Page 6 - The finished wall hanging

Page 5 - the completed wall hanging

The round piece of wood was painted using Alchemy paint. Water soluble machine stitched tabs

were hand sewn in place. The orange backing fabric was hand sewn around the edges creating a neat finish to the back.

11 March 2012 - the completed wall hanging - pole length 21.5 inches - hanging 15.5 inches wide x 48.5 inches in length - through the drawn thread work you can see the orange backing fabric.

The back of the wall hanging.

Close up pictures showing sections of the wall hanging.

Evaluation of completed work

The completed embroidered assessment piece for Module 6 is a wall hanging based on the design topic of peat erosion and conservation.

The resulting piece reflects the open, dry, cracked and eroded areas of peat land. The orange area reflects unprotected and scarred areas, open to the elements. The orange colour helps to reflect the concern and issues regarding erosion – acid rain, acid soil, impact on the quality of water supplies. The drawn thread work with the orange showing through shows how protection measures are helping the eroded areas to repair but they still have some exposure to the elements.

The mid blue areas reflect the crumpling, falling and rippled lumps of peat that can be found on Kinder Scout, while the dark blue areas look more solid and conserved but these are in the minority.

The criss-cross shapes of the hand-stitches reflect the roots of vegetation and bog plants knitting together the soil. The glistening thread used throughout the piece gives a watery dewey effect – which is what you would expect to see in a peat bog.

I have taken care with the finishing touches eg with the backing – even though it is not seen I have machine embroidered a beautiful textural surface to reflect the stitching on the main design.

It’s a stunning and beautiful piece of work which I’m extremely pleased with. It looks dramatic; is rich in colours and texture and changeable. I feel the piece of work reflects many aspects of peat erosion and conservation very well.

This is the first wall hanging I have made. It has been a challenging and enjoyable piece of work. Having worked on much smaller pieces of work before, this has taken much longer than expected but well worth the effort involved and something that I feel very proud of.

Page 4 - finishing touches

For the backing I decided that through the drawn thread work I wanted the orange colour to slightly come through to help in bringing the design together and to add further depth. I also wanted a slight sparkle rather than a matt colour coming through. I decided to use pumpkin dyed silk with organza underneath. Twin needle stitching using the same shapes as on the main design was used. Below is work in progress.

I decided to use a round piece of wood for the wall hanging. I experimented with various threads and shapes using water soluble fabric to create "tabs" for the hanging. I particularly liked the orange sample - the stitching reflects the shapes in the wall hanging very well. However, I felt the orange colour drew the eye away from the main central area in the design. I decided that mid and dark blue threads would look better.

I made some machine stitched wires using mid and dark blue threads thinking these may reflect the open stitched areas. While the colours looked better they didn't pull out the shapes, fabrics and threads used in the hanging.

Some further experiments.

Further experiments - I particularly liked the middle one which was a combination of thick dark blue thread and a mid blue thread. However with this particular sample I felt the shapes were too open. I decided to use the shapes created in the orange one but to use thick dark blue and mid blue machine thread for the "tabs".

Page 3 - mid and dark blue area

During October 2011, work started on the mid and dark blue fabrics. Using the lines of the design I decided that I would make 2 large pieces of the dark blue and 4 pieces of the mid blue. Organza was placed behind silk fabric and twin needle stitching used before cutting out some of the triangular shapes.

Machine stitched tucks were added to create additional texture.

26 October 2011 - started to hand sew on pieces of dark blue.

In this close up you can see an area pinned in placed ready to sew and the hand stitching used.

By the end of November 2011, the dark blue areas had been hand stitched in place. Work continued on preparing the mid blue pieces during November and December. Mid blue pieces were hand stitched in place using the same stitches and thread as on the darker areas to help to bring the design together.

January 2012 - just one piece of mid blue to be applied.

February 2012 - once all of the mid and dark blue sections were on - a line of straight stitching was added around the orange areas.

Page 2 - applying orange fabric and drawn thread work

14 September 2011, the orange fabric was placed behind the backing and machine stitched in placed from the top. Fabric was cut away to reveal the orange colour underneath.

18 September 2011 - tracing paper was removed from parts of the design for drawn thread work. Threads were removed and columns of machine stitching added.

Page 1 - Commencing work on wall hanging

At the beginning of August 2011, I dyed large pieces of silk and organza fabric in dark blue, mid blue and pumpkin. Some of the larger pieces of fabric were a lighter colour than required and were dyed again.

The design was traced out and the different areas were coloured in using pencil. The design was placed on the background fabric and the outline of the design was machine stitched in place (pictured below).

9 August 2011 - commenced machine stitching pumpkin coloured silk and organza, cutting out sections between the stitching and adding tucks. I worked this as one piece rather than different pieces.

By 12 September 2011, the work was completed and ready to be placed behind the dark blue background. It looks quite blue in the photo but in natural light looks more orangey.

Page 3 Making up a small section of the design

I traced an a4 sized part of the design which incorporated the different samples and cut out areas.


I then selected the top left section of the design to make up as outlined below.

The coloured tracing was traced out again, laid over the background fabric and the lines of the design were machine stitched. The tracing paper was then removed.

