Diana Parsons
Guidance Notes for Fabric Collage of Photographs with Stitch & Dye
Isle of Wight Contemporary Craft Group, QuayCrafts were commissioned to create a piece of work inspired by the stories of the Isle of Wight Rifles and their role in Gallipoli during the First World War
Introduction
Choose a theme – in this instance Albert Downer’s postcards and photographs, sent to his mother in Calbourne, serving to illustrate the broader themes of the relationship between mother and son, a sense of absence and presence, and the feeling of hope and optimism conveyed in the letters, expressed on the front of the work, compared with the stark and appalling realities of war, suggested on the back. Stitch and dye allow the front of the page to affect the back, but similar effects can be achieved by using paper, glue, teabags and/or paint.
- To create a sense of ageing, teabags make an effective dye for fabrics and/or paper. Prepare your materials by selecting a range of fabrics and papers and immerse in black tea. If you are using paper, you may find it easier to mix paint to a watery consistency and paint with a large brush. Depth of colour and tone depends on strength of tea, duration of immersion and on the inherent qualities of the fabric or paper.
- If you have access to Photoshop, select and enlarge from your collection of images, (the Albert Downer letters are in the Gallipoli file), placing them in relation to each other. Otherwise make photocopies of your chosen images and use them to make a collage.
- Either use your paper collage directly or scan it, or if you have designed it on Photoshop, use an inkjet printer to transfer your final composition onto fabric. There are a number of transfer methods available at stockists such as Staples, in which you can follow the instructions on the packet. Alternatively, paper backed fabric of different types are available at www.craftycomputerpaper.co.uk . Choosing washable fabrics will allow you to dye your prints.
- Glue or stitch your print/s onto a suitable background of either durable fabric such as calico, or onto strong paper or card, which in turn has been dyed or painted on both sides to convey your ideas.
- Hand or machine stitch to emphasise and/or connect aspects of your design. Stitch works well even if you are using paper.
- Continue to work and embellish with stitch, inks, paints etc until satisfied that both sides of your design are complete. You may wish to add more images to the back of your work, depending on the effect you want to create.