Experiment, explore and embellish: create 6 stunning works of textile art by layering, painting and embellishing fabrics with machine and hand stitching.
'If you have ever wondered about how to put depth and soul into your work then Wendy Dolan's book will show you her technique for doing so. [...] The instructions are easy to follow with plenty of information clearly explained. Novice and more experienced stitchers will find plenty to learn.' --Workshop on the Web
This beautiful book will guide you through Wendy Dolan's inventive style of work: from piecing and patching fabrics and creating textures to painting and embellishing with hand and machine stitching. Included are:
6 inspiring step-by-step projects, broken down into three chapters: Architecture, Landscapes and Flowers. Each project delights in playing with colour, texture and stitching, and every category is followed by a striking gallery of Wendy's work.
A wealth of technical inspiration for any textile artist: discover ideas, techniques and approaches that will help you develop your own gorgeous, textured pieces of art.
A gallery of 3D textile art pieces, demonstrating how to turn your wonderful stitched textiles into captivating structures. Wendy's transformed items include a fabulously textured satin cushion cover, beautifully adorned notebooks and a wedding dress made for her daughter.
This stunning book will unlock an abundance of inspiration for the experimental textile artist: gain the confidence to push your use textile artistry to new and impressive horizons.
This is a paperback re-issue of The Textile Artist: Layer, Paint and Stitch (9781782210740), 2015.
Table of Contents:
Introduction 6
Materials 8
Inspiration 16
Colour 18
Freehand machine stitching 20
Hand stitching 30
Playing with colour 34
Playing with texture 44
Design 48
Flowers 54
Summer Meadow 54
Iris 66
Flowers gallery 80
Architecture 82
Venetian Window 82
Montage Inspired by Gaudi 94
Architecture gallery 104
Landscapes 108
Rugged Moors 108
Poppy Field 120
Landscapes gallery 130
Three-dimensional inspiration 134
Wedding dress 136
Three-dimensional vessels 138
Cushion covers 142
Notebook covers 143
Index 144
About the Author :
Wendy Dolan is a Fellow of The Society of Designer Craftsmen, The Sussex Guild of Designers and Makers and The Embroiderers' Guild. Specialising in Freehand Machine Embroidery and related creative stitching techniques, she offers a range of courses, lectures and workshops. Living close to the South Downs, the landscape provides a constant source of inspiration for her stitched textile designs.
Her first book The Textile Artist: Layer, Paint and Stitch sold nearly 25k copies.
Find her at www.wendydolan.co.uk or on Instagram @wendy.dolan1
Review :
This book guides us through Wendy's inventive style of work, from piecing and patching fabrics and creating textures, to painting and embellishing with hand and machine stitching. There are six step-by-step projects and a wealth of technical inspiration.
May I begin this review my making sure you are aware that this is a reprint of a book, initially published back in 2015. You might ask a few questions, given a decade has gone by. Namely, is it still relevant for us today? Was it a moment in art time, something past not present? I will explore my own highlights of this book within my review and show why this book is not a time related title.
Books content
I see this book as a way of visually exploring your own memories in textile art mediums. That is it in a sentence.
Introduction
I enjoyed the comments near the opening where Wendy notes how lovely it is to make something for yourself. That’s so true and I thought about that simple statement a lot. What did she mean? Was she asking us to making something as a selfish activity, something simply kept to ourselves for ourselves? If that was the case, we might be put off. Some of us need more of a reason to make than ourselves; for example you might be planning to make a gift for a friend. No, I see her statement as the action - when we make something, we are creating the new, the ongoing - it is actually a therapy in itself - no matter who or what we are making it for. If you need a purpose, great, make your reason. But if you are inspired by an image of your own and you are happy to explore in within this art medium - then do.
This is no do as I say book
She hopes, that we will use the instructions within our own practice. So we are not expected to get a result that she has achieved already. This is about using the instructions along with our own memories.
What will I find thematically?
Dolan brings in nature, architecture, florals….imagine the travels and photos you have on your own phones. We see an interesting piece around the 100 page mark, based on the work of the artist himself Gaudi. So her exploration is effectively double art - art on art.
Materials used
There are plenty listed in the beginning of this book - some are not what I was expecting to find and that excited me. On page 11 I discovered what the ‘paint flakes’ are that she mentioned and what about ‘horticultural fleece’? I was imagining a rather naked sheep somewhere? Read the definitions here!
Thinking off the flat page
Often we see textiles as flat, whether it’s a piece made for a wall, out in a frame or something initially made flat, under a sewing machine, resulting in a garment. But when worn, it is 3D and there are so many other forms of structural textiles to discover. Although Dolan does not elongate any narration on this, she does give us a few examples near the back of this book - my personal favourite in the Urban Landscape on page 140. It’s like a drawing come to life - check it out!
Final thoughts
This book feels achievable. Although it is not ground breaking, it has so many of ideas which we will in reality try, not just look at in awe.
