Portfolio

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Finally a second instruction book done!

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Embroidered IKEA instrcutions

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As part of Craftspace’s Graduate festival In:Site I had to design a pieces or artwork to make in Cathedral Square Birmingham, the pieces had to be about Birmingham. So continuing on from my degree work and the idea of sewing spaces I created a large areal map of the square and asked people to stitch or applique on memories, landmarks and improvements of the space, whilst sitting and talking about the space with other Brummies that they wouldn’t normally interact with even though they use the same spaces. 

I really enjoyed doing this and had a lot of fun working and talking with the people of Birmingham. Also thank you to Craftspace for giving me the opportunity! If you would like to see more of Craftspace’s projects you can see it at http://craftspace.co.uk/.

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I also created little cross stitch packs for my stitched spaces kits

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Stitched Spaces

Stitched spaces is an extension of my stiched technical drawings. I wanted to make them more accessible to others to complete and do. I printed a blank generic floor plan onto some large aida and asked people to sew on their ideal space.

I felt that the idea of sewing a home helps to cross the barrier of sewing being a women’s only craft. The building and designing of the home is a stereotypical male job but the home making and keeping is very feminine. The idea is the stitch onto the given house plan and design your ideal space, unlike most cross stitch patterns it leaves space for you to use your imagination instead of following a pattern; leaving space for personalisation.

Overall I got positive reactions and people got very into it. the time it took them to sew; and in some cases learn to sew they could think through what they wanted in their space, creating and thinking of the most personalised space possible.

In the future I would like to turn this into a workshop to think our spaces and how different people interact with a space.

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Technical Embroidery

Technical Embroidery is the outcome of my final year exploration of embroidery, I was looking at the similarities between cross stitch and architectural drawings, they both use measured systems to depict an image. I am mixing the idea of home building with home making.

I focused on designing the dream extensions for my family. By embroidering plans I am updating the traditional ‘home sweet home’ embroideries. These show an ideal of what we should strive for in a home often depicting country cottages and log cabins. By sewing extensions I create a much more modern personal ideal that anyone can reach for that can be used a decorative item or even as an actual technical drawing as they are to a 1:50 scale.

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Although they could technically be used as house plans as they are perfectly to 1:50 scale, I wanted to put them back into embroideries original context; the home. This time instead of hanging an image of a random ideal home you have your own, either example of what you have added to your house or what you plan to do to your house as a reminder.

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Finally I asked for my Dads ideal extension. My Dads a builder and knows what exactly what he would do, he made the downstairs space totally open and added in a lot of windows and glass doors for maximum light. He was also interested in how well I could create drawings to scale I could make the plans

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I also spoke to my Mom who has been redesigning our home since I could remember, she knew what our house needed. More storage. She added a cloakroom, a pantry and a downstairs toilet. Although basic this was very thought out and the idea was well planned. 

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I first made my brothers ideal extension. My brother just wanted a workshop to build things in and a laundry/bathroom so he didn't put mud all the way through the house. He was interesting to talk to because the cross stitch of the image helped him in understanding the space because of all the textures and colours.

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Embroidering Extensions

From looking at extensions of my own home I decided to see what the other people in my home wanted within my house I asked my parents and my brother to design their ideal extensions and what their dreams are for our space.

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So what to do to my house? I looked back at old embroidered houses and realised that they all contained some sense of fantasy living. Extensions are a source of fantasy as we all think about how we can improve our living space to be as comfortable as possible. By combining this dream element with data and scales I hope to find a balance between branching out its origins and finding new ways of using it.

Also this starts to blend the masculine and feminine stereotypes. By mixing the female technique of sewing and home making with the masculine trade of house building, It starts to give the idea of cross stitch more integrity whilst also making the house plan more long lasting

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Looking at embroidering houses I have lost the embroideries feeling of homeliness, embroidery is personal and something that is very involved so I wanted to reintroduce the personalisation into the display of data. So I decided to start embroidering onto my house.

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first attempt of cross stitching plans, it works well and is in proportion, the biggest hurdle is i am more precise than the architects designing the buildings as they do not always use precise brick. need to figure out how to move this forward from just copying existing buildings need to give it a context. 

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original sketch of embroidery as technical drawing