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#institchescreative2020 - On your marks...

31/3/2020

Last week Hazel was concentrating on one stitch and pushing the possibilities of it. So here in the paper blog this week we are going to do the same thing – but with a mark. This is one of the creative warmups we use with students on our year-long courses; these are a great kick-start if you want to do something creative but don’t know where to start or are out of ideas. Once you get doing something, anything, you’ll find the ideas start to flow. You might even decide to start a daily practice… (more on this next week).

Today we are going to look at just one of the many ways of exploring and playing with mark making. It's one of our favourite ways of adding interest to sketchbook pages and stitched pieces, and makes great personalised paper for collage, card making and even wrapping paper! And you might have noticed that many of the covers I made for my little books had just one mark - a very simple brush daub.

Inspiration for marks is all around us - the variety of shape and arrangements is endless.

As I said, there are loads of ways of making marks, and in future weeks we will explore some of the others, but for now we're going to start with a simple mark – a quick, single contact of the tool with the paper. It’s not a drawing or an outline of a complex shape. Simple marks include dot, dash, tick, cross, circle, spiral, squiggle, triangle, splat. The idea is to see what we can do with this mark; how many different ways we can make it.

Multiple marks build to create textures or pattern and can add interest and liveliness to your work.
I love circles and you can find them in many of my wallhangings: they can represent ripples on a rock pool, pebbles, bladders in seaweed, small shells, rusty bolts, life-cycles, unity, the earth, wholeness etc. Dashes can represent grasses, seeds, groynes, ripples on sand, birds flying, dressed stone, stitches, thoughts, counting, time passing, music … you get the picture…

Today’s approach limits your choices and provides direction when you are stuck for ideas. And most importantly, it’s fun!

What will you need?
Tools – any or all of the following:

A couple of black or white pens with different characteristics - eg fineline pen, thick marker pen, fountain pen, biro, gel pen, any other you like
Something chunky that will make a mark eg charcoal, graphite stick, crayon, pastel
Two or three brushes – eg artist’s brush (to make fine, precise marks), foam brush, a large scruffy brush (eg an old house painting brush) – the technical term for this is a ‘manky brush’ and we have been known to create them by giving an inexpensive wide brush a jagged haircut!
A found object that you can make marks with eg a twig, feather, seed pod, feathery grass, pine needles, shell, rag, cotton bud – experiment!

Media – if you have brushes, you’ll need some kind of paint or ink – we suggest sticking to black and white and maybe one colour to start with eg

Black ink – Quink or drawing ink or Indian ink or acrylic ink
Or thinned black paint (acrylic or gouache mixed to a runny consistency with water)
White ink or thinned white paint
Or any other water-based paint you have – even food colouring will work!

A selection of paper – again limit your choices. Sheets around A5 are a good size to start with.

White paper eg cartridge or copy paper
Black paper (if you have white paint)
Brown paper – eg parcel or envelope; or coloured paper - again limit to one colour to complement your paint.

If you made a book last week you might like to use that, but I prefer to work on individual sheets and bind them into a book later. That might just be because I’m messy, but it does mean you don’t have to wait for pages to dry before you can move on to the next thing! And some of the prompts (see below) will demand bigger paper!

Prompts – one of the things that prevents us from doing creative stuff is not knowing where to start, or what to do next, or simply having too many options. This is closely linked with a fear of failure. We have put together some random prompts for you to use to bypass that self-doubt. Feel free to add your own...

regular repeat	make tiny marks	make black marks	make solid marks
random repeat	make huge marks	make white marks	make broken marks
overlap	combine different sizes on one page	combine black and white marks	make delicate marks
change to a different tool	combine different tools on one page	only recharge tool when the ink runs out	hold tool differently – change your grip

What to do
1. Write each prompt on a small piece of paper (adapt them to suit your tools), fold them up so you can’t see the words and place them in a basket or similar, raffle-ticket style.

