Stitching metal onto fabric...

Once I'd started stitching fabric into 3D things I thought about reversing this and stitching what is traditionally thought of as a 3D material such as metal or wood onto fabric. In doing this I was aiming to restrict the drape of the fabric and change the way it will naturally fall. I did some initial trials with some thin metal which I drilled and sewed on at each corner.

From doing this I found that triangles on the thinner fabric were a lot more successful because there was more drape the felt had little to know drape so you couldn't really see what effect the metal was having on the movement of the fabric. Also the closer together triangles were a lot better than the ones that were far apart. because it meant the fabric could only bend down one thin line, whereas when they were far apart there was a whole section of fabric that could bend. 

This idea has been working quite well so I think I will try and develop it a little bit more.The shapes reminded me of the fractal work that I had done in a previous project and so I did a bit of research into this area because it would maybe link in well and give me an idea for my final piece.

I thought using the different tones of blue to make the rug look 3D in the last picture was a nice idea. I really liked the idea of optical illusion, maybe of making something 3D look like textiles and vice versa. I think this is a strong concept to base my project on so I think I will probably carry on this idea through the project as it will give me a nice focus.