Patchwork Squares

Ive recently joined a patchworking group which meets monthly to get together to drink wine, gossip and share patchworking ideas….. coordinated by Jules http://relish.typepad.com/. In our allocated month, we choose the theme which will be announced on the first Wednesday of the month. Then we post fabric to the eleven other participants for them to use to make the patchwork blocks. The participants are also encouraged to add fabric from their stash to make the block. The idea behind this is that we will all end up with twelve similar but different blocks. It will give us all a challenge in interpreting the theme and allow blocks into a quilt that we would not normally create for ourselves.

The fun is in seeing what people create and diversity in design as well as learning different patchwork techniques.

My month is September and I have absolutely no idea what sort of pattern I will ask for, but Im thinking it will incorporate some of my screen printed fabrics.

Cute as a Button

I was playing around with some of my hand printed fabrics on the weekend and discovered that the 'Fang' fabric makes great button coverings.

They are also available for sale at my online shop www.madeit.com.au/kateward http://www.madeit.com.au/KateWard

Refind Handbags displayed on the London Underground

Whilst living in London in 2008 I was selected to display my artwork on the London Underground as part of Art Below, an organisation which turns ad space into art space providing great exposure to the commuters of London.

I used this opportunity to create a collage of images of my 'Refind' handbags knitted out of recycled plastic bags. Plastic bags are often disregarded, seen as disposable throw-away items in our modern day society which end up in landfill or polluting the landscape. Yet they are often made in beautiful and bright colours: tangerine orange, lime green, fuscia pink and marine blue. The handbags were lovingly hand-knitting and stitched creating contemporary art works as well as functional handbags.

The handbags also attracted media attention and featured in the article 'Waste Potential' in Etihad Airlines Inflight Magazine, 'Best Use of Plastic Bags' online at Treehugger.com http://www.treehugger.com/files/2008/03/best_use_of_pla.php
and '10 Creative Uses for Plastic Bags' on the Social Vibe blog http://thevibe.socialvibe.com/index.php/2009/12/09/10-creative-uses-for-plastic-bags/.

Last year Refind Handbags were exhibited at the Sydney Opera House, Australia and Shoreditch, London.

Wrapped with Love

Earlier this year I knitted a blanket entirely out of recycled wool (jumpers from op shops) for my sister’s birthday.

It consists of 28 squares sewed together and is approximately 1m x 1.75m (suitable for a single bed or getting cozy on the couch).

The pattern and concept is from Wrap with Love (www.artsandcraftsnsw.com.au/Wrap), an organisation which formed in 1992 with the idea to help as many people as possible by providing warm Wraps to ward off hypothermia. Over the past 18 years they have sent more than 221,700 Wraps to people in over 75 countries, including Australia, with the help of their hardworking and generous volunteers.

Along with the blanket knitted for my sister, I have contributed to several blankets which have been donated to the Wrap with Love organisation.

Neck Lace

Inspired by objects that interact with light and an age long fascination with the word ‘neck lace’, and its literal meaning, was the starting point for this peice. It is created by knitting recycled plastic shopping bags, and then heat and pressure is applied so that it the end result is flat and rigid - which creates a material quite different to the original flexible and tactile knitted fabric.

The artwork references the lace collars of Elizabethan times. Traditionally the collars were somewhat dangerous and an uncomfortable piece of clothing to wear. Straight pins, which pointed towards the neck, held the ruffles together and often caught on the neck, piercing the skin. Through the use of recycled plastic bags 'Necklace' alludes to the waste and frivilous excesses our society produces, questioning what are we prepared to endure for the fashion of convenience?

This object was created for the Netwurk project http://netwurks.wordpress.com an exhibition proposal masterminded by the Textiles Workshop at the ANU which revolves around networking via the internet and engaging with other artists online.