Frances Pickering - A Special Place

Last week my daughter and I attended a four day workshop run by Frances Pickering at Art Van Go. We first saw her beautiful books at Alexandra Palace in 2009. Examples of her work can be seen on her website which is well worth a visit. If you haven't met her or seen her work she will be at the Knitting and Stitching Show again this year.

The title of the workshop was 'A Special Place' and I decided to use my allotment as my inspiration.

Here you can see Frances Pickering (with the red hair) and some of the class

We were going to make little books out of fabric, painted and stitched. The first thing to do was to use thinned gesso (which could be coloured) and rub it into the fabric with a spoon. We then had to thoroughly dry it, this was time consuming and rather boring but essential. Page size strips were then torn which makes a lovely noise.

The first thing to make was the cover. You can see two stages of the cover and the lining.

We then inserted the pages and started decorating them.

It is very easy to draw and paint on the stiffened fabric. The pages now need stitching and finishing off. I am planning on taking the book with me on my travels. I may even make some more.

Here are some of Frances Pickering's books. They are all quite small and fit easily into your hand.

Here are some pages from some of her sketchbooks. You can see how essential it is to try out your ideas before you commit them to your final book.

Here are the books made by everyone in the class.

I asked everyone if I could take a photograph of each of the books. I let them choose which page to photograph.

How To Make A Removable Book Cover

As you can see from earlier posts I often make covers for my books, diaries, folders, etc. Here is a really easy technique for making a removable cover.

Here is the prepared fabric. This has been hand dyed and printed but you could use any fabric. You do not need the wadding unless you are intending to quilt the fabric.

Hem the two side edges

Measure the fabric around the book, making sure the book is closed and fold over the two side edges to make the flaps

Cut a piece of lining fabric. Place this on top of the cover (right sides together) and stitch along the top and bottom edges.

Turn through to the right side. All rough edges are now beautifully covered.

Finished cover

What to do with fabric scraps ...

You know when you work on a project you keep all the scraps and as you use them up the scraps get smaller but you never seem to have any less ...

I thought I would share some of the ways that I 'use up' my scraps.

I use a lot of strips in my work. Here are some stuck down with bondaweb onto cotton fabric and machined in place.

As you can see, a mainly pink theme, using dyed and overdyed fabrics. Additional net, ribbon etc are added.

A blue theme.

If you look carefully at this green one you can see I have started to add hand stitching - lazy daisy and herringbone

Here are some of the lovely thread colours I will be using - I obviously have too much time on my hands as you can see the threads are all beautifully wound onto card holders.

This pink piece has been stitched and is not made from strips. Instead this uses the fabric swatches that you can get from mail order companies.

Here are some things that I then make:

A kindle case

A diary cover

Needlecases

When you have created these new fabrics and made your lovely objects, as you trim them you seem to create more scraps but this time much smaller. Here is what I do with these:

The small pieces have been stuck onto pelmet vilene - they are about 5cm (2 inches) in length.

These are then embellished, backed with felt and a brooch pin added

This is my small box containing the small bits of fabric, threads and, if you look carefully, some finished badges.

Printed Birds

I thought I would share some of the work I was doing in the summer. I am working through some printing methods that I can use with my students.

I am always looking for good quality fabrics at a price my students can afford. A couple of years ago Empress Mills  introduced their Egyptian cotton bundles - they are lovely.

Here are some of the colours that I dyed the fabrics using procion dyes.

After drawing a variety of birds I prepared to transfer them to a screen for printing. I also drew some very simplified birds and created some lino blocks.

Here is a fabric printed using the lino. I printed and applied squares of fabric onto the background and then used the lino over the top ...

... and here is this year's (academic) diary with its cover.

As well as printing the birds I also made a screen containing sayings and quotes about birds. Here both screens have been printed on some green fabric.

Here are some of the items made from the fabrics ...
Small pillows - some filled with lavender

Covered journals

... and bags.

Diary covers

I have recently appeared in a guest blog on thestringempire.blogspot.com showing my latest diary cover so I thought I should show you some of my previous covers.

The background fabric is dyed, the rose is a transfer print and it is then quilted

 This cover was inspired by onion seed heads. It has a velvet background, appliqued silk, foils, beads and buttons. Much of the 'glitz' has worn off. This is the front ..

... and the back.

Dyed, appliqued and stitched wool blanket - front

... and back. This time with a book mark.

This one had a base of calico and then torn strips of plain, patterned and dyes fabrics. All hand stitched.

I really enjoy making book covers and will show more at a later date (when I have rounded them up and photographed them)