Textile art in troubled times

Or, how to find solace in textile arts.

If you haven’t become aware of the monstrous issues confronting us all, as both Canadians and, perhaps some Americans too, you’re either blissfully ignorant, or living under a rock. Perhaps that’s a good place to be just now.

Regardless of which nightmarish scenario keeps you up at night; global political turmoil and/or economic instability, these are indeed troubling times.

I am sure I am not alone when I suggest that spending more and more time burrowing my nose in the creative process is therapeutic. No sooner have I completed one project, and I’m onto the next. Immediately so! Whether I’m hand stitching, or engaged in meditative free-motion stitching, the practice of sewing and quilting is restorative.

But I digress.

The original subject matter of this blogpost is 99% textile arts related, but it does, circumstantially have a cross-border element to it. That is, the piece of fabric art I have created recently is inspired by a beautiful piece of woodblock print art my brother made for me decades ago. My one and only brother, happens to be a duo Canadian/American citizen. He was born in Hawaii, and although raised in Canada, in a Canadian family, he reclaimed his American citizenship some decades ago and now resides on the far west coast just south of the Canadian/American border. He is a carpenter, creator and artisan of immense talent.

Original Woodblock print, Paul Gallop.

I have treasured this piece of original art for as long as I have owned it. The fact that it’s dedicated to me personally makes it all the more special. I’m pretty sure it was gifted to me by my brother for a birthday, or perhaps at Christmastime. It’s only recently that I have come to understand this art form a little better and have such admiration for the craft. With roots dating back to the 14th century in China and other parts of Asia, it is an art form that combines intricately engraving wood blocks, and inking and reproducing the sections that remain untouched on paper or fabric in a relief printing process. Apologies to those with much better knowledge than mine. I am happy to be corrected! No matter. It’s gorgeous and speaks to the immense artistic and creative talent of the creator.

As my sewing, quilting and textile arts practice deepened, I felt compelled to reimagine Paul’s art as a piece of fabric art. I enjoyed combining a handful of older techniques with several new ones. From hand stitching, free-motion stitching and thread painting, to sewing curved seams to appliqué, this project introduced me to a wonderful selection of techniques that I will delve into more fully, and will enjoy improving upon each time I return to them.

Practising sewing curved seams.

Hand stitching is therapeutic to me.

I was determined not to fancy-up my version of the piece at all. I love it in its natural, organic simplicity. It is folk art and it gave me pleasure to think fondly of my brother as I worked on it.

I am looking forward to sending it to him as a surprise. That is assuming he doesn’t read this blogpost first!

The finished piece. I love the way the ocean fabric combined with curved seams really gives the illusion of waves and movement.

I created the boat by taking a close up photo, then printing that photo. I then traced the image onto parchment paper. Next, I taped the parchment paper to freezer paper and fused those pieces to the fabric. If you’re thinking to do this, be sure the shiny side of the freezer paper is the side that will be fused to the fabric. The boat fabric had no evident right and wrong sides, therefore that part of the project worked fine using freezer paper. Be careful when fusing text, numbers, or directional shapes to fabric. It’ll turn out the inverse of what you want if you don’t get this right.

I couldn’t help adding a school of fishes from leftover black and white batik fabric from my stash. When it came to fusing the fish to the fabric I struggled a bit. Initially I used a product that I don’t recommend. I’ll not discredit the product here, but I will say that I switched to another product that worked beautifully. HeatandBondLite was the solution for me, and I have since learned that it is broadly used by quilters and textile artisans alike. The fabric adheres very well to the background waves. I decided to add free-motion stitching around each fish to secure them and, truth-be-told, I really enjoy free-motion stitching and the additional three dimensional aspect it brings to an otherwise one dimensional piece.

Finally, I will mention that I do my best to practice sustainable textile art. That is, I shop my own stash, purchase fabric from thrift stores, repurpose previously made items and such, and gratefully accept stash from generous friends and neighbours. As such, sometimes my projects have a slightly Frankenstein-esque nature about them. As an example, there may be a seam running through an area that speaks to joining two pieces of fabric together when neither were large enough to use singularly. I don’t sweat this too much, nor do I try to mask it too much either. While I don’t want the blemish to become the focus, in my opinion, it adds to the handcrafted authenticity of the piece. The eye moves on quickly and the focus becomes the overall intent of the piece as opposed to an imperfection. Ultimately, I feel better about reducing, re-using, and re-cycling over and above buying brand new fabric.

Below is a link to one of the sources I look to for finding fabric with a sustainable and social conscience.

Thanks very much for visiting my website and for reading this blogpost. I welcome your comments and questions. You may click the photo below to be taken to a full video of the process.

Click this photo to watch the full video.