Textile Art - Blog Posts

I made another one 🐥 and I added eyes & a nose to the bear 🐻

Recently got into felting and loving it! I made a tiny teddy bear with a heart, so I guess you can call this a late Valentine’s Day post. 💕♥️

Recently got into felting and loving it! I made a tiny teddy bear with a heart, so I guess you can call this a late Valentine’s Day post. 💕♥️

My mini Spoopy Collection 2023

All of these embroideries have been adopted 🧡

Link to my shop here

Commissioned quilt by Raysa Oliveira

An embroidery of the Wikipedia page for embroidery.

hand embroidered jacket i finished a few days ago :]

Artist Hand-Stitches “Floating Embroidery” on Translucent Tulle Fabric

Clay loom weight decorated with an owl, Greek, 5th Century BCE

From the Acropolis Museum

An embroidery of the Wikipedia page for embroidery.

NASA Inspires Your Crafty Creations for World Embroidery Day

It’s amazing what you can do with a little needle and thread! For #WorldEmbroideryDay, we asked what NASA imagery inspired you. You responded with a variety of embroidered creations, highlighting our different areas of study.

Here’s what we found:

Webb’s Carina Nebula

Wendy Edwards, a project coordinator with Earth Science Data Systems at NASA, created this embroidered piece inspired by Webb’s Carina Nebula image. Captured in infrared light, this image revealed for the first time previously invisible areas of star birth. Credit: Wendy Edwards, NASA. Pattern credit: Clare Bray, Climbing Goat Designs

Wendy Edwards, a project coordinator with Earth Science Data Systems at NASA, first learned cross stitch in middle school where she had to pick rotating electives and cross stitch/embroidery was one of the options.  “When I look up to the stars and think about how incredibly, incomprehensibly big it is out there in the universe, I’m reminded that the universe isn’t ‘out there’ at all. We’re in it,” she said. Her latest piece focused on Webb’s image release of the Carina Nebula. The image showcased the telescope’s ability to peer through cosmic dust, shedding new light on how stars form.

Ocean Color Imagery: Exploring the North Caspian Sea

Danielle Currie of Satellite Stitches created a piece inspired by the Caspian Sea, taken by NASA’s ocean color satellites. Credit: Danielle Currie/Satellite Stitches

Danielle Currie is an environmental professional who resides in New Brunswick, Canada. She began embroidering at the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic as a hobby to take her mind off the stress of the unknown. Danielle’s piece is titled “46.69, 50.43,” named after the coordinates of the area of the northern Caspian Sea captured by LandSat8 in 2019.

An image of the Caspian Sea captured by Landsat 8 in 2019. Credit: NASA

Two Hubble Images of the Pillars of Creation, 1995 and 2015

Melissa Cole of Star Stuff Stitching created an embroidery piece based on the Hubble image Pillars of Creation released in 1995. Credit: Melissa Cole, Star Stuff Stitching

Melissa Cole is an award-winning fiber artist from Philadelphia, PA, USA, inspired by the beauty and vastness of the universe. They began creating their own cross stitch patterns at 14, while living with their grandparents in rural Michigan, using colored pencils and graph paper.  The Pillars of Creation (Eagle Nebula, M16), released by the Hubble Telescope in 1995 when Melissa was just 11 years old, captured the imagination of a young person in a rural, religious setting, with limited access to science education.

Lauren Wright Vartanian of the shop Neurons and Nebulas created this piece inspired by the Hubble Space Telescope’s 2015 25th anniversary re-capture of the Pillars of Creation. Credit:  Lauren Wright Vartanian, Neurons and Nebulas

Lauren Wright Vartanian of Guelph, Ontario Canada considers herself a huge space nerd. She’s a multidisciplinary artist who took up hand sewing after the birth of her daughter. She’s currently working on the illustrations for a science themed alphabet book, made entirely out of textile art. It is being published by Firefly Books and comes out in the fall of 2024. Lauren said she was enamored by the original Pillars image released by Hubble in 1995. When Hubble released a higher resolution capture in 2015, she fell in love even further! This is her tribute to those well-known images.

James Webb Telescope Captures Pillars of Creation

Darci Lenker of Darci Lenker Art, created a rectangular version of Webb’s Pillars of Creation. Credit:  Darci Lenker of Darci Lenker Art

Darci Lenker of Norman, Oklahoma started embroidery in college more than 20 years ago, but mainly only used it as an embellishment for her other fiber works. In 2015, she started a daily embroidery project where she planned to do one one-inch circle of embroidery every day for a year.  She did a collection of miniature thread painted galaxies and nebulas for Science Museum Oklahoma in 2019. Lenker said she had previously embroidered the Hubble Telescope’s image of Pillars of Creation and was excited to see the new Webb Telescope image of the same thing. Lenker could not wait to stitch the same piece with bolder, more vivid colors.