2. Shuffle your pile of paper so you get a random selection each time.
3. Choose a tool to start with, eg one of the pens, and take a sheet of white paper. Fill your paper with your chosen mark. If you have plenty of ideas, move on to another sheet (same tool or a different one - you choose). I started with the wide pen and then moved quickly on to the white paint because I wanted to see how that would look on the coloured papers.

4. Keep on till you run out of ideas. Then draw a prompt and do what it says. You can just start fresh with that instruction or combine it with what you were previously doing. Below you can see tiny and big marks, overlap and solid.

5. Depending on the prompt you might stay with the same tool or change to a different one – it’s much easier to make a solid mark with a foam brush than a feather for example, and you can’t make a white mark with a black pen!
Broken (with a foam brush), manky brush and delicate (with pine needles dipped in paint) below...

6. Keep going, try several sheets of each idea (it’s OK to deviate from the prompts if ideas start to flow). Don’t forget the backs of the papers...
Various combinations below - on the right the large scribbled circles were inspired by the smaller ones on the brown paper.

7. If you pick a prompt you have already explored, you can ignore it and pick another BUT that’s not an excuse to ignore the ones you don’t like the look of!

More thoughts...

If you have limited time this is a great exercise to do over several days (or weeks!). Just work on one prompt each day and see where it takes you.
You will discover that some tools are better suited to some marks than others, but it’s still good to try and push tools to make different kinds of marks.
You might want to keep a record of which tools combined with which prompt made which marks so you can do it again purposefully, but don’t let that stifle your flow.
When you’ve finished, review your papers with an eye to future artwork or textile work. They also make great collage papers, or you could bind them into a little book.

Let's build our creative online community, we would really love to see what you are up to. Post to Instagram and use the hash tags: #institchescreative2020 and #institches2013. Don't forget to follow both us and the hashtags to see what everyone else is creating too!

On Facebook reply to the relevant week's post with your comments and images. And don't forget to actually follow InStitches on Facebook to see what everyone else is up to.

Until next time - keep the creativity flowing...

Terry & Hazel

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#institchescreative2020 - first, thread your needle

27/3/2020

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Whether you are an experienced stitcher or picking up a needle for the very first time, welcome to the beginning of our Cloth Project blog.

Go put the kettle on and brew your favourite drink (or if it's after 6pm, mine's a G&T please!), gather your supplies and join us as we embrace a slower pace of life, discover the joy of creating, and hopefully in these troubled times, find some inner peace and fulfilment as well as a creative voice.

Here's a recap of the supplies you will need:

Fabric - anything you can sew on, be creative here! It doesn't need to be a new piece of fabric, I'm planning on using an old small linen table cloth but an old (or perhaps not so old!) shirt/top would be great. A pillow case, cotton napkin or what ever you have to hand, they'd all work fine.
Wadding & backing fabric - optional, but if you do want to make up a quilt 'sandwich' you may find it easier to hand tack or micro stitch the layers together
Thread - whatever you have to hand. Cotton machine or universal sewing thread will work just as well as fancy hand dyed threads or commercial embroidery floss. All the stitches we are going to be introducing over the next few weeks can be worked in different weights and colours.
Needles - need to be ones you can see to thread! Embroidery, quilting or something from the supermarket!
Thimble, if you use one
Small sharp scissors
Embroidery or quilting hoop - optional
Something to keep all your project in - note: baskets make tempting beds for cats!
Any stitch books you may have. Don't worry if you haven't got any as I'll pointing you to some inspirational websites and blogs along the way.

For this project I have chosen an aqua colour palette. In shades of green-blue, it reminds me of a beautiful Mediterranean sea. Blue is often used to symbolise calmness and green for growth; which I thought quite apt for life just now. It's also such an uplifting colour - just what the doctor ordered for the creative spirit! What colours have you chosen?

If you can't see the video click this link to download it:

Knot video
File Size:	78224 kb
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Download File

Despite being taught to start and stop my stitching with 3 little stitches, these days I always put a little knot at the end of my thread when I start stitching. It's just a free-form French knot and is really easy to do, although you wouldn't think so if you saw how many little videos I had to make. Also, if I had known all this was going to happen and my hands feature so closely I would have applied lashings of hand cream and had a manicure!

