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Member since 9/29/02
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Re: Decorative stitching & 'Perfect Sew' (posted on 3/13/08 6:10 PM ET)
The recent discussion of decorative stitches reminded me of a project I finished in January which used lots of the built-in stitches in my machine. The fabric was a finicky polyester crinkle as I couldn't find silk duppioni in the time frame I had and the color match was excellent. Sewing it was all right but doing decorative stitches was not fun with gathers and bunching. I tried using both spray starch and spray sizing and that helped but then I tried the
Perfect Sew that Palmer/Pletsch distribute and magic happened. It made the fabric like paper and the stitching was painfree! Hooray! I rinsed it out after the stitching and everything stayed as it should. NAYY of course. It was fun to alter some of the stitches by elongating them, sewing every other stitch, or mirroring them. Here's the result --

My scroll repro

Here's the backstory (perhaps more than you want to know! ) -- Over the holidays, my husband and I visited the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco to see the Hiroshi Sugimoto exhibit, "History of History." Since Sugimoto is a photographer, I had expected only photographs but instead was treated to his wonderful collection of historic objects as well as photographs. There were enormous fossils, masks, and wonderful scroll fragments. The scroll fragments were what really caught my attention, especially the Burnt Sutra of the Nigatsudo. This magnificent collection of fragments of Nara era indigo paper scrolls with beautiful calligraphy done in silver ink. Sugimoto had had additional paper dyed indigo and silver and mounted long pieces of the scrolls. The calligraphy was stunning, still bright after 1200 years due to the high platinum content of the ink, drawn with very fine brushes; the scrolls were created in the 8th century and burned during a temple fire in the 17th century. The scrolls stayed in my mind's eye on the drive home and then I searched for fabric to recreate a miniature of the burnt sutra. Here is a link to a scorched fragment without the dyed papers that Sugimoto added. Burnt Sutra scroll My small reproduction uses a variety of machine stitches instead of calligraphy and is a house gift to the friends we visited. Interesting how something can get lodged in your mind and just won't be quiet until you listen to it.
Patti
-- Edited on 3/13/08 6:16 PM --
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Patti

R-r-r-ripping my way to fitting success
  
Member since 12/3/06
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Posted on: 3/13/08 7:21 PM ET
In reply to Patti B
Great reproduction. What does Sugimoto's scroll say?
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OLD CHINESE PROVERB: I HEAR & I FORGET; I SEE & I REMEMBER; I DO & I UNDERSTAND.
  
Member since 9/29/02
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Posted on: 3/13/08 8:24 PM ET
In reply to PattiAnnJ
I haven't a clue other than it is a Buddhist text! It just intrigued me.
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Patti

R-r-r-ripping my way to fitting success
  
Member since 8/24/02
Posts: 380
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Posted on: 3/14/08 1:36 AM ET
In reply to Patti B
You are an artist! What a great reinterpretation of the scroll. It's representational, yet abstract. Neat-o!
  
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