My local art group’s latest challenge for our regular exhibition was to incorporate fibre or textiles in some way. I figured I couldn’t go wrong with a bit of nostalgic Australiana, in honour of my new homeland.
These pieces are made using machine sewing thread (all from stash, hooray), stitched freehand on a water soluble base, then mounted on a 100% cotton paper.
For those unfamiliar with these pinnacles of Australian cuisine, Vegemite is something you must eat once before you die. And fairy bread is white bread (the cheaper the better), spread with margarine, and coated with hundreds and thousands, which has been a staple of children’s birthday parties here for decades.
I’m sorry, I don’t have any progress shots, I’ll try to remember if I do more of these. By freehand, I mean freehand machine embroidery, with a darning foot (as opposed to machine embroidery where you create a more polished image with the machine).
The process goes something like this:-
draw your image onto paper
trace the basic shapes onto the water soluble stuff (e.g. Solvy); it’s like a translucent plasticky film
set up sewing machine with a darning foot and disengage the feed dogs; speed slowish to medium
stitch the shape freehand by moving the surface around under the darning foot. It takes practice to get the hang of it, and it is quite fiddly. You have to create enough of a structure (e.g. grid) to ensure the piece doesn’t fall apart once the surface is removed, and then ‘colour it in’. Close stitching can cause a lot of knots and thread breakage (e.g the word ‘Vegemite’ and all of the fairy bread). It’s a good idea to use a scrap of fabric as a leader when changing thread.
soak in warm water until the base rinses away
figure out how to mount it. I carefully hand stitched these onto a thick, soft art paper using matching sewing thread and a knot at the back. Also very fiddly!
They are fun to do, but probably not something I want to make every day
HOLY MOLY!! I just read your description of freehand and wow! You managed to create some really impressive pieces with that method! I can’t even fathom how you managed to get each letter so precise.
Did you use the same method for the nonpareils on the fairy bread or were those done with french knots?
Also, congratulations on selling your fairy bread!
Thank you! I definitely had to summon all my drawing and sewing skills combined.
Most of the surface was filled in with freehand, rainbow ‘thread spaghetti’, and then I did use a function on the machine to stitch some solid little spots in different colours, to add enough definition. Much thread breakage ensued - I don’t know what I was thinking
I definitely had to summon all my drawing and sewing skills combined.