited from my forefathers the various weaving techniques, designs, motifs that survived and evolved through the ages.

Six hundred years ago, my ancestors from the Marwada community from Rajasthan migrated to the Kutch district, known today for its handloom weaving in Gujarat. Traditionally, weavers used hand spun cotton yarn provided by the Ahir and Patel farming communities and the wool provided by the Rabari and Jat pastoral communities. Weaving was considered a local art, which provided the Kutch communities with blankets, cloth, and traditional dress. Today it continues to be a vibrant tradition, producing textiles used by both local communities and people around the country and the world.

I learned to weave at a young age through the joint efforts of my parents, and began to work with my father and my older brother by helping them when I wasn’t studying or at school. In 1997, I started my own weaving practice. During this period, I met numerous designers and eminent personalities of the craft and design sector that helped me develop a strong sense of traditional aesthetics. From these numerous experiences, I was inspired to create a collection based on the theme of "traditional with contemporary” for today’s consumers.

I use a pit loom to weave shawls, stoles, and mufflers, and use different yarns made from hand spun sheep wool in several weights as well as tussar silk. Recently, for the first time ever in Kutch weaving, I introduced the use of semi pashmina yarn, which appeals to contemporary consumers.The motifs designed into the fabric represent community culture within the region that include traditional shapes and geometric patterns that are symbolic. In my collections, many of my themes and concepts and inspired from nature with a focus on color combination, shapes, and patterns. Once the weaving is completed, embellishments are added such as embroidery, mirror work, azrakh print, bandhani or shibori. When tassels are added to the product is complete and the final step is washing and pressing.

Textile

Natural Dyes

Textile art from Japan

Textile

Artifact

Embroiderer and embroidery become one

"I didn't choose to embroidery – Embroidery chose me."

I have played with fabrics, threads, yarns and color, stitched and cut for as long as I can remember, but if someone had suggested to me as a child that I would someday be an embroiderer, I would not have believed them. That was until I had an embroidery lesson as part of a fashion course and I was hooked. Now I cannot imagine not stitching – it has become part of who I am.

It may sound like a cliché, but for me, embroidery is not about the finished product but about the process of getting there. It is about the satisfaction of pulling threads through fabric, watching a design slowly (very slowly) emerge, while working out how best to represent a design in stitch.

In a sense there are two sides to my embroidery yet, each rely on the other. ONE: I teach and design kits and TWO: I create embroidered pictures, both abstract and little narratives. Both are as important as the other to me, partly because they are very, very different in the way I approach the work.

I love teaching!It is a privilege to be given the opportunity to share and pass on what I have learned and my experiences with others. I sometimes wonder if I don't get more out of it than the course participants and I find workshops of great value to me in developing new designs.

Many of my kits start life as class project. They will be designed for a specific technique, mostly in crewel work, raised embroidery (also stumpwork) or goldwork. Before I start, I will have a clear idea of the level of difficulty I am designing for, with a clear list of stitches and techniques that I want to include. I see most things around me in stitch and find inspiration for the designs from many different sources; historical pieces, nature, stories, picture books, patterns and fabrics, just to name a few. Sometimes an idea has been brewing for a long time just waiting to be brought to life. At other times, a design is borne as a result of the chat going on during a workshop, and at times, I spot something (a pattern, a detail, a fabric) and instantly see it as embroidery.

Once the original idea is in place, I play around with sketches and doodles before producing a simple line drawing. I might note down a rough plan of stitches and colours, but not always. I will choose my fabric and pull out a pile of colours in the shades I want to use, usually a lot more than I end up using. When working on projects for kits, I try to somewhat restrict the number of materials I use, but without compromising the design not to make the finished product too complicated to put together and too expensive.

The stitching process for these pieces is very structured. I take notes of the process while I stitch in preparation for the written instructions. When I am really organised, I will write the notes after each stitching session, but most often I get so caught up in the stitching, I forget. I also have to keep count the amounts of threads and other materials I use in order to put the kits together later on. Once the embroidery is finished, I spend weeks preparing diagrams and putting the instruction booklet together before the kit can be assembled. This is the time consuming part – the stitching is the easy, and by far, most enjoyable bit.

The process of my other pieces is very, very different. Most importantly and what I love most about them is that this is where I can stitch as I please without concerns for others to be able to reproduce the design later on. These pieces are all about using threads and stitch techniques to create design full of textures and patterns. For my small people and other raised works, I draw largely on techniques from traditional stumpwork although my pieces are very, very different from the original sources. The nature of this type of work does mean I have to plan it a bit as components have to be stitched and put together in some sort of order, but I still don't prepare detailed plans or colour drawings - at times resulting a bit of 'reverse stitching' if it doesn't turn out how I anticipated.

One of the things that draw me to stitch is a fascination with the unlimited number of ways you can choose to stitch something and how those choices ultimately affect the look of the finished piece. You can create endless textures and patterns within a design, simply by changing your stitch, stitch direction and weight of your thread. This is something I have recently started to explore in little 'doodle' pieces done mostly when I travel to teach. These are small squares completely covered in stitch. I start by drawing a simple pattern directly onto plain calico or linen, before filling it entirely with stitches. Although these are abstract patterns and forms, the choice of colours, textures and stitch patterns used in these, often reflect the places around me. I am really enjoying stitching these because they quickly take on a life of their own and I never really know where it leads until it is finished.

For more information about Anna’s classes and work, visit: http://www.annascottembroidery.com.au/

Textile Trails

Forgotten Women

Cotton an Indigo

Connected Textiles

Inspiration Kantha

Ancient Heritage

Threads of Summer

Ondulé Weaving

Embroidering within Boundaries

Artistry in Fiber

Gilding the Lily

Internal Dialogue

Affinity for Geometrics

Fabricated Wrinkles

Natural World

Designing Country

Transcending Boundaries

Inherited Tradition

Cotton and Indigo

Pulling Threads