When I first started doing this kind of embroidery I really didn’t know what I was doing. I was just a keen kid with a sewing machine and a lot of creative curiosity.
My first attempts with these techniques were entirely experimental. I just got an idea in my head and went ahead and did it without too much worry about how it would turn out. It was a great way to work and I wish that I could revisit that headspace now. I was so enthusiastic and excited about everything that I did and made.
I thought I would share a few of my early experiments with you today. Many artists are reluctant to share their earliest works because they are, well, normally pretty crappy. But I think that we should celebrate our starting points, even if they may seem a bit cringe-worthy.
All of the pieces below were created during my honours year at University while I was studying for a BFA (Bachelor of Fine Arts) in 2006. it was during that year that I fell in love with this style of embroidery and many of these early experiments laid the groundwork for how I work today.
So here goes ….
My first attempt at a piece of Freehand Machine Embroidery (2006)
My first piece of free-motion embroidery on fabric
The year before I threw myself into this kind of embroidery I had created a series of ‘dye drawings’. These pieces were made by laying fiber reactive dye granules and threads down on watercolor paper and lightly spraying them with water. When I added the water the dye sprang to life and flowed around the paper creating soft abstract patterns. It was a really fun, spontaneous mark-making process. I then cut these sheets of paper up into little ovals and embellished them with ink drawings and hand embroidery. I ended up making about 20 of them from memory. One of my favorite pieces from the series is pictured above, on the left.
When I first sat down to try my hand at free-motion embroidery the following year I had it in my head that I wanted to recreate my very spontaneous abstract ‘dye drawings’ as a very purposeful stitched drawing. I set about painstakingly replicating the design in stitches. From memory, it took me at least a week of solid stitching to make this one little piece. It measures around 20cm from top to bottom.
You can see my ‘stitched recreation’ above, on the right. It’s pretty close to the original I think.
As my first serious piece of freehand machine embroidery, I was pretty happy with this little pink-and-white mat of threads. This piece helped me to develop a really good way to stitch densely by doing lots of little overlapping squiggles. I work in a similar way today, so this was a pivotal piece for me.
My first attempt at a sculpted embroidery. I shaped this little piece between two spoons.
My first (purposefully) sculpted piece of embroidery
Above is my first attempt at purposefully shaping an embroidery. Before this experiment, I was pressing most of my embroideries flat, or just letting them dry naturally and curl up however they liked. But I wanted to see if I could get my embroiderers to dry in a set shape, so I squished this piece between two dessert spoons I found in the studio cutlery draw and let it dry overnight. And, it worked!
This tiny piece was another groundbreaking moment for me because I realised I could purposefully shape my embroideries and they would stay in that shape once they were dry. Mind blown!
Don’t worry I washed the spoons thoroughly before I put them back in the drawer.
Following my spoon experiment, I went on to create a bunch of purposefully shaped pieces. The most memorable being a sculpted mask, which was really rather creepy. Sadly a lot of these early sculpted experiments were lost or given away so I don’t have good records of them today. But I still have this little green spoon piece. So that’s something.
Hanging threads (2006)
My favourite piece from my first year
The piece above was a prototype for the large hanging embroideries that became the focus works in my honours year exhibition. Funnily enough, I like this prototype more than the final artworks I produced.
To create this piece I stitched a series of little circular ‘cells’ each one connected to its neighbours to create a circular disk. I then went back and attached long trailing threads to the centres of each of the cells. To do this I simply did a few stitches to anchor my thread then I pulled the piece out of the machine allowing my top and bobbin thread to unravel out to arm’s length. I then cut the threads and started on the next cell and repeated that process until the whole piece was covered with trailing threads.
It was my initial goal to somehow display the piece like it is pictured above, with the disk seemingly suspended in the centre of all of those threads. But I never did develop a good way to do that well. I rigged up a very dodgy set up with a pole taped to a stool just to get this photo. That setup clearly wasn’t exhibition worthy so this photo is the closest thing I have to my initial vision.
I then went on to stitch three enlarged versions of this disk idea and they became my final artworks for the honours exhibition. I was never really happy with those final, larger works. They are in a box somewhere now, perhaps I will share them with you one day.
This little ‘hanging threads’ piece is still hanging in my studio. It shares a hanging hook with my metal ruler and it acts as a nice daily reminder of where I started and how I have grown.
2006, when I did my honours year, feels like a lifetime ago.
Now I am quite a different person and artist. My practice has defiantly been refined over the last decade or so and I miss the playful experimentation phase of the early years. I don’t experiment like this so much now because I have solid practices in place and I also have a really thorough understanding of the strengths and limitations of my medium. Thankfully, even without the playful experimentation I still love this style of embroidery and continue to get excited when trying new designs and ideas.
Are you interested in learning this kind of embroidery? It is so much fun, but be warned it can become addictive!
Click the button below to learn more about my workshops and online courses.