The first stitch we are going to do is a simple running stitch , the easiest stitch ever, and our favourite! This versatile stitch is used for hand sewing and quilting. From simple lines to outlines, it is also the basis for many other stitches.

Start by bringing the needle to the surface of the work (don't forget that little knot to anchor the thread!) then take two or three stitches forward along a line. Pull the thread through until it lies on top of the fabric, without being too loose or too tight. To begin with you may only make one stitch at a time, but with practice you'll be able to take several stitches onto your needle.

Told you it was simple!

And you don't just have to stitch in a straight line, once you've got the knack of making several stitches at a time you can really begin to play and see what you can do with this stitch. Here are some things you may like to try to get you started:

Embrace the curve:
If you are feeling confident just go for it, but I suspect most of you will be like me and want some sort of line to follow. In the photo on the right I am using the old fashioned technique of needle scoring - taking the tip of my needle to carefully mark a line for me to follow (squint closely and you'll see the faint line).

However if you want something a little more visible then use a regular sharp pointed/propelling pencil or any of other removable fabric marking pencil/pen you may have already. Use the lightest possible touch and don't forget to test to make sure you are able to remove it easily. However, don't be tempted to use a dressmaker's or tailor's pencil as this may not be removable; ask me how I know!

How tight can you spiral? What about stitching two parallel curves or even three, perhaps in various shades of the same colour?

Stack it up 1:
Work parallel lines of stitching across the surface, Kantha Style. There's lots of Kantha work images out there on the web and also take a look at the works of textile artist Angela Daymond .

I have stitched the bottom 4 rows so the stitches stack up one on top of the other. Can you see a slight ridge appearing? It's more noticeable when it is done as a quilting stitch.

The top 4 rows have a more chaotic stitch spacing, arguably easier to do, especially with your feet up in front of the telly! Spot the difference? Instead of raised columns, a ripple effect is created, which is great for sea and sand.

Stack it up 2:
In this sample I have used 3 different weights of thread and as the thread became thicker I switched needle sizes. It is important that you match the size of needle and eye to the weight of thread. If you try to use too small a needle for the size of thread it will make it very difficult for you to pull the thread through the fabric, causing it to wear more quickly and even rip the fabric as you tug on the needle. Conversely, if your needle is too big you will find the thread constantly slipping out of the eye and the hole left in the fabric may not close up resulting in a crooked looking stitch.

Stack it up 3:
All your stitches don't have to be the same length either; here I have alternated between a long and short stitch. I have also played about with the line spacings too. Notice how the closer together the lines are the darker the thread appears. In fact it is the same thread throughout.

Finishing off:
I've told you how to start stitching but you will also need to anchor the thread when you want to change colours or have come to an end of the pattern. On the wrong side of the work I take my needle under the last stitch and through a loop of thread, pulling gently to ease the knot down towards the fabric. I do two of these and then snip the needle end off, leaving a short tail.

Did you know?
If you find that your thread is constantly twisting and becoming tangled it often helps to thread your needle from the other end! It's all to do with the twist and if you want to find out more take a look at this blog from CraftyPod

By the way...
...did you make one of the pamphlet books earlier in the week? They make a great place to collect stitch ideas and inspiration. Perfect for fitting into your pocket for your one walk a day, and as you'll be socially distancing you'll have no one moaning when you stop to jot down ideas!

Also take a look at:
There's lots of creative places to search out on the web, but how about starting at Textile Artist? They have lots and lots of creative content from a wide range of stitched textile artists. Like us, they are also running a free to access community challenge. Running over 5 weeks they will be featuring several of the guest tutors who have been or are coming to InStitches. The first week features Sue Stone and like us she kicks off with straight stitch, take a look here.

