Early Work

Magazine image printed on fabric with hand stitched and machine stitched cutwork techniques applied

Studio wall display of early attempts

In my earlier attempts, I started to work across a range of different types of magazines, encasing them in calico fabric, which I used for its strong even weave, and because it was less likely to fray when cut.  The stitches were worked in white embroidery thread so that they would show on the cream coloured fabric and the fabric was also chosen because it allowed some of the original magazine to show through. I also used a tearaway embroidery stabiliser to support the work whilst it was in progress. Another technique I attempted was to copy a magazine cover onto transfer paper using my printer and iron onto the fabric (top).  I then used a combination of cutwork hand stitching and machine applique stitching, which proved to be too clumsy and denied me the finer details, and I made the decision to continue to use hand stitching, although this was time consuming, the results were worth the effort.  My first attempts were clumsy as I had not used this technique before, but I got better and faster, completing sixteen separate pieces of work, which I edited down to twelve final examples of what I consider to be the best, each one representing hours and hours of work. As a result of some of the earlier work, I received feedback on the lines that maybe my work represented a kind of censorship.  When I analysed this, I realised that this was due to the kind of magazines I chose, but also the way in which I had adhered more closely to the original image.  I focussed more specifically on the leisure market, and  `how to` genre of magazine, and started to use my own design elements, to subvert the image rather than just reveal glimpses of it.  I think the censorship issue also pre-supposed that I disliked, or found the images distasteful in some way, whereas in fact I chose the magazines on the basis of the strength of their front cover images, and my engagement with them.