This Week at The Torpedo Factory

I have been sewing, well drawing with my sewing machine on fabric and

on net. I should have photographed this on a clean bit of wall!

But I am delighted with the quality of line on the net.

I have also had a go at reworking some old pictures. 

Still Experimenting with Embroidery

I love the Policeman.

The rest of the picture needs leaving for a few days and then maybe working into to improve.

The Birds

It is too cold to work on automata at the moment with the temperature below freezing in the garage so I am embroidering like mad to get my control and skill level where I want it to be and move my work on. This is another small sketch 45cm by 28cm. And I do like some of the nuance in the line.

A More Successful Embroidery

Thankfully the nasty ravioli wasn't the only thing I made today!

Mr Punch Embroidery

I started cutting a new automaton today but it doesn't make an interesting picture as yet, just a pile of oddly shaped wood. I have also started embroidering some of my Mr Punch designs.

This is quite massive at about 4  foot square and quite daunting as I know it will take a very long time to complete. I have started with a quick paint sketch and applique base, now ready to begin machining. This Mr Punch, now I see it at the side of my Blogger About Me photo, looks uncomfortably similar.

A Stitched Doodle

I began embroidering these characters without an end image in mind.

It is quite big and took a few days so I was really disappointed that the end result looked so horribly twee. A good lesson in how important it is to plan before doing anything. I have been thinking hard how to save it and some bits I like: the flowers and the characters expressions. I think my main dissatisfaction is that it looks a bit too much like something that a machine could make and lacks the freedom of human drawing.

No it is just horribly twee, PLAN before you work!

I have tried dying it in tea to see if it would soften the contrast and bring out some of the lines. Marginally better but still too flat, I do like the dead flower.

Free Machining Embroidery and Applique Doodle

It's been a bit cold in the garage so I thought I would go back to playing with my sewing machine. I decided to do a random doodle to start me off. Somehow I always doodle scary cats.

The reverse is interesting.

And a previous scary cat doodle. Sorry the picture is so fuzzy but I have it in a frame to remind me not to make scary cats.

Sketch into Free Machine Embroidery experiment No.3 and 4

Experiment No.3 is and example of why you shouldn't do experiments with artwork that you don't really like. I took a random sketch thinking that I wouldn't be too precious with it.

Had a limp attempt at under painting before machining using some old watercolour paint. I didn't want the paint to overpower the drawing.

Free machine embroidered for a couple of hours and ended up with an image that was far too cartoon like. Now I have another large piece of fabric that I have no idea what to do with.

But I did learn enough to make me think I would try this again with a picture that I do like. I went back through an old sketch book and found this image and decided to use it for experiment No. 4

I haven't tried ironing it yet (too much like housework) but I am happier with the end result. I think the problem is that I can get a far more tonal line with a biro and I need to do preparatory drawings in fine line pen so that the line will fit closer to the stitched line. 

Sketch into Free Machine Embroidery experiment No.2

I have had another go at turning a quick sketch into a free machine embroidery, this time adding some colour. I took bits of this doodle.....

and the end result looks a bit laboured and too much like a bad drawing. To keep sane I am going to put this picture away for a few weeks and then have another look. At the moment I have a picture in my mind of how I wanted it to look, but I think I just need to be brave and machine into it more. The next experiment I am going to try is to under paint a sketch and then machine embroider on top.

Mr Punch Free Machine Sketch

I can't cut wood for a bit as it's far to hot too work in my garage so I have been doodling and preparing ideas for when the weather cools off. I then thought it may be fun to try drawing with my new sewing machine. I broke my ancient Bernina earlier this year and am making do with a very basic Janome. So here is the progress of my first large machine sketch with this new machine.  From this doodle...

I roughed out the drawing in pencil on the fabric, took the foot off the machine as it has no special darning or free machining foot. I dropped the feed dog and put the fabric in a large embroidery hoop.

It took a while to get used to the machine as the hoop kept getting caught somewhere on the machine bed which made the stitched line wiggle but I decided to just keep going and work with the imperfections. 

It looks a bit like the original doodle, now I can't decide whether to make a massive cushion or keep on with the drawing and add some sausages or crocodile. I am most tempted to try a new and more involved picture and improve on this one.