Random Collage with Small Stencil Zero Waste Stitching

This is a random pieced substrate using left over pieces of eco dyed cotton sheeting from the Identity as a Garment project. The stencil of the pampas grass in the bottom left provides something of a ethereal feeling as it bends toward the centre of the substrate.

Vertical Strips for Zero Waste Stitching

This is a very simple vertical joining of the two inch strips that were left over from the Garment as Identity project. They are joined simply with a running stitch and a sheet backing fabric to preserve the cottage hand made effect

Horizontal Strips from Zero Waste

Using the left over eco dyed fabric from the eco coat I cut and joined these 2 inch strips in horizontal plane. They will be part of my zero waste journal. Some areas show definite shapes and others are just stained from the plant material’s dy. I added a crochet motif in the bottom left for interest

Zero Waste Stitching

Each year Kate Ward organisers a free taster summit called Making Zen. It is a bit of a marathon effort if you try to watch all the tutorials as there are around 5 half hour sessions each days for 7 days. This year I was taken by Karen Turner’s offering of zero waste stitching. The idea is you take left over fragments of fabric from projects and using progressively smaller pieces of fabric to create stitched art from the left overs. If you have followed along in my blogs you will have seen the eco coat I made at the beginning of this year. There were quite a few bits of eco dyed fabric that just weren’t quite good enough (or leaves that weren’t clearly defined) so I thought I would give this a go using this fabric. The fabric was reclaimed cotton sheeting so it has been quite a story in the making. I ended up making a little sampler book with the ideas I created and I have used this process as my presentation for the Advanced Diploma of Art and Creativity through the Learning Connexion Distance Delivery. A lot of my work focuses on foraged or reclaimed materials so it fitted beautifully with my ethos. The cover of the book is part of a printing session done quite some time ago and ver the next few days I will introduce you to the processes of each page. Going full circle, it has lead to the design of a larger wall art quilt that I will work on in the coming weeks.