For the cut out areas in sample 1, threads were removed and then machine stitched in a royal blue colour. Orange fabric was zig-zagged in place. Using the developed samples shown on page 1, these were applied using small running stitches. On the sky blue fabric a lighter blue thread was used and on the navy blue a sky blue colour was used. Very carefully the orange areas were cut out.

Overall I think for a small piece it works, the colours blend very well - the sky blue and navy blue fabrics look seemless and reflect each other - while the orange colour creates contrast but blends in with the blue stitching. Having reviewed the sample I think the cut out areas need to be stitched in a darker colour. I also think that if this was a larger size piece there may need to be more contrast and interest - I could look at adding orange running stitches around the orange areas or maybe running along in the design in a finer thread.

With this in mind I have decided to develop a further sample with more contrast in colour and something which will look more interesting over a larger area.

Sample 1

With sample 2 below, I don't think the photo looks as good as the one above, however the sample looks more dramatic and contrasting. I started off by removing threads from the cut out areas and used a zig-zag whip stitch with navy and orange. This brings the orange colour in a subtle way in to the main areas. I like this effect.

The orange fabric was twin needle stitched in place and the navy blue fabric was cut out. The navy and sky blue fabrics were hand-stitched in place using a contrasting light coloured thread using a wobbly herringbone stitch (to reflect the stitching and cut out shapes).

Finally a running stitch in orange was used around the cut out orange areas to further highlight these areas.

From a distance this looks more interesting than the first sample and I feel this would work better on a larger sized piece. I like the randomness of the stitches, contrasting colours and the way the orange colour has been brought in to the design in a very subtle way.

Sample 2

Page 2 Planning work

For the cut out areas of the design, I thought a decorated fabric behind would create added texture and interest. In this example, organza has been bonded on to a navy background then twin needle stitching was added. The areas between the stitching were burnt through. It has created a very uniform effect - I was wanting something more random and textured.


In this example the organza was twin needle stitched prior to bonding to navy background. The areas between the stitching were burnt out using the soldering iron. I like the texture and depth which look like additional cords when placed behind the cut out areas of the design. You don't tend to see a lot of colour behind - I'm thinking that an orange colour would be good so it creates a slight orange colour in parts of the design.

Page 1 Further planning work

Following the receipt of my feedback I have continued to develop the samples to be used in the final design.

I have developed sample d on page 6 of my previous submission. In the sample below, in some of the cut out areas I have used small pieces of either navy or sky blue silk twin needled without the sewing hoop so it becomes distorted and gathered. Using bonding powder these have been stuck behind the machined piece. Unfortunately some of the loose bonding power stuck to the front of the sample. In view of this next time I am intending on using bonding paper. I have then burnt through in lines using the soldering iron. I like the overall effect.

As the sky blue colour in the design is covering large areas I wanted to create more interest with the stitching and textures. In the example below I have combined the stitching used in samples a) and c) of page 5 of my previous submission. This has worked very well - the lines of the straight whip stitch reflect the twin needled cut out areas - creating the illusion of erosion and netted/webbed areas.

Page 6) Development of embroidered surfaces

Sample 6a

Withdrew threads - then zig-zagged - I like this effect which could be used in the white areas of the design

Sample 6b

Cut out fabric - then placed water soluble fabric over top - straight machine stitch - the stitches look good but there is a more definite edge underneath which I don't like.

Sample 6c

The previous orange samples have had more circular shapes. In some cases they were also not the correct shade of orange. The following sample was dyed using pumpkin orange acid dye which created the colour that I was seeking.

I wanted to create something with more definite lines to replicate some of the blue samples that I like but maintain the shapes of the orange paper. I used twin needle stitches in orange - I then twin needled in blue in places cutting away some parts organza. Ad-hoc vertical tucks were then made.

This sample looks beautiful. I think this would look stunning as a larger piece.

Samples 6d

I then decided to try some further samples using the above technique in sky and navy blue. From a distance these look stunning although I am a little concerned that there may not be enough embroidery detail on.

Page 5) Development of embroidered surfaces

Sample 5a

Straight whip stitch on silk leaving some areas unstitched - then placed over woven fabric - further stitchery added - then cut out - withdrew threads from fabric underneath - zig-zagged open threads. This has worked very well picking up the textures and colours of the tissue paper although I would have preferred the background colour to be bluer. This fabric was dyed using procion and it has only picked up some of the colour.

Sample 5b

I decided to use navy and sky blue acid dyes for the silk. The sample below dyed in navy has created a beautiful petrol blue colour which replicates the tissue colour very well. This time I have used straight whip stitch but left more of the fabric showing. I've then made small tucks. The silk fabric works very well - it's delicate like the tissue paper - has a beautiful richness and manipulates very well.

Sample 5c

The following sample has been dyed using sky blue acid dye. This has worked very well and goes with the above darker blue sample. I have used straight whip stitch as per above.

Page 4) Development of embroidered surfaces

Sample 4a

Twin needle over wadding - cut out in places - fabric looks a little bit pale - would have like fabric colour stronger but overall I like this design - would probably want to use blue threads next time so it brings the blue and orange colours together better.

Sample 4b

Twin needle in blue - cut out in places - this works very well and looks more interesting using blue threads.

Sample 4c

Twin needle over wadding - cut out in places. I used blue and orange threads which look very effective.

Samples 4d

Cable stitched spiral shapes on soluble fabric - both of these look very good and replicate the textured surface of the paper