This piece of embroidery (below) was a commission from
The Ryde School, Hatfield and takes pride of place in their library.
I wanted to show the children that a designer can get inspiration from anywhere and hopefully inspire them, when they have to design something.
My inspiration came from our local Roman Verulamium museum in St. Albans, Hertfordshire.
Stage 1. The Storyboard.
(A board of pictures and drawings that tell a story or give ideas to do the next stage…the embroidery.)
In the Verulamium Museum I looked at the mosaic floors and drew some of the shapes I could see.
• Quick sketches in pencil and crayon.
• Sponge printing to make a tile effect.
• Poster paint and water colours.
• Pen and ink drawings, to emphasize the outline of the borders.
• Cut and rip out shapes in paper to show the rough edges of the tiles.
• Grey and brown rough paper to imitate the stone floor.
All art techniques that the children at The Ryde would recognise and give them ideas, when they are doing art projects.
I looked closely at the shapes that the tiles are laid in (flower patterns and plaited / twisted borders) and also the colours of the tiles.
I wanted to move further away from small square tile designs, or my embroidery would just look like a patchwork, built up of squares of fabric.
I arranged my sketches and postcards in a fan design like the semi circular mosaic floor.
Stage 2. The embroidery.
I reproduced my sketches on the storyboard into material. I wanted to do an abstract design that the children would find fun and interesting, in their library at school.
• Patchwork – squares of material sewn together can look like a mosaic design.
• Quilting in squares looks like the mosaic square shapes.
• Quilting in curvy lines to follow the shapes of the patterns.
• Plaited ribbons look like the border of the mosaic floor. I found ribbons and braids that are plaited and then copied the plaited shapes in beads on my embroidery.
• Weaving. Ribbons are woven in lines to imitate the tiles laid in lines.
• I found buttons that have the same flower design as the floor.
• Embroidery stitches. Machine embroidery stitches and hand embroidery stitches in zigzag and daisy stitch. Zigzag follows the border shapes of the mosaic designs and daisy stitches to copy the floral shapes.
The rich Romans would have had mosaic floors to show how wealthy they were…rich colours in gold and bright oranges and yellows and reds.
I thought these bright colours would match the interior of the school library.
Stage 3.
The Wedding Dress Design.
•Rouching of skirt follows the semi circular design the mosaic is laid in.
•Silk roses on the skirt to interpret the flower designs in the mosaic patterns.
•Gold devoire velvet is used for the bodice, with a contrasting oyster colour silk for the skirt…earthy colours of the tiles.
•Beading to incorporate the rich gold colours in lines and clusters.
•Skirt (and the beading) is asymmetric, like my storyboard and embroidery.
Stage 4.
The Wedding Dress.
I wanted to show the children at The Ryde School how designers get their ideas.
My ideas came from looking at a mosaic floor at The Verulamium Museum, but my wedding dress doesn’t look like a mosaic floor!
I wanted the children to see how I was able to interpret my ideas into a wedding dress and hopefully give them inspiration to design something!
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