Landscapes in Thread

The talk for our February meeting was given by Mary Taylor who took us slide by slide through her process to create her beautiful free-machine embroidered landscape, seascape and abstract textiles. 
Until recently Mary has been an artist in residence at Fairfield Mill in Sedbergh, Cumbria and has taken much of her inspiration from the views she enjoyed whilst travelling over the hills to work.
It was a real treat to see slides of the same view photographed at different times of the year. Each season, even a couple of months passing, brought about many changes in the landscape, differences in flowers, trees or snow covering the hills.
Mary always uses a 'real' camera, not just her phone, as this captures all the vital details needed especially if using a computer to alter or combine views.
Here is one such view of the Howgills near Sedbergh - I think this is late summer is after the flowers have gone and the cow parsley has appeared.

Mary uses a closed metal darning foot due to the build up of textures if using Tyvek etc as this will cause scratches on a perspex foot. She also told us that she uses any cheap polyester thread as she uses miles and miles of the stuff! You do need to bear in mind that fluff will quickly build up so regularly cleaning your sewing machine - at least once a week - is a must.
Surprisingly she uses an ordinary number 80 needle (not a Denim needle as this will leave holes in the work) and changes these often when they become blunt.

First step after taking a photo is to crop it to the size of the required piece.
Next a sketch is made on Pelmet Vilene (heavy weight) showing the placement of the various elements. This is placed on top of a piece of calico, as seen in the photograph below.

Step three is to cut out pieces of coloured velvet to correspond to the elements; green for hills and grass, or brown or yellow for sand or earth, for instance.
Fourthly, Mary pins strips of organza over the velvet (or felt can be used instead of velvet). This gives a lovely shimmery look, perfect for the sparkling sea or a river, as shown below.

Next stage is the stitching. Metallic threads need to go on first as they tend to break if stitched over many layers of thread.
Mary says that she usually starts on the horizon and then works up or down the piece as you can see, below.

If you do start at the bottom of your piece, you will need to continue to work upwards toward the top to prevent bubbles and wrinkles in your work.
All the wonderful texture that you can see is made by the layers of different fabrics or silk fibres for trees and real wool for the sheep.
The only stitch you really need is a straight stitch so you can sew on even the really old mechanical sewing machines. Just remember to drop your feed dogs before setting off to allow smooth movement of your work.

Abstract inspiration comes in surprising places such as a rusty car on the beach at Workington, Cumbria or a Eucalyptus tree. Take a look at colourful paintings of artists Kurt Jackson and Joan Eardley if you would like to be further inspired.

This lovely blue piece above, was inspired by an old boat with layers of peeling paint; found on Holy Island, Northumberland. Beautiful.

This atmospheric piece above was inspired by the light playing on the trees near a gallery and cafe in the village of Ellishadder, North East Skye in Scotland. Love it - you can just feel the wild romance of the place, can't you?

It is all free-machine embroidered except for the fence and flowers in the foreground which were hand embroidered. This is quite a feat and requires pliers to pull the needle through all the layers of fabric and thread.

Mary also finds inspiration for her Seascapes during holidays near Sanna Beach with views of the islands of Muck, Eigg and Rum in the distance and the Ardnamurchan Lighthouse on the West Coast of Scotland. 

The photographs of these places were absolutely stunning, the sea an azure turquoise blue - made me feel like booking a holiday cottage right away; but perhaps waiting until the snow melts would be prudent.

Another fave place is Bamburgh Castle in Northumberland.

Mary welcomes visitors to her new 'studio in the garden' at her home in Kendal so if you would like to pop by and say 'hello' or buy an original textile picture, jewellry, a set of cards or have your very own lesson and learn the techniques for yourself, then do get in touch with her via email marytaylor1502@yahoo.co.uk  

You can see more of Mary's work on her website (contact details to be updated as at time of writing this post). 

We really enjoyed seeing the slides and gaining an insight into Mary's way of working, and especially her easy interactive style of speaking, as at times we were a little vocal due to the excitement when viewing pieces up close. 

Thank you Mary, for your generosity in sharing your process and  allowing us to handle your work. We left the hall feeling really inspired.

marytaylorartist.co.uk