C from Couching

Inspiration: Upcycle, making something new from a piece that exists. In this series six art-quilts are made from one old damask tablecloth, and the coronavirus creeps in.

For the third piece of my Upcycle series of six, with the letter C I choose Couching.            In couching, one or more threads are laid on the fabric surface and sewn to the fabric Wikipedia says. In my piece, I used threads and pieces of fabric, all set in place by hand stitching with both blanket stitch and running stitch.

C is also from Corona, the virus that slipped in in my second piece of the series. And while couching my threads to the fabric, I realize that this technique has also a connection with the virus, or, to specify it, to the consequences that it brings in our lives. The measures taken by our governments, to combat the virus, lead us and our behavior in ways we could not have thinked about before. I tried to show some of it in my work.

At the bottom of my piece, where I started and got the insight, there are straight lines, in different colours. They represent the way we lived and walked close together. Corona rules teach us, to keep distance, you see it happen between my lines. The part above the lines shows the virus that infects surfaces. The curved lines refer to the graphs our daily live is filled with. And in the top of the piece, circles symbolizes the virus itself, floating around and always present.

Materials: Damask tablecloth – iron and tea for dyeing – organza silk – pieces of hand dyed cotton and linen fabric – cotton sewing thread – cotton, silk and linen threads – 20/80 batting – cotton backside

Techniques: Couching – hand stitching

Detail views: