Embroidered Fashion Illustrations for Selvedge Magazine

Not long ago, I was contacted by the editor of Selvedge Magazine asking if I would take on the assignment of creating illustrations for story about Lyon silks. Even though I no longer have a separate website for my artwork, Selvedge editor Polly Leonard had found selected images of my embroidered 18th century dress illustrations on the web and wanted me to create similar images for an upcoming issue. Being swamped with other work, I initially declined. Even so, Polly convinced me to give it a try and  few days later I was glued to my chair in my studio, working frantically away to get the job done for deadline. 

Blinded by desire by Ingrid Mida 2010

I won't bore you with the details, but it was a rough go. My hands ached, my head hurt and at times I thought I was going blind. I even tried to fire myself at one point, but like most things worth doing well, it took longer and required more revisions than I expected. In the end, we were both happy and the illustrations will be published in the September issue of this London based publication. If you haven't seen a copy of Selvedge magazine before, it is lush with colour photos and illustrations of the most beautiful textiles. Their motto is "The Fabric of your life: textiles in fashion, fine art, interiors and shopping". A single issue of the e-magazine can be viewed online here (look for the Etiquette issue #48 if you want to see my illustrations).  The September issue of the newsletter features my work as well.

Madame des Pouffs by Ingrid Mida 2009

The images shown above are not the illustrations I created for the magazine but are examples from the series. In this work, digitally altered images of upper class18th century men and women are layered over traditional French toile de jouy fabrics to create an interplay between the fabric and the figure. Embroidery and beading is selectively incorporated to highlight certain areas in the composition. The images appear pretty but meaning is layered into the work in a subtle and playful way. I've worked on this series on and off since 2009 and sold works to customers in Italy, England, Canada and the USA. Admittedly the work for Selvedge was a little more conventional than what I've shown here, but it is a joy to embroider, and something that I rarely have time for in workweek anymore.

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