Playing with Pojagi

Still playing with Pojagi inspired patchwork...


Because all of the seams are folded in and stitched down, both sides can be displayed...


I think that the stitched patches and seam work really give the cloth a wonderful utilitarian feel...


This shot cotton was woven with green and yellow threads, producing a beautiful chartreuse color...


By alternating the direction of the grain on the individual patches, sometimes, (depending on how the light hits the cloth) some patches appear more green based, and some more yellow based...


And of course, hung in the window creates a totally different look...




This Pojagi Inspired Utilitarian Patchwork Panel/Runner is currently available in my shop. Note: Now sold.

Breaking the Shell

Many thanks to you all, as I was really touched and encouraged by the comments left after my last post. By that evening things started to become clearer to me, and the shell began to crack open. I realized that the reason I was having a hard time translating the lines and shapes that were in my mind into quilts, is because this time, I wasn't suppose to put them into quilts... I was suppose to just put them into cloth.


Wanting to keep going with the theme of utilitarian patchwork, I turned to Pojagi, (which is a type of Korean patchwork, often used to make square wrapping cloth) for inspiration.

Traditionally, (from what I can gather) Pojagi is constructed with hand stitched french seams, that are then tacked down with very small hand stitches. However despite my love of hand stitching, I knew that I didn't want to do it that way, (as I tried it once and didn't like it!)

I kept thinking about it and as I fell asleep I saw how I might do it on the machine, and the next morning I woke up and started to create a humble little panel out of muslin.


I joined my patchwork with machine stitched traditional seams, pressing them open, and tucking the raw edges in, then stitching them down... (and I enjoyed the process very much this time!)


To continue the play of light and shadow that this work encourages, I also added a little pocket where a leaf can be tucked into.

Now my mind is expanding with new ideas, and it feels wonderful. My next experiment with this construction method will be a long and narrow cloth runner made with shot cottons. Can hardly wait!

Incubating

I'm sorry for being so quiet lately. I'm stuck in one of those incubation stages. Sometimes something wonder gets born from these periods and it all seems worthwhile. However, sometimes nothing new seems to emerge, I go back to whatever I had been working on, and the whole incubation period feels like a colossal waste of time.


I walk around lost in my thoughts, trying to process shapes and lines, Like the ones I see in these old barn structures... but when I try to translate them into cloth I just seem to make a mess. This leads me to eat copious amounts of ice cream and potato chips, and wonder out loud why I don't drink more.


So please bear with me and my lack of blogging, as this is part all a part of my normal process... though I find it the most difficult.

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I do have a bit of stitching from someone else to share with you though...


This lovely piece was created by Kaye Turner of Stitching Life.


She offered it in a blog giveaway, and lucky me... I won! The stitching is beautifully done, and even tough it's intended as a bookmark I think it deserves to be hung on the wall.

You can find more of Kaye's wonderful stitching here

Boro Bobbles and Remnants

These "Boro Bobbles" are yet another fun way to use up every bit of scrap shot cotton, because I just can not bear to let any go to waste!


Their inspiration is a continuation of my ongoing love affair with look of old, patched cloth, and the belief in "waste not want not", (which I first heard uttered as a young girl, from the lips of my Grandmother, as she showed me how to braid long strips of left over wool material and then sew them into small rag rugs).


The Boro Bobbles also found their muse by the look of crocheted 'Granny Circles' with their charming, various colored circles playing against each other. (I've been in a mood to crochet lately, but am resisting the urge as I am trying to stay focused on stitching fabric... I get side tracked too easily... so instead I stayed the course, and challenged myself to be inspired by crochet and try to re-interpret / re-invent, it in cloth. ).


They are double sided, so each side is the right side. The edges were left raw to show off the beautiful colored fray of the shot cottons.


The Boro Bobbles can be stitched onto other items for embellishment, used as beads or buttons, incorporated into jewelry design, strung together, dangled, or simply sit pretty in a vintage glass bowl as shown above! I have some posted in my shop in groups of three and will be posting more as I make them.

I've also been stitching some new Remnants....


Remnants #6 (on the top) and #8 (on the bottom).

And...


Remnants #7 (on the bottom) and #9 (on the top).

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One more thing... To my Hubby...
Happy 24th Anniversary!