Free
motion machine embroidery is a technique I used to use a lot during my GCSE in
Art: Textiles, a good five or six years ago now. Having then not had access to
a sewing machine until I received one for my 21st birthday, I
recently tried some free motion embroidery again – although I was very rusty
indeed! Inspired by a fateful convergence of interests, I decided to rediscover
the technique by stitching a sugar skull.
A
sugar skull or ‘Calavera’ is, as the name suggests, a decorated skull made of
sugar paste, that forms part of the Mexican ‘Día de muertos’ or ‘Day of
the Dead’ tradition. Stretching from 31st October to 2nd
November in a fusion of indigenous Mexican spiritual observances with the
Christian days of All Hallows’ Eve and All Souls’ Day, Día de muertos is
a holiday that throughout Latin America celebrates and pays homage to lost
loved ones. In addition to honouring the dead with sugar skulls, other
traditions include the creation of bright and beautiful shrines bedecked with
marigolds, and visiting the graves of lost relatives with gifts of their
favourite foods, drink and possessions.
I
became interested in Día de muertos by chance really. Having been inspired for a long time by the art of Frida Kahlo, I came across this picture
of her holding a sugar skull in the same week as I happened to buy, on a total
whim, a fat quarter of sugar skull printed Alexander Henry fabric.
A little bit of curious googling later, I discovered Día de muertos to be a tradition that resonated strongly with me at the time. Having recently lost my sister, the idea of a national day devoted to remembering the dead in a colourful and celebratory way appealed to me greatly. It has often felt to me like bereavement is something nobody wants to acknowledge or talk about: something to be ‘got over’ or be congratulated about being ‘strong’ (and silent and non-bothersome) about. People seem afraid to bring it up for fear of upsetting you, when often that just makes it feel as though the world has forgotten your loved one even existed, and can be very hurtful. Bereavement is, after all, something that happens to each and every one of us at some point. The notion of openly celebrating with all your neighbours, friends and relatives, acknowledging and remembering warmly your own and each other’s deceased, is something I would find just so comforting and liberating. For this reason, my Mum and I decided to have our own little Día de muertos on Halloween. We had a special meal, laid a place at the table for my sister (another Día de muertos tradition) complete with glass of wine and cigarette, and decorated the table with her picture, candles and marigold flowers. The next day, I started sewing my sugar skull.
The
design for my skull was inspired in part by another converging interest: tattooing.
Sugar skulls are a traditional image in the Old School style of tattooing,
although I can’t seem to find much information on how this cultural transference
came about – if anyone else does, I’d love to hear about it! Having got a few
tattoos myself recently, all in remembrance of my sister, I was struck by this
coincidence, and also by the notion that both tattooing a sugar skull and
making one with machine embroidery ultimately has a shared method of forming
the image with a mechanised needle.
Wanting to keep the design simple as I hadn’t machine embroidered for a few
years, and inspired by the strong lines and bright colours of Mexican folk art
and traditional sugar skulls, I drew up a basic skull outline and added some
marigold flowers, a traditional tattoo-style rose, daisies in the eyes, etc… I
just went with the flow using bits and bobs I had seen on sugar skulls and in
tattoos.
Machine embroidery is easy for anyone with a sewing
machine. It just involves either lowering the machine’s feed dogs, or putting a
darning plate over them, so that rather than the machine pulling your fabric
through for you, you are free to move your fabric in whichever way you wish. You
will also need to either remove the presser foot entirely and sew with only the
needle, or use a darning foot (pictured right), which I find helps give a smoother finish. I
also find that you need to play around with the tension quite a bit to find
what suits your machine best, otherwise you can end up with lots of loopy
stitches! Once your fabric is hooped up as you would for normal embroidery, it
is simply a case of ‘drawing with your needle’, freely moving the hoop around
as you go...
I had my machine set to a normal straight stitch for most of the
time, but also experimented with setting it to varying widths of zig-zag
stitch. I found this enabled the silky thread to shine differently, producing
different colour and texture effects, particularly on the petals of the rose
and in places giving a satin stitch-like effect.
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