We hope you have enjoyed our first stitch project and feel inspired to have a go. Let's build our creative online community: we would really love to see what you are stitching. Don't forget to post to Instagram and use the hashtags: #institchescreative2020 and #institches2013. If you follow both us and the hashtags you will also get to see what everyone else is creating too!

On Facebook reply to the relevant week's post with your comments and images. And don't forget to actually follow InStitches on Facebook to see what everyone else is up to.

Until next time, stay safe, keep well, and don't forget to wash those hands!

Hazel & Terry

PS:

Don't say I didn't warn you about cats and baskets...

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#institchescreative2020 - Simple pamphlet-bound books

23/3/2020

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Welcome to the first #institchescreative2020 - it's great to have you along!

Those of you who know us at InStitches will know that we love everything about hand-made books, so when we were planning this series this was an obvious place to start! These simple little books are easy to make and very versatile. You can make them any size, and if you make several the same size they can be linked together (more later) to form a much bigger volume. They are a great place to keep all your paper-based explorations and a useful small book to take with you on a (solitary) walk to record what you see in words and scribbles. They also make great little gifts to include with a card.

So let’s get started – here’s what you will need:

Paper – ideally cartridge, as this will accept paint and other wet media as well as pen and pencil; but you can also use copy paper, brown paper, coloured papers, old paper bags and envelopes, old maps etc – why not use a mixture? In some of the images I'm using a carrier bag from that well-known seaside clothing shop, plus a (clean) cardboard takeaway food tray for the cover.
For a single small A6 book you will need the equivalent of two or three A4 sheets (or one and a half A3 sheets). For an A5 book you will need four to six A4 sheets (two or three A3 sheets).
A sheet of heavier weight paper for the cover (optional)
Cutting mat, craft knife and ruler OR scissors OR a blunt knife (like a butter knife) for tearing paper
Sturdy needle and strong thread (ideally not thin sewing thread, but this would do at a pinch) OR large elastic band OR thin ribbon
If you have them: bone folder for creasing paper (not essential) and awl for pricking holes (a chunky needle held in a cork makes a great substitute)

A word about paper grain
All machine-made paper has a grain – where the fibres align in one direction as the paper is made. You may have noticed that paper is easier to tear in one direction (along the grain) than the other. Hand-made papers don’t have a grain.
When you are making books, ideally the grain of the paper should run parallel to the spine of the book. This makes the pages lie flat when it is open and ensures it closes properly too. When we are making small books like these, this is not essential, but is a good habit to get into if you can, and really starts to matter when page size gets bigger.
Determining the grain of your paper – two easy methods:
1. gently bend the paper, first edge to edge in one direction, then rotate through 90 degrees and repeat. You will notice that there is more ‘give’ one way than the other – it is easier to bend the paper along the grain.
2. tear a piece of the paper – again in both directions. You’ll find it tears in a much straighter line along the grain and a ragged line across it.

Right, let’s get making books!
We are going to give instructions for an A6 sized pamphlet, which is a great size to begin with. You can adapt them to any size, even square formats, to suit the paper you have available. First, you have some decisions to make:
1. Decide on the size your book will be: you might choose a classic A size – A6 or A5 (an easy option if you are starting with A sized paper). Decide also whether you would like portrait or landscape format. You might like to mix things up with a square format, or long and thin.
2. Decide whether you want to have a cover – you could make this from slightly heavier paper and decorate it with paint or inks.

Preparing your pages
3. Portrait format: take one A4 sheet and fold it in half short sides together, making sure you align the corners and edges before creasing the fold. Cut or tear along this fold (we like the rustic charm of torn edges) – you will now have two A5 sheets. Repeat with the other sheet(s), to give 4 (6) smaller pieces in total.

4. Landscape format: take one A4 sheet and fold it in half with the long sides together, making sure you align the corners and edges before creasing the fold. Cut or tear along this fold (we like the rustic charm of torn edges) – you will now have two long, thin sheets. Repeat with the other sheet(s), to give 4 (6) smaller pieces in total.

