Project 2 - Developing your marks

Preparation - I'm never the most organised of crafters. Usually I have a mess of threads and fabrics strewn around which I grab at whenever I need it. To have to 'prepare' was not something I'm used to but I can only say that it helped. It gave me some fresh ideas where the fabrics were concerned and also the combination of colours. Putting the various similar coloured fabrics and threads into plastic bags, I then set to practising some of the stitches. Some were very familiar but others were dredged out of the memory banks and I'll be honest, I struggled with a couple of them.

Exploring marks and lines through stitch techniques

Although I can be very disorganised with my materials, I have always tried to be very disciplined with my needlework. It has always been about keeping within the constraints of charts and patterns but here was a chance for me to let loose I suppose.

I definitely left my comfort zone after the first few lines but I really enjoyed it. I felt freer and in the end it was just a case of ignoring all the previous rules. This was fun!

Stage 3 - A sample


I used a much finer linen for the background fabric of this exercise. I picked my sketch of the woman fetching water because I really liked the lines of her arm as well as the texture and shapes of her hair.

I didn't feel very confident at the start and found it quite hard to put the needle into the linen. I had to fight against basically recreating the image but once I had an idea for the hair, I was off! I was never intending to move as far along the sketch as the sarong but loved the colours in the original photo and just carried on.

Being in Qatar can be a bit problematic when it comes to getting materials and I know that I need to stock up on more fabrics (which isn't too hard - we do have some fantastic fabric shops in the souqs) but things like wool are very basic acrylics. So online shopping and a trip back to the UK at Christmas should swell the material boxes. I am finding this 'freestyling' way of sewing very therapeutic and I know that my imagination is getting very stretched by these exercises.