Blue and White Again

Last winter I was fascinated by the blue and white embroidery of Sichuan Province in China. This week I saw this book on a bargain table and snapped it up.

Once again it's indigo and white, with similar symbols and fascinating folk style. This time, though I'm also thinking in terms of my desire to experiment with printmaking. I'm noting the way figures are stylised and the way the lines used are natural expressions of the available media. Apart from all that, it's beautiful and fun. Just what I need at the moment.

Day in China-town

I spent most of the day yesterday at the Chinese-Australian museum in Chinatown. The first few hours was an embroidery workshop: the blue and white embroidery of Sichuan Province in south-west China. Here's what I made:

Yep, that's the total result of the workshop--at least in terms of embroidery. And these women made shirt cuffs, towels and sheets all intricately covered with designs. Add the pleasure of seeing a small, but significant collection of domestic textiles--all done in indigo-dyed thread on unbleached cotton backgrounds--and interesting interaction with the curator of the exhibition, Peg Fraser and you'll know the workshop was worthwhile. But wait, there's more! A couple more hours having another good look at some details, like the various depiction of lotus blossoms, and sketching them in my notebook. Lunch at a nearby Chinese restaurant frequented by Chinese international students. A train ride there and back. And the prospect of dinner with my friend A. It was a good day. I came home with lots of questions and ideas.

Generosity

I'd already had my share of unexpected generosity yesterday. My friend V rang to invite me to the Australian Quilt Convention. She was working on a stall in the afternoon and had a spare ticket. My first impulse was to just enjoy looking at everything, since I hadn't budgeted on a visit to the show. I'm afraid that impulse didn't last very long.

I hadn't realised how popular Japanese fabrics and techniques have become in the quilting world. Just at the moment my interest is focussed on things Japanese for several reasons. One being a presentation on Indigo Dyed Shibori which I'm working on for my course. Most of the stalls had Japanese printed cottons, but one had just the hand-dyed samples I wanted. Another stall was selling vintage kimono fabrics. I did my usual thing and asked lots of questions. They had shibori--yes--indigo dyed--yes, cotton--no. This was silk on the bolt. What was the minimum cut? Half a metre. I didn't get as far as finding out the price per meter. I'm guessing that my face gave away my anticipation of what the price might be. When I explained that I was looking for a sample for my class presentation out came the big scissors and I found myself clutching this amazing gift: Here's a close-up:

I can't get over how the silk holds the memory of all those little stitches. And I can't get over how someone would give a piece of lovely fabric away to a perfect stranger. Thanks!

Bonus Find

One of the tasks I've taken on in the flurry of wedding preparations is organising the tablecloths. I figure that I may as well indulge my love of textiles while contributing to the overall effort. Having said that, the most efficient way of covering the dining tables for the reception was to buy several rolls of synthetic curtain fabric in the theme colours. Measuring and hemming those is not exactly an inspiring task, but that's fair enough. With that mission nearly accomplished, I turned my attention to the other surfaces that need to be decorated: cake table, gift table, guest-book table, etc, etc . . . I thought I was doing quite well, having collected a variety of cloths from various family and friends, when all of a sudden an extra three tables were added to the list: two of them an unusual oval shape. So the hunt for more cloths was on.

My friend D and I spent an hour or so last night systematically searching through every possible hiding place for cloths of any kind. D loves fine cloth and handwork and has quite a collection of lovely items, which are treasured, but rarely used. Amongst them is a lovely white damask cloth which we thought might work for the signing of the register at the church. We turned this place inside-out looking for it, but so far it has eluded capture. As a bonus, though, we came across this: This indigo dyed cloth was a gift to the family from a Japanese exchange student. I couldn't resist pulling it out of the cupboard and enjoying it's complex beauty. I've done enough rough and ready shibori dyeing to appreciate the talent and effort that goes into creating something like this.

Today I need to pick up a hire car and wine glasses for the reception. Hopefully I won't find water blocking my route as it's rather unfamiliar territory to me. I'm also going to drop by an old family friend's house to pick up some tablecloths from her collection. They may or may not fit the bill, but at least it will be fun to see what's there.