Embroidery Workshops

In my embroidery workshops I learn a wide range of techniques. I learn techniques ranging from hand stitch and needlecraft, to working on the domestic sewing machine and industrial sewing machine. I also learn smocking and other material manipulation techniques, including ways to make three dimensional textiles. As I mentioned in a previous blog, I also use the laser cutter and various printing methods such as sublimation printing with the heat press onto synthetic fabrics, printing onto hard materials and flat materials such as acrylic, cork, acetate, leather etc. and customizing fabrics with dyeing techniques such as tie dye and dip dyeing.

Through this year I have been documenting the techniques I have learnt in a tech file. I had a little bit of difficulty deciding on how I wanted to present this work. A lot of people use a sketchbook, however I find this a hard method to work with because all the samples need to be stitched in to the book, and some are too big or too wide and it ends up annoying me, so I know I didn’t want to work like this. Another way of presenting my work that I thought of was to present my samples on separate sheets and write my processes on the back, which I did attempt to start, but after a while the samples got too heavy for the paper, there was not always enough space to write my processes, the sheets were not fitting on the paper, and it was getting all squashed and cramped in my file so this was not working either. So after refinement I have an alternative way of presenting my work, I now have a box with all my samples in it they are all labelled with a number and technique. Alongside the box I have the sketchbook explaining all the techniques with photographs of the samples and titles matching the labels, so that each documentation can easily be found. This is working a lot better for me; nothing is getting squashed, the samples can be viewed effectively and my processes can be documented neatly and understood clearly.