5. Both formats: Cut a corresponding piece of heavier paper for the cover. If you make this wider than you need you will be able to fold flaps to strengthen the outside edges, and form little pockets, but this is not essential.

6. Fold the sheets in half individually, ensuring the corners match, the press the fold. Nestle the sheets inside each other to form a pamphlet.
6a. If you want to insert thinner pages now is the time to do it; cut or tear them to the correct size and fold as above. Generally speaking four or five sheets of cartridge paper is the maximum that works well for a pamphlet book (otherwise the open edge protrudes too much; and it is harder to pierce holes) but you can add or substitute one or two thinner sheets – experiment with tracing paper, brown paper tissue paper etc.

7. Decorate the cover sheet, if you’re having one, in any way you like, then fold it in half too. Place it outside the inner pages.

Make a pricking template
8. From a piece of waste paper cut a strip 5cm (2”) wide and the same length as the spine of the book. Fold it in half along its length, crease and open out. This will be your pricking template.
9. You will always need an odd number of holes to stitch your pamphlet together. This could be three (eg if you have a landscape format A6 book) or five (eg A6 portrait) or seven (larger books with longer spines). To mark your holes:
a. First fold your template in half short sides together to find the centre.
b. Mark a dot on the inside where the two folds cross.
c. Mark two more dots on the long crease 1-1.5cm (half an inch) or so from each end.
d. Mark any other dots you need evenly spaced between these three. NB you need an odd number!

Prick your holes
10. Place your pricking template into the inner fold of your nestled pages and ensure that everything is well lined up at the top and bottom and in the crease. Hold your pages so that there is an angle at the spine, with half the book lying flat and the other half sticking straight up.

11. With your awl, or a chunky needle (pushed into a cork for easy handling), pierce on the marked dots through the template, all the pages and the cover to the outside. Use the reverse of your cutting mat, or a newspaper or magazine to protect your work surface. Keep holding the pages securely.
If it’s hard to go through the pages and the cover all at once you could do them separately, that’s the beauty of having a pricking template. Just make sure you have marked the top of everything so they go back together the right way round.

Stitch your pamphlet
12. Take a length of thread three times the length of the spine and thread your needle.
13. We are assuming you have five holes. Read through the instructions and adapt for different numbers.
a. Start at the middle hole (3), on the inside of the spine, go through the hole, leaving a tail about 5cm (hold on to it or tape it down with masking tape).
b. Going up towards the top of the book, sew back in through the next hole (2), and out through the next hole (1 - the top). Make sure your stitches are firm and not baggy (be careful to pull perpendicularly to the paper so you don’t cut into it).

c. Sew back in through the next hole down (2), being careful not to split the thread already in the hole. SKIP OVER the middle hole (3), then out through the fourth hole and in through the fifth.
d. Working back up, sew out through the fourth hole and back in through the middle hole

e. Arrange your threads on the inside so that the ends are on either side of the long thread crossing the middle hole. Have a final check that your stitches are firm.
f. Tie a reef knot (left over right and under; right over left and under) and trim the ends short. If you are worried the knot might come undone you can massage in a dot of glue (don’t close the book till it’s dry!).

14. If you find the edges of your pages are sticking out proud of the cover, use a ruler and a knife to trim them level. Fold the covers out of the way, align the page edges then work gently downwards with several strokes, rather than trying to cut through all the pages at once.
15. If you have made an extra wide cover, now is the time to score and fold it inwards. You could stick the edges with double sided tape to form pockets.

And there it is - one (or in my case two) little pamphlet-bound book ready for you to fill in the coming weeks! Why not make several in different sizes to experiment with? Don't forget to tag us if you post your creations to FB or IG: #institchescreative2020 and #institches2013 - we'd love to see what you come up with! Here are some variations to start you off....

Variation 1
Instead of starting with your thread end on the inside, you can start on the outside of the spine. This means that the final knot will be outside the spine, giving you the opportunity to make a feature of the thread tails – add beads, charms, tassels or any other decoration….

