Basingstoke Embroiderers' Guild

Ruth Issett - Crazy for Colour workshop

2011-11-08T19:33:00.002Z

At the end of March, sixteen lucky ladies, textile artists, embroiderers, call themselves what they will, enjoyed two tingling days exploring colour alongside an expert: Ruth Issett. With Ruth’s tuition, guidance and encouragement, we stroked colour into cloth with brush and sponge and rolled print into the results.

On the first day, we worked with primary colours, applying colour to cloth with almost military precision, working with Procion MX dyes (mixed with solutions of urea and soda ash) and cloth made from natural plant fibres: silk, cotton and linen. When I first read Ruth’s book Colour on Cloth, some time ago, it all sounded so exotic, requiring unfamiliar chemicals in precise measured quantities but, like so many other processes, once the expert has taken you by the hand, all becomes possible. Gently mixing one colour into another, we bled them into the cloth, goddesses creating our own personal rainbows. Once we had investigated mixing the colours, discovering the range of hues and tones we could make, we were invited to explore more imaginatively, painting squares and shapes of overlapping and intersecting colour onto our pieces of cloth and applying the chemical water, in places, to achieve lighter shades. Each precious, newly coloured piece of cloth was then wrapped in its own cocoon (a plastic white bin liner) ready to be taken home.

Connected with Colour 1 - Ruth Issett

As instructed, I plunged my treasures into bowls of cold water, following the mantra: leave for ten minutes, empty the vividly coloured water, replace with fresh and leave again, repeat until the water is clear; squeeze out and dry flat. Iron when dry - not wet and not too damp! So, my kitchen/dining room was transformed into an altar of colour for the evening.

On the morning of the second day, we worked with Jacquard Textile Colour, first monoprinting. As I watched Ruth’s careful, detailed demonstration and listened to her explanation, I was only too aware that here was a real expert, one of the best in her field. I felt privileged, as always, when taught by someone so well-known for her talent, but painfully aware that what appeared so simple in her hands would be rather different for a novice like me. And so it was. I loved working with complementary colours, but not today. But, now I know how it’s done, I shall experiment on my own. In the meantime, we progressed to roller printing. I had tried this once before. It was introduced in another workshop as a bi-product of block printing rather than as a particular technique. Now I realise that the printing technique itself is important......and the kind of print block you use. As I relaxed into the activity and mixed the colours I like, I was pleased with the prints I made.

Shropshire Storm - Ruth Issett

Lunchtime came all too soon. Then Ruth showed and told us about her stitched samplers - all vibrant colours of cotton organdie she had dyed, printed, layered and stitched. Bold, bright and beautiful. She provided the embroidery threads, an eclectic collection that would challenge our ideas about stitch. We sorted, considered, cut and layered our coloured cloth, beginning to sew with simple, well placed stitches. Some beautiful pieces were begun.As a two-day workshop, this was well-paced and delivered by a very good teacher. By the end I was exhausted but full of ideas and enthusiasm to continue my own journey into colour, dye, print and stitch. My pieces of cloth have been arranged to make a hanging which I have begun to stitch by hand and with a machine, and the journey continues.

Visit to St Paul's Cathedral - Rachel Haver

2011-11-02T11:08:00.001Z

A few weeks ago I was fortunate to be invited to look at the new Vestments at St Pauls. They have been specially made at a cost of about £20,000 and are stunning.We had arranged to meet one of the clergy who is in charge of the robes and he took us to a room not normally open to visitors. It was a large walk-in wardrobe with each vestment carefully wrapped in a large linen cover. One by one he showed us about half of them, allowing us to take photos, some of which you can see here. The lavish embroidery, gold work and jewels were stunning. Most patterns were traditional on silks with equally beautiful linings. Some stitching was done in India and some closer to home.As a bonus he also showed us some of the altar frontals, which were stored in a large chest in one of the corridors.The visit lasted about 45 minutes.

If you would like to see these you can arrange an appointment though the web site for St Paul’s cathedral.

Eliza McClelland - Beadwork on Canvas Day School

2011-11-02T10:45:00.003Z

Well what a way to start my Embroiderer’s Guild membership! Eliza McClelland’s ‘Beadwork on Canvas’ day school was my first day school experience and it was a real inspiration.

With many samples and examples to look at Eliza introduced us first to soup, then worms and finally islands - I was beginning to wonder whether I’d signed up for some strange organic cooking lesson! We soon started beavering away on our own samples

Eliza recommended we started off sewing size 6 beads to make a 20x20 square on 12-holes-to-the-inch beadwork canvas. The canvas is quite stiff to start but gradually softens as you work on it; however it keeps its strength and is quite suitable for footstool coverings as well as softer articles such as glasses cases. We used short needles which proved far easier than traditional beading needles when it came to picking beads up and sewing to the canvas.

