Cambodian Artwork

So on Monday my sewing project was due in at school, and today me and my friend who also does this subject presented our garments in Assembly!!

My design is inspired by the impact of the Khmer Rouge regime in Cambodia during the 1970's, and their slow progress and regrowth since then.

Now these are a few shots from my friends' garment!

And here's a few shots of my project when worn!

I have included my design development drawings because I spent a long time on them and feel they need some recognition too! The drawings aren't totally honest, but they show a fair depiction of the general progression of ideas leading up to my final design.

Flowers completed!

I have FINALLY completed everything about these complex flowers!!!!!!! FINISHED!!!!!!!

The inner petals use rayon thread, free-motion machine embroidery over a wire structure. The outer leaves are again free-motion embroidery over thin fabric, with one piece of wire through the middle. The centres are circles of felt with two circles of white beads sewn over the top. The whole structure is hand-sewn together.

They have now been attached to the front of the skirt, and I think it is quite effective :)


Now I have to decide whether or not to embroider a quote to the base of the skirt or to cut it out of the design... at the moment I am more inclined to include it.
Stay tuned!

Sewing Fun

Some sewing fun I have been creating lately:

Flower

Silk Painting

This is by far the most sophisticated bit of sewing I have ever done. It looks hideous, because I did it badly! But through that mess of stitching, I have actually created my own fabric to the left of the shiny fabric by using solvy and free-motion machine embroidery!

 

 

 

 The last picture is what I created today, and I am quite proud of it. This term we have no theory at all (!!), every lesson is practical where we are being bombarded with fairly sophisticated techniques. This one is meant to be a petal (but I used a leaf pattern and didn't realise that petals don't have centre veins....) and it has fishing wire around the edges to keep shape, and wire down the centre to bend it into cool shapes!

My plan is to create more petals and then somehow join them to create a full flower! Exciting!!

Late Christmas, Oscar Wilde and Flowers

So I know I'm 32 days late, but I guess there was more sewing involved than I had anticipated.

But my cross stitch is now COMPLETE! :D

 

 On another note, I have just finished reading 'The Picture of Dorian Gray' by Oscar Wilde, and it was very interesting. I wouldn't go so far as to say it was amazing. I could understand why it had become a classic, and it had some very interesting ideas about society, but beyond that the plot was a bit thin. I had to read it for research in my gothic story English majorwork.

I have been experimenting with different methods of making fabric flowers. Well, I've only made one so far. I think it's pretty cool, but it's not what I'm looking for. This looks more like a rose, whereas I am looking for a more traditional petal shape.