Catherine Wright Eco Printed Merino Silk Scarf

A couple of weekends ago we visited the Arts in Oxford gallery to see the Cutting Edge: Freeing Textiles exhibition.  This exhibition runs through to 28 October 2018.

The gallery web page poses the following question, which is one textile art continually struggles with.  For me the answer is yes it is art, fluid and free to range.

But is it Art?

Textiles have long been the Cinderella of the art world; for some, marking the boundaries between between art and craft – should textile work be thought-provoking, intellectual or political? Or should it be practical, domestic, decorative and inviting – perhaps something to do in a spare moment? Or should it be fluid, free to range where it will, manifesting in individual works that resist categorising?

The Cutting Edge: Freeing Texiles is a glimpse into the varied and eclectic world of very different artists from all over New Zealand currently working in the textile arena.  Drawn from diverse practices, the works show a breadth of interest and technique that questions the boundaries of the traditional view of textiles.

The Exhibition

In respect for the artists work I only took two general room shots, which give you an impression of the exhibition. The detail in some of the pieces was amazing. The giant dungarees had sashiko stitching on them which you can't see at all.

Catherine Wright Eco-printed scarf

I couldn't resist purchasing a Catherine Wright eco-printed merino silk scarf in glorious natural and red tones. Unfortunately I can't show you an actual picture because it has to stay at the gallery until the exhibition is finished. Hopefully I get to take it home before I leave for Houston because I want to take it with me as part of the Houston travel wardrobe.

I think the bottom of this photo is a close-up of my scarf which can be seen from a distance in the first exhibition photo (the one with the dungarees) on the left hand side in the centre. Will update this post with a picture of my actual scarf when I get it.

With the purchase of the scarf I was given a copy of Catherine's artist statement. Having only been eco-printing for a year her scarves are amazingly beautiful with fabulous colour. Just shows what a magnificent part of the world we live in.

Workshops and Artist Talk

In conjunction with the exhibition, there are/were two workshops, featuring long-time feltmaker and craft dyer Kate Mahoney and inspired eco-printer Catherine Wright, and an artist talk by Patricia Took-Stephens.

On 30 September Kate taught how to make an embellished felted purse. Celia Wilson talks about the experience and shares some photos.

Patricia Took-Stephens’ Artist Talk on 14 October at 2pm will be about her work, its inspiration and its development. Patricia is a North Canterbury textile artist.

On 21 October eco-printer Catherine Wright is holding a technical workshop teaching the basic techniques of eco-dyeing on wool and silk fabrics. I was very tempted to take this class but I am spending two days sewing with Gertie on the Thursday and Friday and being realistic instead of rushing in to do everything, another class on the Sunday would be too much.

Here is a gratuitous photo of the Torlesse Range which looked very beautiful with their cap of snow in the Spring sunshine, looking across one of the many cow pastures appearing throughout the Canterbury Plains. Love the mountains not so sure about using the Plains to grow cows given the need for huge irrigation infrastructure, which of course won't damage our precious aquifers - the farmers and their experts say so.

A Plethora of Leggings

During my no sewing period after our return from holiday there were a few RTW purchases. Mainly dresses and tunics and that brought on a mad urge for more leggings. It could also have been because it was winter and leggings are warmer than tights.

How to photograph them was a bit of a dilemma until I had the bright idea of hanging them all on the washing line.

From left to right: DKNY Navy & Milk Dot; Warm Black; Mint Shibori;
Dotty Black; Grey Jacquard; and Black Embossed Leggings

I have written about my self drafted leggings pattern before and there was nothing different about this group although I did use two-way stretch fabric for some of these. I adjust the width of my seam allowance, so that the leggings have more or less negative ease, depending on how stretchy the fabric is.

For the two-way stretch fabric I needed to add more length to the pattern both at the hem and the waistband. This is because the stretch only goes around my body. There is no up and down stretch, as you would get in a four-way stretch fabric.

Left: addition to the waistband; Right: at the hem
The coaster illustrates how different in scale these two pictures are

To make these leggings, fabric a minimum length of 115cm (45 inches) by 130cm (51 inches) wide is required. This includes the extra 4" (10cm) in length for two-way stretch fabric. The width is always the direction of greatest stretch.

The difference a fabric makes

It was interesting to see the difference the fabric made to the look of the leggings. It can clearly be seen in the photos of the two-way versus four-way stretch fabric, that stretch in both directions improves the look of the finished product. A dark colour also makes a difference to how they look with the light grey looking much worse than the black two-way stretch. The patterned four-way stretch fabric is also better at hiding the lumpy bits.

