Continuing to stitch...

Jodi's stole is coming together nicely.  After deciding on the general flow of line, the first strip was laid down on the foundation fabric.  I chose to start with one of the gold ties.

Next step was to stitch down the subsequent strips of ties...

And to continue stitching with the variety of reds...

And at this point, I considered the front to be almost completely pieced.  Here are some detail views showing how I managed to incorporate some interesting motifs from a couple ties, notably one of school kids and their teacher, and another of nutcrackers...

...and a tie with a motif of candles and another of tonic bottles...

At this point, I left the piece on the table while I pondered how to approach the centre back design.  I knew I wanted to incorporate the candle motifs, and the technical challenge was how to integrate the back with the fronts.  I am on the way to resolving this technical issue, and today worked out the centre back design.  I was pleased to incorporate a very tricky fabric, Jodi's grandfather's tie which is falling apart.  I covered it with a fine netting and used it to frame the candle motif at centre back.

Look at the edges of the striped tie that is framing the motif to see the netting covering the damage.

The piece for the two fronts is now cut in half, ready to work on the next challenge of completing the piecing.

A New Stole is Designed

A few weeks ago I received an inquiry from Jodi Keith of Cincinnati, OH (see Pastor Jodi's Blog) asking about a red stole for her upcoming ordination in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. After a few emails back and forth about how many ties to collect, her ordination date was confirmed and the commission was set in motion.  Jodi collected ties from her family and friends, and I received them last week all neatly packaged and labelled.

I love to know where the ties have come from, and if some have more significance than others.  This helps guide my design process.  The ties aren't always a great fit for either the colour or design of the finished stole, however I can always find a place for that special tie.  For this project I have a unique challenge--working in a navy striped tie that was Jodi's grandfather's.  He wore it when he and her grandmother were married on October 20, 1930. The special challenge is that it has started to fall apart--I suspect the silk is weighted and thus deteriorates over time.

Even though this doesn't fit the colour scheme (red) and is damaged, I have an idea of how to deal with this, and will write about solutions in a later post.

Here is the collection of ties, washed and pressed.  This also includes a gorgeous pieces of red shantung silk that is a great addition.

My ideas for the design start to percolate while I'm washing and ironing the ties.  This is a good opportunity to look at all aspects of the tie, from the condition (stained? holes?) to the fabric design. Often a motif on a tie will suggest a design--two of the ties in this collection have potential in that regard, for example this tie with candles...

and another with school kids...

I then get my coloured pencils out and start playing with lines of colour, in this case red, red-orange and gold.  Here are sketches #1 and #2...

And #3 and #4....

Jodi prefers the flow of line in #1 and the back from #4, so that's where I'm starting.

Something new in this  process is that Jodi will be responding to my posts on her blog (Pastor Jodi's Blog).  Jodi is also a knitter and has in fact knit a couple of stoles for friends.  Stay tuned and join us on this creative journey!