Milky Way

Darci Lenker of Darci Lenker Art was inspired by NASA’s imaging of the Milky Way Galaxy. Credit: Darci Lenker

In this piece, Lenker became inspired by the Milky Way Galaxy, which is organized into spiral arms of giant stars that illuminate interstellar gas and dust. The Sun is in a finger called the Orion Spur.

The Cosmic Microwave Background

This image shows an embroidery design based on the cosmic microwave background, created by Jessica Campbell, who runs Astrostitches. Inside a tan wooden frame, a colorful oval is stitched onto a black background in shades of blue, green, yellow, and a little bit of red. Credit: Jessica Campbell/ Astrostitches

Jessica Campbell obtained her PhD in astrophysics from the University of Toronto studying interstellar dust and magnetic fields in the Milky Way Galaxy. Jessica promptly taught herself how to cross-stitch in March 2020 and has since enjoyed turning astronomical observations into realistic cross-stitches. Her piece was inspired by the cosmic microwave background, which displays the oldest light in the universe.

The full-sky image of the temperature fluctuations (shown as color differences) in the cosmic microwave background, made from nine years of WMAP observations. These are the seeds of galaxies, from a time when the universe was under 400,000 years old. Credit: NASA/WMAP Science Team

GISSTEMP: NASA’s Yearly Temperature Release

Katy Mersmann, a NASA social media specialist, created this embroidered piece based on NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) global annual temperature record. Earth’s average surface temperature in 2020 tied with 2016 as the warmest year on record. Credit: Katy Mersmann, NASA

Katy Mersmann is a social media specialist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. She started embroidering when she was in graduate school. Many of her pieces are inspired by her work as a communicator. With climate data in particular, she was inspired by the researchers who are doing the work to understand how the planet is changing. The GISTEMP piece above is based on a data visualization of 2020 global temperature anomalies, still currently tied for the warmest year on record.

In addition to embroidery, NASA continues to inspire art in all forms. Check out other creative takes with Landsat Crafts and the James Webb Space telescope public art gallery.

Make sure to follow us on Tumblr for your regular dose of space!

An embroidery of the Wikipedia page for embroidery.

Carbonated Cloth Currency Act of 1021

Preamble

Whereas the climate crisis is a threat to the survival of the human race,

Whereas carbon dioxide (hereafter CO2) is a major contributor to climate change,

Whereas the sovereign nation of Fabrica is committed to reducing its CO2 emissions in an exuberant and engaging manner that attracts citizen cooperation and compliance,

Whereas the sovereign nation of Fabrica upholds its fine tradition of craftsmanship in clothmaking colorfully embraced in every nook and corner of its streets, halls and dwellings and unparalleled anywhere outside its hidden universe,

Now, therefore, be it enacted by the Parliament of Fabrica as follows:

Section 1. Definitions

For the purposes of this Act:

"Currency" means any of the following: silken threads, linen linings, wool wovens, fabulous fabrics, tasseled tokens, striped scrip, embroidered notes, quilted quarters, or patchwork pennies.

"Counterfeit" means to make or to possess with intent to use or sell a counterfeit currency.

Section 2. Physical Characteristics of Currency

(1) All physical currency in Fabrica shall be made of nanolattice materials that have captured CO2 from the atmosphere.

(2) The physical characteristics of the different denominations of currency in Fabrica shall be as follows:

Silken threads are made from the finest silk and are woven into intricate patterns. They are about the size of a sewing thread. They are made up of bands of colors.

Linen linings are made from the finest linen and are woven into a simple weave. They are about the size of a postage stamp and are colored off-white.

Wool wovens are made from the finest wool and are woven into a simple weave. They are colored brown.

Fabulous fabrics are made from a variety of fabrics, including silk, linen, and wool. They are made up of a mix of colors.

Tasseled tokens are made from small pieces of fabric that are tied together with a tassel. They are made up of a mix of colors.

Striped scrip is made from small pieces of fabric that are striped in different colors. They are made up of a mix of colors.

Embroidered notes are made from small pieces of fabric that are embroidered with intricate designs. They are made up of a mix of colors.

Quilted quarters are made from small pieces of fabric that are quilted together in a square pattern. They are made up of a mix of colors.

Patchwork pennies are made from small pieces of fabric that are patched together in a random but consistent pattern. They are made up of a mix of colors.

