I saw these pieces by Manuela Caniato at the 2021 Knitting & Stitching Show held at Alexandra Palace, and was keen to get a closer look.
They are cotton canvas worked with stranded cotton, each just 27.5 by 20 cm. Manuela took pictures of her rooms on the iPad and drew them digitally before printing on canvas and embroidering.
She also says that she likes this as it is “the making of a new fabric” and is a combination of digital and manual skills, and that she likes to imagine that she’s “throwing a thread that unites past and present”.
Looking more closely, I was drawn to the herringbone effect and texture that the rows of stitches brought while also clearly showing the scene, and the plant in the image above is also effective agains the straight lines of the background. Though while it’s good to see the detail, I actually think standing back and taking them in from a short distance shows so much more.
What do you think?