Welcome to our Textile blog! We showcase work from our Textile Department's faculty, monitors and students. Our department is a growing community of artists who are interested in traditional and contemporary craft media. Interested in taking a class or checking out the studio? Visit www.lillstreet.com.
Click on the pages below for more info on the department and all that we have to offer.
This Saturday I will be teaching a one-day "Fancy Stitches" embroidery workshop from 10am-1pm at Lillstreet Art Center. This workshop is designed to learn some of the basic stitches as a backbone to branch onto the more complicated ones. French knots, a variety of different chain stitches, spider webs, and so much more. This is a great class to catch up on your needle work or to take a sneak peak into what our 5-week embroidery classes are all about. (Once the weather is warm enough we embroider on our roof-top deck!!!)
I just wanted to share with everyone what I have been working on for the past couple of months in my home studio.
It all started with a tangle of branches growing from this tree stump I saw. I loved the idea of the tree growing after it had been chopped down. So it started as a sketch, changed into a new sketch, then to a painting, a print, and now is turning into a new embroidery piece. I am so excited to share the process with you.
FUN FELT class will start this SAT(3/27). We will make a small container, small bag, accessories, and other fun staff! (see the first image) Felt making process is very intimate; touching feels wonderful! Felt making has a long history and has been done in many countries. There were no sheep in Japan and no usage of wool originally, however, wool products were imported from Europe in the 14th century. Since then, military high rank officers and rich merchants started to wear a jacket with bold design. Felted sheet like a small carpet was used for a tea ceremony.
Fun Felt class: 3/27~ 10 a.m.-1 p.m. 5 saturdays
(second image: student of Lacy Felt class/ Keici Price)
In this four-day workshop, students will work in a collaborative process to create a range of natural colors using wool yarns. We will cover all the basics: from mordanting to dyeing, including color mixing, indigo dyeing and extracting colors from garden plants. In addition, students will learn how to grow and collect local plants to use for dyeing. Each student will take home a color book of dye samples. Open to all levels. All dye supplies and yarns are included in class fee.
Hi! Happy Vernal Equinox! I know it doesn't look like it today but Spring is here. Anyway, I came across this interesting link to a bunch of craft/textile related podcasts and just had to share it with all of you. So, if you are stuck indoors today just head over and pick a podcast and give a listen. Have a great weekend! :)
I am Johana Moscoso “Miss Fix-It” the new textile resident @ Lillstreet. During my residency I have been experimenting with different materials. I also have interests in languages, fixing situations, collaborating with others artists and in Smart Clothes as well (technology in wearable projects).
Language My native language is Spanish. I see and feel my romantic language as something as part of my self, part of my passions and part of my dreams. Language education has become corporatized in a way that blurs identities and cultures. I am experimenting with different medias and materials to express my concern about this situation of Language.
Fixing Situations Mundane moments, actions, and feelings in everyday life motivate my making process. When I see the potential of fixing human situations, I become obsessed about correcting these moments. I become a fixer who facilitates adaptations.
Collaborating With Other Artists As an artist I see collaboration as something indispensable in my practice. People, close people affect my perspective of identities, cultures and my idea of the chaos of Art.
Apron This is a custom fit apron for Tom (head of the printing department at Lillstreet). This apron has a specific size, the pockets are located in a specific place and each pocket has different size, and it is split at each knee. The apron’s fabric camouflages with his car upholstery. Every part of this apron has a reason for being. Tom couldn’t find an apron that could work for him, so fixing this situation lets Tom’s identity be reflected and not molded with a commercial apron.
Pencil Holder Similar to Tom’s apron holder I did this project for Scott A Carter www.scottacarter.com who needed a device that lets him hold his pencils in a specific way.
