Forage & Stitch

Find a wealth of instruction and inspiration on how to incorporate naturally foraged materials into your artwork. In the process, discover a range of textile techniques suitable for all levels and abilities to complement your design. These include hand and machine stitching, solar dyeing, felting, hapa-zome and more. 

Using natural materials in textile art is way of connecting a place directly with its artistic representation, but it also makes the artist tap into and observe the true rhythms of the natural world: the seasons, the weather and time. Incorporating consciously foraged goods in art gently forces you to slow down, to take note of each season's bounty, and kindle or rekindle an awareness that we are all part of one big eco-system.

Each technique forms one of many pillars of Caroline's large body of work, and she has carefully created eight projects, each introduced after a technique, so you can put your new skills into practice. Throughout, Caroline stresses the importance of taking your time  and working organically, letting your foraged goods guide your design. This is an approach that not only encourages an intuitive creative process, but develops a more mindful, positive experience for the artist too.  

Interwoven with practical guidance and projects are Caroline's stunning gallery of works, offering inspirational examples of how to take your work farther, and simultaneously demonstrating nature's abundance and variety.  

This is an enriching book on textile and natural art that celebrates the maker's relationship with art and the natural world. 

Book Contents

Introduction
Foraging
Colour the seasons
Interconnecting, inspiration & ideas
Materials & threads
Tools & notions

Seek and you shall find... Foraging techniques & projects
Technique: Natural dyeing
Project 1: Bojagi Patchwork Scented Pillow
Gallery

Technique: Wet felting
Project 2: Forage & Felt
Gallery

Techniques: Acetone-transfer fabric printing and Free-machining on soluble fabric
Project 4: The Brecks
Gallery

Technique: Nature-inspired hand embroidery
Project 5: Natural Shadows & Repeat Patterns
Gallery

Technique: Pressing plants
Project 6: Pressed-flower Wall Hanging
Gallery

Technique: Decorative free- machine stitching
Project 3: Memories & Place
Gallery

Technique: Hapa-zome
Project 7: Hapa-zome Drawstring Bag
Gallery

Technique: Silk & wool-top backgrounds
Project 8: Ancient Woodland
Gallery

Presentation & framing
Gathering my thoughts
Templates
Index