After showing us her designs and embroideries she explained the task for the day. We had to draw a house, shed or beach hut with trees in the background and a foreground and colour it in. Her main tip was to keep it simple with stylised trees and shrubs.
Once this had been completed we traced the outline onto dressmakers’ tracing paper. Next we made a sandwich- the tracing paper (reversed so the design was the same as our original), a layer of wadding, a layer of calico and then scraps of fabric layered on top, one at a time, for the details of our design. |
Once the foreground and trees had been stitched the shed, house or beach hut was added. To create windows and doors two layers were used and once stitched the first layer was cut away to reveal the colour underneath. Now extras like plant pots, and shrubs were added.
Janet gave us all time to discuss future ideas and many of us took this opportunity.
Yet more ideas for the September Exhibition 2014? I wonder.
Thanks to Janet who has obviously developed her techniques over the years to achieve such beautiful, intricate and fascinating pieces.