Eliza’s main work is acting and she started beading on canvas to while away her many hours on tour when she’s not on the stage. She is self-taught and has created many wonderful pieces of beadwork in all sorts of designs and colour-schemes. She has been inspired by a wide spectrum of sources from Victorian hallway tiles to old patchworks and from flowers and insects to funky retro designs.

We had brought beads of all shapes, sizes and colours and Eliza also had a selection to pick from if we needed additional complementary beads.I joined the Embroiderer’s Guild in December, seeking ideas and inspiration and had decided to push myself out of my comfort zone by bringing beads in colours that I wouldn’t normally choose mainly oranges and greens with some aqua. This also meant that, if I didn’t like my finished work I could blame it on the colours rather than my workmanship. I made my initial sample square with a random ‘bead soup’ made by taking a pinch of 4-5 different shades of my colours and picking out beads randomly to sew onto the canvas using a half cross stitch. I find it quite hard to create ‘random’ patterns, usually preferring to use regular patterns and designs, so this in itself was somewhat of a challenge for me.The bead soups were enhanced by the sparse use of a contrasting colour, which really lifted the work and brought it to life.

After lunch we were introduced to more textured methods. ‘Worms’ were made by threading a few small beads onto the thread before going back into the canvas in a more random fashion, either horizontally, vertically or diagonally across the next sample square. A more regular stitch created a rope-effect, both offered an interesting level of movement to the work. I included the odd larger bead in a few worms which worked well.

Another suggestion was to use yarn to cover an area in stitches, then bead on top. Eliza showed us ‘Periwinkle stitch’, a lovely decorative stitch which provides a useful ‘hole’ that could then be filled with a bead. My favourite effect of all was the ‘island’, or ‘Pendant’ threading and I can see myself going mad with this in the future. This consisted of a mass of short stems of beads bunched round a small clump of larger beads (usually 3). The 3 large beads are attached in the centre first, then the dangly stems are added. These are made by stringing mainly small beads, followed by a larger bead, then finally a small bead stopper at the end; the thread is taken through all the beads, then round the stopper bead before going back through the other beads to create the stem, the thread is then sewn back through the canvas to fix it. I was itching to try this effect and managed to use a wonderful variety of larger beads and pearls to create a very pretty effect.

I’m really pleased with my final sampler, and have been inspired by the colours I’ve used. With just a few more beads to sew on to finish it I am now ready to bead the world!

Jill Flower - The Ruff Lady

2011-11-02T10:39:00.003Z

As so often happens to embroiderers, Jill trained as something else before discovering embroidery. On the advice of her doctor, careers in interior design and horticulture changed to a City and Guilds Textile Course of four years which not even Jill could have anticipated would make such a difference to her life.

After time off and a re-marriage, Jill put herself in the hands of Gwen Hedley to produce beautifully textured machine-made bags which were exhibited at the V and A in London. A meteoric rise from prescribed cross-stitch, by anybody’s standards. This success was followed by a Diploma of Higher Education, a three-year university course during which Jill developed a delicate style of design that incorporated machine-made lace effects and architectural features (well-known from Jill’s past) but which needed a theme to make it"say something". A "story" is how Jill expresses this. The black-and-white notebook she showed us was sheer magic, started on holiday with a limited choice of mark-making tools, packed with luscious patterns and mini-treasures.

It was dear old Shakespeare who inspired Jill’s "story" with a series of three-dimensional interpretations of the seven ages of man in which she saw how her lace-like techniques, using ribbons of paper and machine stitchery, could be utilised in Elizabethan ruffs. Layers of re-cycled magazine snippets taken from the reading-matter of different age-groups are embellished and connected by threads and beads, tassels and tiny appendages to form circular ruffs, layer upon layer,linking Shakespeare’s well-known quotation about the stages of man’s life to the colours and textures that express the changing interests and patterns of time. The concept is beautifully thought out and cleverly executed, resulting in ruffs of various sizes that can be hung on busts, suspended from the ceiling, or placed in glass-covered boxes.

This idea has been developed, as you might expect,to produce a range of sizes, some as small as brooches, some tea-plate size, to make statements about the age, gender and inclination of the wearer with appropriate bits and pieces attached, words, names and dates.Except in form, no two ruffs are alike either in colour, content or message.

Jill spoke with a delightful modesty and self-depracating good humour as if she is still rather surprised by the success of her work. Even so, we were left in no doubt of her dedication and commitment to the kind of hard work necessary to achieve results which not only look good but which mean something too. I was particularly won over by the thought-processes that take an idea to another level of appreciation. In other words, "the story". Jill brought a large body of work to show us how this happened, each stage of which caused much interest, comment and admiration.