(3) The government of Fabrica shall establish standards for the size, composition, and design of each denomination of currency. These standards shall ensure that the denomination of currency is durable and easy to identify. The government shall ensure that all denominations of currency meet their corresponding standards.

(4) Any currency that does not meet the physical characteristics in subsection (1), (2) or (3) is not legal tender.

Section 3. Denominations of Currency

The following shall be the denominations of currency and their relative worths in Fabrica:

Silken threads: 100 linen linings, 1,000 wool wovens, or 10,000 fabulous fabrics.

Linen linings: 10 wool wovens or 100 fabulous fabrics.

Wool wovens: 10 fabulous fabrics.

Fabulous fabrics: 10 tasseled tokens, 100 striped scrip, or 1,000 embroidered notes.

Tasseled tokens: 10 striped scrip or 100 embroidered notes.

Striped scrip: 10 embroidered notes.

Embroidered notes: 10 quilted quarters.

Quilted quarters: 10 patchwork pennies.

Patchwork pennies: Lowest denomination.

Section 4. Right to Issue Currency

(1) The right to issue currency shall be vested only in the Central Bank of Fabrica (hereafter Central Bank).

(2) The Central Bank shall issue currency in such quantities as it deems necessary to meet the needs of the economy.

(3) The Central Bank shall sell currency to the public at prices proportionate to the value of the CO2 capture that they represent.

(4) Only undefaced currency issued by the Central Bank and retaining all CO2 within is legal tender in Fabrica.

Section 5. Exchange of Currency

Currency may be exchanged for other denominations of currency at any bank or licensed currency exchange.

Section 6. Counterfeiting, Defacing and Destroying

It is an offense to counterfeit, deface or destroy currency. The following deterrents take into account both monetary and environmental implications of unauthorized acts to currency.

(1) Any person who counterfeits currency shall be punished by a fine of not more than 5,000 silken threads or imprisonment for not more than 5 years, or both.

(2) Notwithstanding subsection (1) and in lieu of the sentence therein, any person whose counterfeit currency is not made from CO2 shall be punished by a fine of not more than 10,000 silken threads or imprisonment for not more than 10 years, or both.

(3) Any person who defaces currency shall be punished by a fine of not more than one and a half times the sum of the value of the currency and the value of any CO2 released as a result of the defacement.

(4) Any person who destroys currency shall be punished by a fine of not more than thrice the value of the currency or imprisonment for not more than 2 years, or both.

Section 7. Severability

If any provision of this Act is held to be invalid, the remainder of this Act shall remain in full force and effect.

Section 8. Complementarity

This Act does not preclude the recognition of any intangible national currency to be issued, stored, processed, transferred and exchanged using analytical engines in the future.

Section 9. Effective Date

This Act shall take effect immediately.

Supplementary Note

Although this Act has not been inspired or influenced by any person or other sentient entity, real or imaginary, citizens may refer to the corpus kdrama laws – Abandon all logic, ye who enter here for astoundingly witty, exemplary lawmaking dating back to an era preceding the advent of generative analytical engine intelligence.

Passed by the Parliament of Fabrica on this day of 20.

Scroll back up again. NOW. It is made out of YARN. Look at it!

16 frame shooting star animation. January 2022-September 2024 Needlepoint

Frames from my shooting star gif. 16 frames total. Each frame is 8x6.5 inches on a 10” mesh. Designed and animated in photoshop and needlepointed by me. I started drafting this 1/14/22 and finished animating it 9/25/24. It took approximately two years and eight months to finish. This is one of the largest projects I’ve ever worked on and I’m very happy with how it turned out.

He’s finished! I’m making it my mission to knit plushies for the people at my local foxtail. The food service industry and the retail industry can be awful for a person’s mental health, feeling of self-worth, and feeling of fulfillment. I ask for their favorite animal, then use the project as knitting practice!

The more that we participate in the happiness of the individuals in our community, the more it feels like a community!

Thank you for coming to my TED talk.

A rare knitting WIP!

I love this lion pattern (from the book Knit Your Own Zoo), but I never want to do another loopy knit stitch in my life (too bad, I have to for the tail).

The I Found A Quilted Heart project makes me feel the same way I did when I discovered geocaching.

A few felt ornaments that I made for work ⛄️

Handmade felt pins.

A commission I made for a friend in 2019 of one of her plants.