Grey jacquard leggings - two-way stretch fabric; the camel toe and a saggy bum
Luckily these leggings will never be worn without a full coverage top/tunic

Warm black leggings - two way nearly stretch fabric

Mint Shibori leggings - four-way stretch fabric and a much better fitting garment

Grey jacquard stretch suiting fabric

This is a two-way stretch woven fabric from Fabric Vision in Christchurch. Not a favourite place to fabric shop but somewhere I go on occasion. The fabric has a cross-wise direction of stretch. These leggings look good with something over them but could never go out in public on their own!!

Style Arc Sunny Top (made pre blog) and Kate Spade Go Taxi flats
Look I can almost stand on one leg

Camilla and Mark Rosamonde Dress and United Nude Fold Hi Liquorice booties
A much complimented ensemble when worn to work recently

Mint Shibori Leggings

A four-way stretch knit fabric from either Stonemountain and Daughter or Marcy Tilton.  I actually have two pieces of this fabric so it could be that I bought it from both places not realising it was the same, which is why I decided to make one of the pieces into leggings.

Moochi top, United Nude Fold Mid Mint booties and Untouched World merino wrap
Relaxing on the sofa with a nice cup of tea after a hard day photographing Christchurch

Marcy Tilton Venice Panel Digital Print as used by Marcy for Vogue 9057

These mint shibori leggings will be a brilliant match with the Venice panel digital print.  I bought enough of this panel print to make both a dress (in combination with other fabrics) and a top. Could use the left overs from the shibori leggings for the dress. This is now on my list of To Do for the Christmas holidays.

DKNY Navy & Milk Dot

A four-way stretch DKNY interlock twist yarn (ITY) knit fabric very recently purchased from Silhouette Patterns. I even bought it to make these leggings so it didn't get any time to rest in the stash. The top may be treated to a rearrangement of its sleeves, shortened to ¾ length, as they are just right for scooping up the water when you are washing your hands.

The Morse Code or Jail Break outfit
Left: Oxford Farmers Market; Middle: Oxford jail; Right: Darfield jail
Leo + Be Jaime dress, Ivy Lee May bright blue shoe,
Untouched World Eco Possum Coat Cardi in Zephyr and Trelise Cooper Chasing Rainbows tote bag

I had not previously considered an ITY knit for leggings but these are so comfortable and they slide on and off your legs with ease.

Black Embossed Leggings

This is a poly/cotton two-way stretch fabric from Fabric Vision. This fabric had a length-wise direction of stretch. There is some give in the fabric cross-grain but not enough to consider this a four-way stretch fabric.

The fabric makes these leggings a bit different and I just love them. They have been worn quite a bit since they were made. This is how I wore them to work this week.

Untouched World Ecopossum graphite coat cardi, Moochi dress and United Nude Zink Patch Mid Pop mix booties

Aren't the shoes just magical - had to add these to the collection

Dotty Black Leggings

I was given this four-way stretch fabric in the class I took to make the self-drafted leggings pattern and I made them up in class minus the elastic for the waistband.  However they were never finished as they just didn't fit properly due to the pattern drafting error.  Once I had sorted out my pattern I made the Tessuti leggings and put the dotty black pair in a dark corner. Whilst having my fit of leggings making these were unearthed from the unsuccessful projects pile. I unmade them then re-cut the fabric.

The fabric stretch is ideal, they are even comfortable enough to sit curled up on the floor without cutting off the circulation.

Apologies for the blurry feet my phone camera has a feature which automatically focuses on your face, obviously to facilitate selfies. Not releasing this feature existed and managing to accidentally turn it on there are quite a few photos where the extremities are blurry. Eventually I realised it was a feature that could be turned on or off.

Untouched World Ecopossum graphite coat cardi, Moochi orange Enclose Tabard and Kate Spade Go Taxi flats

Warm Black Leggings

These are so cosy, with the feel of sweatshirting minus the fluffy inside. Originally I thought it was the black merino blend fabric I bought last year to make leggings but I was disabused of this idea when I did a burn test.  This fabric (I only used a scrap and did the burn test over the stainless steel kitchen sink) is hugely man-made it really caught alight when I put the flame to it and reduced to a plastic bobble. I have absolutely no idea where I bought it.

This pair are the first ones I made with two-way (minimal) stretch fabric and I didn't add any length to compensate for the lack of stretch.  As a result they are not hemmed and the elastic is overlocked to the fabric but not turned under or they would have been too short.

Moochi Laze Tabard with United Nude Jacky Lo Black + Silver booties

An outfit just to prove that I too have black in my wardrobe - enough to wear black head to toe. In this case with a hint of cobalt blue.