Variation 2
If you have no needle and thread, you can still make a pamphlet book in the way Hazel’s nieces do, using an hair-elastic (ever inventive!). Work along with the instructions until the end of 7. Then choose an elastic band or hair elastic which is a good length for the spine of your book (not too tight or the book will buckle) and slip it over the pages to the fold to hold them together. It’s not as secure as stitching but will work. Alternatively, you could tie a thin ribbon around the spine, or use it to sew with.

Variation 3
Make several pamphlets all the same size, with the same number of holes, with or without covers. You can bind them together into a larger, chunky book by weaving decorative threads through the binding threads on the spines (those are all my outside thread tails as variation 1 tied in a knot to keep them out of the way!)

Until next time - stay safe and well

Terry & Hazel

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#institchescreative2020

20/3/2020

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We are all having to come to terms with the devastating impact of Coronavirus. Compared to all those key workers in the NHS, vaccine research, the emergency services, the food supply chain, and the many more unsung heroes who are working around the clock to make sure we stay safe and well, what we do does seem a luxury. But we'd like to play our part too, so we've spent the last few days thinking how we can help.

We set up InStitches because we wanted to share our passion and to inspire as many people as possible to get stitching and creating. We know that for many of you it isn't just 'messing about' with paper, paint, cloth and thread. It's about friendship, community, inner peace, fulfilment, the joy of creating, developing a creative voice and so, so much more. We know, we get it; we are with you on that.

Our gift to you over these next days, weeks and even months to come is a spark of creative joy. Take this moment to stop, slow down and make time to appreciate the smaller pleasures in life.

So that's what we plan to do. Each and every week we plan to bring you both a paper- and a cloth-based project. We are calling it #institchescreative2020.

There are several ways you can get involved with #institchescreative2020 :

Sign up for our newsletter (existing subscribers will need to update their preferences to opt in)
Visit our blog regularly – you can sign up for RSS feeds and have it delivered direct to your inbox
Follow us on Instagram and Facebook so you will hear about new posts as they happen.
Post your creative endeavours on Instagram and Facebook with the hashtag #institchescreative2020, then follow the hashtag to see what others have been up to…

At the moment we are both well and plan on coming into the studio most days (we will have social distancing down to a fine art soon!) but we do appreciate that some of you may already be self-isolating or not able to access many craft supplies, so we plan to keep everything as simple as possible on requirements whilst still providing that creative hit.

So what supplies will you need to start off with?

Paper Project:

Paper - cartridge paper, brown paper, black/coloured paper, copy paper, found paper - old Festival of Quilts bags, bread bags, anything really!
Cutting knife, ruler and board/a pair of scissors/ any means of ripping paper will do
Colouring media - paints, coloured pencils, watercolour, food colourings (!) - whatever you have
Something to draw with
A needle and some thread/ piece of ribbon/ elastic band - all will be revealed on this one!

Cloth Project:

Fabric - anything you can sew on, be creative here! I'm planning on using an old small linen table cloth
Thread - whatever you have to hand. Cotton machine or universal sewing thread will work just as well as fancy hand dyed threads or commercial embroidery floss.
Needles - need to be ones you can see to thread! Embroidery, quilting or something from the supermarket!
Small sharp scissors
Embroidery or quilting hoop - optional
Wadding & backing fabric - optional
Any stitch books you may have. Don't worry if you haven't got any, I'll also be telling you about websites etc that you may find inspirational.

Let's build our creative on-line community, we would really love to see what you are up to. Post to Instagram and use the hash tags: #institchescreative2020 and #institches2013. Don't forget to follow both us and the hashtags to see what everyone else is creating too!

On Facebook reply to the relevant week's post with your comments and images. And don't forget to actually follow InStitches on Facebook to see what everyone else is up to.

Stay safe, keep well, and don't forget to wash those hands!

Hazel & Terry

4 Comments

#institchescreative2020 - On your marks...

#institchescreative2020 - first, thread your needle

#institchescreative2020 - Simple pamphlet-bound books

#institchescreative2020

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