Edging Forward

Having been away for a week it's good to get back to stitching.  In view of this break Sian suggested I look through my work so far and select what seems relevant to the collar design and put it together on a pin board.  She also asked me to say why I'd chosen the items.  I came up with a list of words which they all seem to demonstrate: movement, rhythms, pulses, and reflection and refraction.  They arouse this response even though the techniques are different.  I particularly like the interweaving of what are really quite simple lines of machine stitch, also the transitions achieved between one tone and another in the woven piece and the random connections that are made between marks.  I like the fabric piece below it too and wonder whether it is possible to create a more subtle effect when piecing the organza.  I realise yet again that I'm so keen make decisions about structure without sufficiently taking into consideration tonal distribution.

Pin Board

My mind does feel less crowded now, however, there still seem to be a multitude of creative decisions to make.  

It's also been helpful to trawl through Sian's advice over the months since I first uttered the word "collar". So here then is what I'm proposing to work on over the next few days.

Treatment of Background Fabric:

1)  Test out printing, using a very light touch.  String round the roller to make the wave patterns on the paper sample above.

2)  White on white embroidery, followed by light dyeing after folding the fabric on the diagonal both ways aiming to achieve scale-shapes..

3) Try out using my images by printing the fabric with my printer.  Would you please send instructions for this, Sian?

Construction and Tonal Distribution:

1)  Machine embroider the collar sections I've already made.

2)  Make fin-shaped inserts even wider and using the narrow to broader zigzag machining as on the pin board machine along each edge. This should make the machining on the fin-inserts at right angles to the fins linking them.
3)  Try out stitching tonal organza strips together to make the main fins, thinking about cutting them in Fibonacci Sequence proportions broadening as the collar moves round to the centre back.

Collar Details

I've tried to show here my current thinking about the collar construction, of course the dance between fabric and construction goes on and there may be many more amendments yet.