the play of embroidery
AT BLACK CAT FARM WITH adriana torres

workshop details

BASIC EMBROIDERY SKILLS SUGGESTED
 

DAY 1 : EMBROIDERED ALPHABET

On Day One, we will explore creative and clever ways to embroider letters of the alphabet. From easy stitches to more complicated, we will combine various techniques and color combinations to create one-of-a-kind interpretations of letters designed by Adriana, with room for personal interpretation. We will embroider some letters of the alphabet silk screened on a piece of cotton fabric 20” x 24”, using wool from La Patagonia, in addition to other specialty curated threads. At the end of the day, we will create a personal project designing our own flower/plant inspired letter by observing a bouquet of flowers. For reference, students will receive the A-Z alphabet printed with the names of all the stitches used in the original. We will come away with the inspiration and ability to write and stitch words or phrases using letters created from all kinds of plant and flower motifs.

DAY 2 : PLAY AND MEND

Day Two is all about playful mending. We will begin by using another piece of silk-screened fabric, this time pre-printed with a chair and sweater design as our template. During this session, we will break and slightly damage the cloth by playing a game led by Adriana. We will take different kinds of actions, such as making holes in the fabric, or tearing an edge, depending on the tools at hand (scissors, cutter, sandpaper, etc), or even taking on the persona of an animal (lion, penguin, hummingbird, etc) to create marks. We will pass the fabric from student to student, creating a sense of freedom and unattachment to the creative process, and providing an element of surprise as to the fabric each student will end up with to repair. Adriana will inspire creative and playful mending techniques not typically seen in traditional mending, such as using one of the embroidered letters learned earlier in the retreat as a mend. Get ready to open up your imagination to the endless creative possibilities for mending the things we love.

DAY 3 : RAISED EMBROIDERY WITH KNOTS

During Day Three we will learn techniques to create various stitched knots to make high-raised textures. These special raised stitches can be used to create dimensional flower petals, leaves, characters, and anything else we can gleam from our imaginations. Traditionally, the dimensional stumpwork technique was made using special tools called half-cone sticks or embroidery shoes, but Adriana developed a way to reproduce this old technique using the fingers, which she will teach. The Japa Mala and Coffee Bean stitch, also created by Adriana, will be introduced as well. Students will receive a piece of pre-printed black linen fabric, silk-screened with a white floral design inspired by her last trip to Denmark, where she encountered a beautiful moment of a bee flying inside a foxglove tulip. It was from this visual experience of the flower plus the bee that she created the two characters in this scene for us to interpret with thread. During the last hour, we will use the techniques we learned to stitch a letter using raised stitches made with knots.

WHAT YOU WILL LEARN:

• how to use simple stitches in a creative way

• how to find the perfect fit between the thread thickness, stitch size, and the stitch style. (for example, most people hesitate to use the Portuguese stitch because of its complexities, but with the right combination of variables, you just might fall in love with it)

• a technical approach to get the best result out of each stitch

• imaginative embroidered lettering

• how to turn floral and plant themes into lettering designs

• how to mend using needlelace techniques

• how to blend colors in needlelace to create gradients

• imaginative mending ideas and techniques

• raised stitches to create embroidered dimension and texture

• two custom-created stitches by Adriana: Japa Mala and Coffee Bean

• a stumpwork technique made in a unique and totally different way (this process will inspire you to use your imagination to embroider anything you want)

MATERIALS PROVIDED:

• embroidery and tapestry needles (#10, #12 #24)

• pre-printed alphabet fabric (for day 1)

• silk-screened sweater chair fabric (for day 2)

• silk-screened floral design fabric (for day 3)

• yarn (fine wool threads, sewing threads, embroidery floss and pearl cotton)

• booklets (for days 2 and 3)

• embroidery hoop 10”

• white fabric pencil

• scissors

• paper

• pencils

WHAT TO BRING:

• any threads, yarn, embroidery hoops in your stash that you love

• your imagination

• an open mind and heart

Adriana torres

@soymigadepan