Blood Orange, 2020 embroidery floss on cotton fabric

Covid ka (after Judith Scott)

30cm

Bricolage - wool, wire, fabric, coffee pods, shells sand, plastic, paper, glass

‘Of Meadows and Blue Skies’ by Melody Money

Visions Museum of Textile Art

Melody Money

BACK TO CURRENT EXHIBITIONS Melody Money, Meadow I, detail Of Meadows And Blue Skies by Melody Money July 18 - October 4, 2020

‘Of Meadows and Blue Skies’ by Melody Money was a solo show at Visions Art Museum in San Diego in 2021 that now lives on the form of an online and video exhibition on the Visions website. Melody Money is a mixed media textiles artist who prides herself on attention to detail and is “motivated to take a medium that is traditionally worked on a smaller scale and expand it to a larger version” and that's evident in this show.

After Melody Money received her Fine Art degree from the University of Colorado, she went on to study prismatic colour theory at Rudolph Schaefer school of design, and this schooling in colour theory shines through throughout the show. This works’ colour pallet is almost exclusively bright warm blues, greens and yellows. Few of the pieces from this collection use colour pallets that could be described as realist. Instead, Money opts for the sort of colours that you could imagine a child choosing for a scribbled marker pen landscape that features a buttercup yellow sun in the corner of the page. It’s clear that these colours, maybe even more so them the actual pieces themselves, were designed to invoke a child-like wonder and love for nature.

Money’s piece ‘field studies’ is more reminiscent of a sample board than a fine art piece but that makes me love it even more. The piece itself is a 4 x 10 grid of textiles field studies, these studies are predominantly beaded embroideries of local wildlife like birds, butterflies and various flora. Money clearly prefers creatures that fly as, apart from one solitary fish, all the animals depicted have wings of some variety. I do not find this preference shocking as the sky is a constant reoccurring character in her work, always lovingly decorated with swirling winds. This piece being a series of studies and not one final piece makes the work seem a lot more personal to Money, I feel like I am witness to a before unseen part of her process which is both greatly endearing and gives greater context to the rest of the work in this collection.

Money uses beading throughout these pieces, most significantly in ‘Rain’ but also rather heavily in ‘Field Studies’. All the beads she has chosen have either an iridescent or metallic quality to them, this means that in the bright lights these pieces shine. In ‘Field Studies’ a trio of blue iridescent swallows pull your focus immediately and in ‘Rain’ the whole lower third of the piece is alight, shimmering with silver bead work. These circles of beads and stitch create pools and puddles of rain that reflect both the faux, stitched light in the piece as well as the real, dynamic light of the exhibition space. Melody Money has said that light is the key to making her art sing, and I couldn't agree more, the beading on both these pieces would have been significantly less impactful and appealing had she opted for dull beads; it would have completely lost the magical shifting colours of the swallows and apparent glow and movement of the pooled water. The effect that light has on these pieces and really all of Money’s work make it such a shame I was only able to view this exhibition in the form of consistently lit photos and a lower quality than I would have liked video. I do think her work is lovely but to have seen her work in reality, especially in shifting sun light, would have been something else entirely.

‘Rain’ is an incredibly dynamic work, though the art itself is ever-stationary. Money’s use of layered vertical strips of differing shades of blue draws your eyes up and down the piece. This paired with the influx of cascading, downward-pointing triangles, which colours fade from navy to white, creates a faux sense of gravity, like the fabric rain is really falling. This effect and the way that Money has achieved it is beautiful and, in my opinion, makes ‘Rain’ the most visually stimulating piece in the collection.

By comparison, ‘Chant’ at first glance is a much simpler work; the colour pallet is more muted, and it lacks the flashy beading and intricate forms of some of the other pieces. Instead, most of the piece is made up of layers of silk shaded fields. From a distance this embroidery looks simply like blended colour, but up close the individual threads are evident and reminiscent of thousands of single plants and grasses. Due to the simplicity of the design of this piece, the intensity of the silk shading shines through. The most impressive element is the scale of the piece and volume of stitches - this amount of embroidery is a feat to undertake. But what I can only assume is dozens and dozens of hours of work has absolutely payed off, as all these dense stitches create this sense of never-ending, empty fields. This feeling is accented by the inclusion by seventeen beads of small iridescent birds in flight, up over the fields into the waiting bright blue sky above. These tiny birds seem little and insignificant in scale, compared to the force of nature that surrounds them, to a degree that I can’t help but feel small alongside them.

‘Of Meadows and Blue Skies' is undeniably a love letter in fabric and thread to the ever-changing natural world that surrounds Money’s home in Colorado. Having grown up in an environment similarly surrounded by nature, Money’s work really speaks to me, it reminds me of the importance of enjoying and protecting the wild spaces around us. Money says in her artist statement “I try to shine a light on everyday moments” and for me she does that both completely and beautifully.