Patchwork appliqué and hand embroidery

Today I started work on the patchwork style appliqué that I envisaged here.

I used a selection of patchwork and recycled cotton fabrics in range of greens to emulate the ariel photos of the allotments. I tore these fabrics into squares roughly the same size, as I wanted to give the patchwork a rough layered effect rather than a traditional neat and prim patchwork. Once I had laid and pinned the squares in a way I was happy with, I used free machine embroidery in a dark brown thread to sew them down.

I then began playing about with the dress net and my knitted 'net' to break up the squares and distort the printed cottons beneath. before sewing them down in the same way.

I am really pleased with the result, I think that the layering of the nets over the patchwork squares help to break up the prints and add more texture and interest like the netting I found on the allotments.

As you can see from this close up, I have also started to hand embroider parts of the prints with the thicker lines. I am using satin stitch, back stitch, star stitch and lazy daisy, shown below on the lilac.

The hand embroidery is a very long process, which makes me appreciate the time, effort and love that must have gone into stitching all those vintage embroidered linens I own even more, but I think it helps to add definition the the thicker print, and I think the extra detail makes my garment look more impressive.