Materials I enjoyed Akemi class “Lacy Nuno” in the winter. It is fascinating of how felt can merge with different fabrics. These are some scarves made in the class
Smart clothes “Smart Clothes for Teens” is a class that will be offered in the summer in which the students will learn how to incorporate technology into wearable projects. I am so excited studying for this class. So some of the books and blogs that I am using are:
Make magazine http://www.make-digital.com/make/vol19/?pg=116&pm=1&u1=friend
Fashion Geek by Diana Eng
Fashioning Technology by Syuzi Pakhchyan
http://www.fashioningtech.com/
http://www.talk2myshirt.com/blog/
Electronics For DummiesBy Gordon McComb, Cathleen Shamieh - John Wiley & Sons
Electronics Projects For Dummies by Earl Boysen, Nancy Muir
Coming out of a bad bout of cabin fever. While I managed to repaint my living and dining rooms I realized that nothing worked with the new color (which turned out to be a boring celadon - not quite celery and not quite olive and not quite grey). So I went to work adding color to the walls by hanging artwork. Sewing some bold printed pillow covers out of vintage bark cloth helped. I added white silk backing and borders to some very vertical silk pieces I printed with thickened dyes. Instead of hanging them on the walls I thought I'd try them on each side of the dining room entrance. Not quite sure whether this works yet. Hanging prayer flags across the entry to the hall seemed to transform that quite nicely. I finally hung the drapes. I found they really needed a plain white panel in the center (found at the thrift store). Alone they just seemed too busy (they're a very busy 50's inspired squiggle print in black and gold/green). I printed them after taking classes in printing with thickened dyes here at Lill St. I didn't even realize back then how much I needed to learn!
I include a photo here of my shadow box with treasured items. Hanging below are 3 hand-colored etchings of sea creatures which I'm sure will make their way onto future silk scarves.
New for spring from Artistry - a clothing line based on recycling, refashioning, upstarting, transforming and overdying jeans jackets, bleach-printing hoodies and t's and making skirts from mens shirts. Pictured are some of the results. The skirts come in 2 lengths and are wrap around. Sorry but I'm forever stuck in the 60's and 70's. Paisleys forever!
And another thing! Everything's cast in stone on this blog. Like I can't figure out why that photo up top is in the middle of all the rest or what to do about it. I can't delete it and I can't move things around and I can't make the type relate to the photos. The more I try, the worse it gets. Forgive me for venting. Perhaps a blogging lesson is in order.
Hello Again! The last time I posted pics from my studio I had started the process of laying out wool for a medium size (to be felted) wall-hanging. Today I am going to show you a brief step by step in my felting process. I started this wall-hanging as an experiment to test out a new breed of sheep's wool (for me). I had not really used Finn wool (outside of a small sample) before and after receiving some for Christmas I thought I should try it out. I was going for a small to medium size wall-hanging that was not too thick (since I am thinking of embroidering on it after I felt it). So I lay out my wall-hanging's foundation in three thick layers of natural colored Finn wool. After laying out the foundation I started to decorate the top with the super fine Finn pencil roving that I got for Christmas. That was about as far as I got on my last studio post. After that I decorated some more with the Finn pencil roving and even added some variegated colored silk roving. Then I put Tulle fabric over everything and started to wet the wool down. After wetting down the wool with soapy water I patted at it through the Tulle. After a while of doing that I removed the Tulle (carefully) and laid bubble wrap on top of the wool layers (which I should probably mention that I had 4 mil plastic under all that wool so I would end up with a sandwich...plus it makes it easier to move it around) and then rolled the whole thing up around a pool noodle (cut to size). I generally roll for a set time rather than count how many times I roll (I can never keep count). I rolled for 20 minutes in one direction then unrolled and rolled back up going the other direction. After I was done rolling it I started the fulling process (where you harden the felt somewhat) by rubbing it against the ridged plastic matting I have on the table (gives a kind of washboard action) and tossing it against the table (I like the fine pebbley texture that comes through throwing). I also stretched it repeatedly and rolled over it with a thick dowel rod (I have also used a rolling ping for this in the past). This is what the wall-hanging looks like now fully felted and fulled (and after it has been rinsed to get the soap out and rolled in a dry towel and then blocked out). It is about 30 percent smaller than what I started with (you normally have quite a bit of shrinkage when felting so always lay out larger than what you want). It is presently hanging on the clothes line drying. My next step will be to embellish it with embroidery (I will save that for another post...lol). Anyway, I hope you enjoyed seeing what I was up to (and hopefully I wasn't too long winded). If you are interested in Felting I recommend taking Akemi's 'Fun Felting' class at LillStreet starting March 27th. She is a great teacher (of course I might be a bit biased as she was my first felting teacher)! :)
Yuko was a long-time monitor here in the Textiles department before she moved back to Japan, and she is sorely missed. Her exciting prints that graced the surfaces of dishtowels, posters, pillows, and furniture added so much color and pizazz to the studios. She's the one behind the curtains in both classrooms (a collaboration with Camille Canales) I was so excited to hear about the new book. We're linked to the Print and Pattern Blog in our blogroll down on the right, but here it is conveniently..... It's a great inspirational resource for all you printers out there.
