Evaluating Practice - Embroidery

I started this project by looking at my chance card drawings and selecting which would be suitable to use to sample in hand stitch. I then found ways of interpreting the drawings using the stitches i'd been taught; some more abstract than others. I then continued to progress with these samples developing them further by photocopying them and stitching on top of that; creating a series of samples that relate back to my drawings. In my machine stitch classes, I concentrated more on the stitch and how it can be used to create patterns than relating to more of my drawings. However, there are parts of some of my drawings incorporated in my samples (eg. the drawing of part of the New Art&Design Building).

Over the course of the past 6 weeks I have found my work to be very linear in both my drawings and my samples. I think this is how I chose which drawings to produce my samples from. I like using line in my work as I feel it simplifies it down so you can see the detail of the stitch rather than being lost in the more complicated design (at least at this stage where we are experimenting and learning new techniques). The linear nature of my work I feel is part of me wanting to be neat and organised. However, I do like my work to sometimes be uncontrollable and messy but again I find that if this is the case it tends to be more organised than uncontrolled.

During this project I have definitely learnt to manage my time more effectively. Doing a little a day has proven much better than rushing the night before a tutorial. This also gives me time to improve the samples that haven't turned out quite the way I wanted them to and to ask for help/advice if i've needed it.

The contextual references have not only influence my work, but also my way of working. For example, Pippa Andrews' work; where although the lines in one of her pieces are quite exact, they go in all different directions creating a sense of being 'out of control'. This I find very influential. I took this concept and used it in one of my hand embroidery and in one of my machine stitch samples; basing them again on the New Art&Design Building.
I would say my favourite part of this unit was the machine embroidery section as well as learning the hand stitches. Here are a few photos of the samples I have done over the course of this unit.

This was done using the double needled foot, but looking at the back

French knotting on a translucent fabric. I love the effect the thread on the back has given

 This was done using a 'hair pin', wrapping lace in and out of it then using a zipper foot to stitch it down; but overlapping the 'hair pin' each time