Assessed sample progress

I have been making progress on the assessed sample and have completed the three scapes. To complete the cylindrical piece, silk was Bondawebbed to the reverse and between the silk and the stitches piece, a piece of pale blue organza with clouds added and strengthened with Paverpol was sandwiched. I joined the flat piece into a cylinder and pinned it together. I don't like the effect of the sky, so plan to remove that element.

The waves are still to be made for the horizontal sea at the base of the seascape and a couple of free embroidered birds will be flying above the scenes supported with sprung wire. A free embroidered tree will be stitched and attached at the area where the piece is joined together. I intend to try and Thermascreen a tree onto water-soluble. Not sure if it will work but I'll have a go. The tree will have a wired element for support and zigzagged stitching will be used over the wire.

So, the sample as it currently exists is shown below;

The flat piece showing all three scapes

The country scape as part of the cylindrical piece

The village scape as part of the cylindrical piece

The seascape as part of the cylindrical piece

The title stitched at the bottom of the village scape

The town scape

For the church tower, A piece of upholstery fabric was stitched to the Vilene using a contrasting automatic stitch to appear as brickwork. The fabric had a tendency to fray so I used a nylon "invisible" thread and straight-stitched the edges to hold it flat. 

Copper was free zigzag stitched for the tower and windows and the doors free embroidered. The rest of the church structure surrounds was free embroidered using a variety of stitching methods, mainly long straight stitch and granite stitch. Satin stitch was used to create the top of the wall (dark) beside the road and above the river. 

The cottages were sketched with a dark thread and then filled with shades to reflect soft Cotswold stone. Foliage was in granite stitch and the post box in free satin stitch (zigzag) the paths, roads and river were all made with straight stitch using long and small stitching. The post box was added as a method to draw the eye into this element and relieve the overall 'stone' of this element of the piece.

Country scape

The files were made with a mixture of fabric and straight and zigzag stitching as described with a previous draft description. Corn and grasses create a foreground and the poppy and corn at the right were free embroidered on water soluble and attached separately. Little poppies were added for contrast and additional colour in this element.

Seascape

This was the part of the same that I was most concerned about mainly because of the complexity of the subject matter. The sea was made from dark blue silk on top, pale blue silk beneath and a layer of copper mesh to enable the horizontal element to be bent and stay in place. There are still waves to be made and added to the sea to add movement and these will again contain mesh to get a rolling effect. 

I used previously natural dyed fabrics that I had made for some of this element. The slabs of rock are Walnut ink dyed and some small pieces are tea and onion skin dyed. Some lengths os silk sari material were zigzag braided as I wanted to use them to create the feeling of the strata of the amazing cliff face. I used a range of complimentary browns to stitch the braids. A couple of metres of braid were made. To find the high spots in the cliff face, I used foil and created highlights. White and dark brown textile paints were also added to develop the texture of the piece which was then heavily stitched with long and short, straight and zigzag. 

The rocks and stones around the beach were free stitched and enhanced with fabric pens to give them more shape. The beach line is stitched with white, silver and very pale blue granite stitching to depict small wavelets. 

I am thoroughly enjoying making this piece which will be eventually used to contain a flower arrangement. I look forward to using it.