A very good article with photographs about Jill Flower’s ruffs appears in the Feb/March 2011 issue of WORKBOX,No.127

The Language of Flowers - Tanya Wood

2011-11-02T10:10:00.004Z

Tanya has been fascinated with flowers from her childhood and they continue to be a source of fascination and inspiration. Flowers are nature’s jewellery with infinite varieties which she likened to picking from a sweetie box. They mean different things to different cultures and in Elizabethan times they represented coded messages.

She explored the meaning of some of her favourite flowers:-

Sunflowers, dwarf for adoration and tall for haughtiness
Daisy, white for innocence, red for unconscious, Michaelmas for afterthought
Iris, yellow for flame and passion
Lily, yellow for falsehood and gaiety, water for purity of heart
Roses, red for I love you, white for innocence, yellow for jealousy
Poppy, red for consolation, white for sleep, scarlet for extravagance.

Flowers were the inspiration for her pieces when she studied for her City and Guilds and she illustrated her talk her workbooks and artwork produced whilst studying. She had used variety of techniques and materials including appliqué, felt, organza, paper and dyes. One particular piece had been based on the Dutch artist Van Huysum(1682-1749) who had painted a vase of rare flowers including some insects such as butterflies and snails. Tanya had interpreted this into a modern piece of summer flowers which had been individually photographed and then ironed onto organza using iron-on T-shirt transfer paper. Hidden within the design were a spider and a few flies.

Art in Tenerife by Sue Crook

2011-11-02T09:43:00.002Z

Tenerife may not be the obvious place you would think of to see modern art – we are more used to thinking (unfairly) about fish and chips and carousing Brits intent on a good night out and never mind anything else! Having visited over many years, I can report that there are some magnificent modern buildings, one of them being the Tenerife Espace des Artes.

What is more, on my last visit in February, there were 2 artists using textiles. The first: Juan Gopar, is greatly inspired by the sea, so I suppose the sight of nets should be no surprise, but he had made a colourful installation along one complete wall of muliticoloured nets. He had also used wrapping with fabric and ropes in a wall divider. The majority of his work involved wood, paint splattered boxes stacked from floor to ceiling and there were also some paper exhibits too.

There is currently a section set aside in the gallery for Artists in Residence. Here I met a textile artist: Juana Fortuny, who works on large pieces made entirely of fabric. Some are on metal, tent-like structures, others, simple frames but all are very large. She uses a brown paper "pattern" then affixes sheers to make her picture.

Gail Lawther Talk

2011-02-21T18:24:00.000Z

It must be difficult to sit through someone else‟s AGM, and Gail did but as a complete contrast to our mundane (but very necessary business) we had a lively and entertaining speaker. She claims she only came to quilting by accident. Although always a stitcher, it was not until she was asked to write a beginner‟s guide to quilting in a short time that she even developed a method for the impatient quilter: stained glass quilting. She cut out shapes, pinned in place, then concealed the joins with bias binding, stitching it in place with a twin needle.
She showed us beach huts, doves, a mandarin duck, tigers, Celtic designs and a host of beautiful
quilts she had created. As time went on, she decided to use satin stitch to “cover the joins” rather than binding. The resulting dragon fly and peacock feathers were in a beautiful turquoises, greens, blues, purples etc.
She suggested that we visit Worthing Museum to view their crazy quilts (perhaps a summer outing??).
As well as the topics mentioned above, other inspiration has come from New Zealand (the Art Deco town of Napier and Maori patterns), Art Nouveau and Venice. He is often asked where she finds her ideas. Her answer: “Anywhere, and even a Travel Lodge!” She also mentioned botanical gardens, land and seascapes. A colourful semicircular piece entitled ““Peace” showed angels above Bethlehem, she had also reproduced playing cards, Clarisse Cliffe, the Willow Pattern, Charles Rene Mackintosh and Tutankhamen. She admits to sometimes stretching the imagination – Nessie in Loch Lomond!
Always giving a humorous note to her talk, she described a piece of a plant as fallopian tubes. She also found that batik was effective in representing “Tigers‟ bums”. She paints with Deka paints and uses 505 or a spot of glue to hold fabric in place.
Her main collection of New Zealand quilts is currently on tour and she offered to return with them in the future. Yes, please!!!