Everyone's invited to Lillstreet's annual Spring Open House this Saturday. Free workshops in every department- including ours. Camille is busting out a free embroidery workshop- all you curious printers and sewers should swing by! Bring a friend! Here's the full schedule:
Do you have favorite clothes in your wardrobe that you wish you could just make in another fabric or have garments that you absolutely must capture before they fall apart? My upcoming sewing class teaches you on the first night how to copy an existing garment, creating a pattern to use again and again without taking your garment apart. While making the pattern, students will learn the basic concepts behind how clothes are designed and core elements of pattern drafting. We will also cover more sewing construction techniques tailored toward the projects made in class. In the past students have used this class to make multiples of their favorite dress, or have copied a tailored shirt in order to learn how it was made to fit so perfectly. You need to know how to sew and have some previous garment consrtuction experience. I recommend this class to anyone hoping to take their sewing practice to the next level.
There seems to be a bit of cat scratch fever going around the studios lately. People in the textiles dept. can't get enough of CATS! Check out this amazing three color print by Kate O'Leary, our amazing Saturday night monitor.
Spring is right around the corner in Chicago- and with Spring comes flags! The Lillstreet Textile department is proud to host flag projects up on the rooftop again this summer.
This unique rooftop exhibition space features four flagpoles that face Ravenswood. They are easily viewed from street level as well as the Metra and CTA trains. Past projects have included appliqued, sewn, sequined, screen-printed, and dyed cloths. Accepted works use all four poles at once.
Details:
The flags are made at the cost of the artist, but Lillstreet provides rooftop space for an opening reception. Flags are up for one month.
Flags fly above a community arts center, so should not contain incendiary images or text. Flags are installed on the roof of a three story building, so big images work best. Small details/text will not be visible from the street. Materials should be water/wind proof. Past flags have been made of heavy cotton/ nylon. Flags can be square/rectangular/triangular, but should not be longer than 3' in any direction. Two 1" grommets must be installed on the flat edge for attachment to the flag poles.
Proposal should contain: Drawing of all four flags, detailed list of materials used, current resume, and an artists' statement. Proposals should be received by April 15th.
Do you have an idea that you'd like to see flying high above Lillstreet- waving at the passersby?
Please e-mail rebeccaringquist@gmail.com (subject line FLAGS!) with all questions and proposals.
Are you interested in creating your own personal color palette? Come join me for a four-day workshop in which we will dye wool yarns in a range of brilliant natural colors. I will introduce you to some of ancient dyes, which can actually be grown in Chicago, and teach you a simple way to dye with indigo. Students will take home detailed instructions, along with beautiful sample cards of all the colors.
This Saturday I will be teaching a one-day "Fancy Stitches" embroidery workshop from 10am-1pm at Lillstreet Art Center. This workshop is designed to learn some of the basic stitches as a backbone to branch onto the more complicated ones. French knots, a variety of different chain stitches, spider webs, and so much more. This is a great class to catch up on your needle work or to take a sneak peak into what our 5-week embroidery classes are all about. (Once the weather is warm enough we embroider on our roof-top deck!!!).jpg)
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