2 (finished) Banners!

Well, I THINK we now have TWO fully stitched banners. I’m not totally sure - there’s always the possibility that I’ll pick one of them up and stitch it much more. But, here they are, photographed very unprofessionally on the bed, which has a nice side light to show the stitching:

The National Museum of Brazil

The printed fabric has a woolen backing. I basted it, then repeatedly stitched long black lines from top to bottom. Other than the white outlines on the lettering, that’s all. No embroidery, no decoration. This is a banner of loss, and the plain black and white seems appropriate.

The Gods of Literacy

This one has more stitching, but still no embroidery. Here’s some details:

I stitched on either side of the light lines - to raise them - and in the center of (most of) the black lines, giving them depth.

I keep looking at these two and something’s just not right. My Tablets are stretched over composite blocks, or stitched onto stacks of wool. Both methods present the images strongly. But these banners are just….quilts. They just hang loosely on the wall. I’ve always thought that part of the reason quilts aren’t taken as seriously as other art forms is this casual presentation - no frames, no matting, just flapping loosely on the wall. But these banners are too large to mount on wool stacks - I think. Maybe…. I’ll get back to you on this….

(next day)

So, I cut 4 big pieces from a woolen blanket and started stitching them together. This won’t be as stiff as the fabric stacks on the Tablets, but…..just maybe, it will give the banner enough substance to be more of a bas-relief, less of a quilt:

I also cut metal rods to sew between layers at the top and bottom. A bit of wool, wrapped around the end, (below) will act as a brake, to keep it from slipping out.

Below, you can see the rod disappearing into the edge of the woolen layers. The rods will help this piece hang straight and totally flat against the wall.

While the top and bottom are rigid, the sides still bend. Here (above) you can see the last section of unfinished edge (right above my hand) and the rest sewn neatly together.

Now, hanging on a wall, it has substance, a physicality. It’s still very obviously cloth, but there’s nothing waving-in-the-breeze about this one. This piece can take on traditional quilts and spit out the stitches.

So I went out and bought 15 yards of heavy wool to do the same with the Brazil Museum Banner and the Malleus Banner. Hmm: probably need a new name. These aren’t banners anymore.

Happy to read your comments at dianesavona@aol.com See you next week!