Sewing #3

I wasn’t able to sew every day this week, but I have made good progress.

I am working on the left bank of the river. I could have just continued on with the running stitches, French knots and layering organza used on the other side. However, the piece needed more drama, and some contrast would help.

So I tore some shapes from the street directory, not any of the suburbs next to the Maribyrnong River, just a random page. Then I over laid the organza shapes.

That started me thinking more about the concept of the piece. I want to encourage thinking about what was here before urbanisation. Huge swaths of western Victoria was covered with grasslands and the Maribyrnong River cut through this on the eastern edge. Obviously the vegetation was also riverine, with large trees along the bank, usually river red gums.

Then came intensive urban development along areas of the river. Not all….there are large areas of parklands and sports fields and Brimbank Park further upstream from me….but not enough of wha must have been a glorious, productive place for the Wurundjeri people. Another area stopped from development is the land on which the Ordinance Factory was built in WW2. Now the developers are eying off that area.

Meanwhile, back at the embroidery. Instead of the organic lines of the right bank the left needed the straight lines of urbanisation, like streets rather than paths.

However, the thread I chose was too light and you couldn’t really see it. The yesterday I had a good session, sewing with a darker thread, which worked better.

I am careful when I sew through the thin paper of the street directory. It is so different to sewing the thick paper I used on the previous piece. Pushing the needle through that was so difficult!

This week I will add more decoration, and I think it still needs more drama. It’s nice to be back into the rhythm of regular practice, especially with the cold weather we have been having lately. Perfect for indoor activity.

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I respectfully acknowledge the traditional custodians of this land on which I live – the Wurundjeri Woi-wurrung People of the Kulin Nation, their spirits, ancestors, elders and community members past and present.