Embroidered Collage

Point as a design element was the feature of the second week's lesson.  Sharon discussed point as an abstract concept, then showed us examples and described many stitches that might relate.  She provided far more ideas than could be worked on in a week, as she'd warned us she would.  The idea that most intrigued me was the work she had done in applying disc shaped beads in a variety of ways.  I decided to translate that to buttons and give it a try.

I pulled out my perle cotton stash and delved into my button box for this sampler.  I tried making patterns around the buttons, using spokes as a foundation for whipping or weaving, a few different thread types, and so forth.  The ground is a scrap of sari fabric I had in my stash, backed with a cotton. I left it wrinkled deliberately, to see what would happen.   Mostly, the wrinkles got in my way when I was trying to stitch next to them or on top of them.  The area covered is about 5"x7".

I like the concept, which I had not really considered previously, of using buttons in this way.  I expect I will apply it to a canvas piece or two at some point in the future.  I'm not particularly happy with the sampler itself though, and I'm not sure why.  I certainly like some of the individual experiments.  It might be because the longer spokes in this type of work lend themselves to being worked in a hoop and I was working in hand, which prompted uneven features that I had not intended.  Or maybe I just don't like the color scheme.  But it did its job, so I am content.