I think I've decided on the theme for my theme book. I'm still experimenting, of course, but for the moment, I'm focusing on the ways that architecture can be put to good use as inspiration for textiles. I've looked around, and found a few comparisons. The spire of Cologne cathedral is one of my favourite features, from one of my favourite buildings. Here's an image from inside.
It's a very complex structure, obviously. But aren't similar shapes found in reticella lace? Even the crochet that imitated such forms that was popular in the mid-Victorian era could be adapted to stui the Gothic frames. Of course, getting the depth/thickness that could imitate stone would be difficult, but perhaps padded stitching with the same thread as used for the crochet could be brought in?
A feature on many Victorian buildings is the decorative roof cresting. Here's a picture from an ironmongery catalogue of the period.
There are many kinds of edging lace, and some are made in quite bold shapes, such as this black trim. This could be starched and stitched into place very easily.
In churches, there are often decorative tiles and mosaics on the floor, walls, sometimes ceilings.
These could be imitated with tiny dots of metallic fabric paint, or on a larger scale, beads and sequins. Though it has been done before:
Even the most blandly coloured sections of a building can be made an interesting feature with a clearly applied texture. Take this basic irregular block wall:
Looked at from a historical costume point of view, there's an obvious parallel. The 18th century quilted petticoat was all of one colour, and plainly made, with narrow, recessed crevices and puffs of many shapes.
I've been working on the book quite a bit recently, and am going out to get more photos and draw more illustrations soon - this project is also helping me to keep up with my sketching schedule. More updates on this to follow.
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