Doodling in Stitches

I have, somewhere in my mess of a studio — a doodle cloth that I took with me to many of the classes I took at the Creative Arts and Textiles Shows (CATS, now sadly extinct).

They are, in a very literal way, true samplers. Moreso even than the ones I usually work on my own to play with patterns, colors and stitches. They are totally random, have no pattern to speak of, and have often been abandoned because of this lack of integrity.

stitchdoodle.jpgOver the years I have taken to focussing more on where I place stitches on this type of thing – and my doodle cloths are taking on a more coherent sampler-y feel. More, actually, like a colorful version of my pen and ink doodling – where I tend to attempt to make every stroke count as a basis/practice for larger abstract works. Not that the true samplers will ever look like those, though! But I find myself transferring the pen and ink to fabric and stitching them more and more as well, as in the photo. Maybe I’m just getting brighter again (or having a second childhood) whatever it is, I think I’m enjoying it!

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2 Responses to Doodling in Stitches

  1. I agree with you completely about doodle cloths being a true sampler and as a result having a sort of organic graphic quality – or the possibility of a stitch having a graphic quality I find is very interesting. It seems once we step out of ‘sampler’ mode its possible to think differently about stitching.

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