Visit to Kelmscott Manor

2011-02-21T18:19:00.000Z

Instead of our August monthly meeting at Popley fields we decided to visit the former home of William Morris, the artist and designer.
About twenty of us came in cars arriving about eleven am and enjoying a welcome snack in the café before looking round the house. Our tickets gave an entry time into the house but once admitted we could wander round at leisure. In every room we were provided with written descriptions of the contents.
Kelmscott Manor was started in 1590 and was gradually extended into a substantial stone farm house. It was originally owned by the Turners who let it to Morris and Dante Gabriel Rossetti in 1871. Apparently when Morris first saw the spec in the estate agent‟s details he fell in love with it and has been associated with it ever since. He described it to a friend as „heaven on earth‟.
The house and environs inspired Morris, who is regarded as the founder of the Arts and Crafts movement and of conservation. He enjoyed working for pleasure and joining in the menial tasks where he shared companionship with the villagers.
Downstairs we walked through the hall (where Morris‟s top coat hung) to the Panelled white room with a fireplace lined by bright blue and white patterned tiles. There were several other examples in the house and they were from either China, Japan or Holland. In a closet off this room was a striking portrait of Morris‟s wife Jane by Rossetti, who was her lover.
The Green room had examples of Morris‟s first attempt at embroidery; mostly he designed work for others.Upstairs Jane and William had separate bedrooms with impressive four posters adorned with beautifully embroidered drapes and a large tapestry room was where Morris and Rossetti worked. Huge tapestries hung on the walls and were made in Antwerp or Brussels in the seventeenth century.
The Attic had been renovated by the Society of Antiquaries in 1962 and provided two new staircases to a very simple but expansive area. „The strange and quaint garrets amongst the great timbers of the roof‟, are Morris‟s description.
Also included were the fungi, which won one of our regional competitions. The wooden base was decorated with leaves and her son told Sue that the leaves were marihuana!Recently Sue has submitted work to the V and A and hopes it will
soon be on display. What a brilliant talent she has. Two comments I heard from members were that it was the best speaker we have had and another that she ought to go on the speakers‟ rota for the EG.
Outside was a brew house, and old stables used for an exhibition. The gardens were intimate with a huge mulberry tree dominating one area. They were lovely to enjoy as we relaxed.
Morris died in 1896 and is buried in the churchyard in the village. In 1913 his wife purchased Kelmscott Manor and nine acres of adjoining land and lived there until her death the following year. William and Jane had two
daughters, Jenny and May. May became one of Morris‟s chief embroiderers and in later life devoted herself to the manor and the village. She died in 1938.
If you were not able to visit Kelmscott I would recommend an outing. It was so interesting and exciting to see where one of our great artists lived.

Sue Oakham - Twinkling

2011-02-21T18:11:00.002Z

On the 13th birthday of our branch of the Embroiderers‟ Guild we had to change our venue to Cliddesden Village Hall. It proved a fitting celebration with Sue Oakham in charge. The hall was modern,light and inviting with an attractive kitchen area and ample parking spaces. Sue‟s exhibits gave a sparkle to the afternoon.We know how talented she is having seen her winning pieces for the regional competition several times but we also learnt more of her background and approach to her work. This was liberally laced with fun and entertaining stories.

Sue first thanked Betty Laker for settling up our branch thirteen years ago as on reflection she felt that much of her inspiration and knowledge was because of what she has done with them.Another big influence were her two Lancastrian grandmothers who both attended the same embroidery classes. One of her grandmother‟s embroideries, a framed Jacobean design stitched in "black market‟ silks is a prized possession of Sue‟s and hangs in her lounge.As her mother died when she was eight her grandmothers taught her the rudiments of the sewing machine. She was not allowed to use cotton until she could sew along shapes drawn on paper and then she began to make her own dolls‟ clothes.

At school she had minimal chance to pursue her love of sewing and art and was told that "Clever girls don‟t draw‟! Sue feels today that this message greatly influenced her development, as she was afraid to even try drawing.After training as a teacher she had children and they stimulated her to stitch and create. A competition in "Sewing World‟ asked for dolls and Sue‟s pirate doll won first prize. After that she was asked to supply design details to a company who marketed the pattern and brought her welcome income. Having worked on many techniques she joined a class with Val Campbell Harding who encouraged her to buy a Janome 9000 and then promptly changed her preference to a Paff! Sue loved the scope of working with a machine on water soluble fabrics and also discovered "Twinkle‟, a polyester organza fabric produced in many colours. Combining these with some tissue paper or wire added she began to design three dimensional works of art, which are what most of us think she does best.

On display were many of the products of Sue‟s hours of machining and designing:- Long glittering panels for the back of a piano, a picture incorporating Chinese coins and newspaper with aquilegia flowers (to mark her son‟s visit to China), flowers in large displays and a beautiful fan carefully framed.

Many thanks for a really wonderful afternoon.

Textiles with a Twist - Pauline Norris

2010-09-28T19:21:00.010+01:00

Pauline Norris comes from a Basingstoke family, the youngest of five children. They lived next door to a clothing factory and would help themselves to scrap materials to make dolls clothes and children’s clothes. Her mother was good at sewing and her dad and sister were interested in painting. School did not encourage her to sew.

She had various office jobs over the years, working at the hospital, Sun Life of Canada and the Education Office but she was always dabbling in painting and sewing, some of which she sold to colleagues. In her spare time she studied and took GCSEs and finally she left work and did the Foundation Year in Art and design at BCOT. This led to a degree in Textiles for Fashion specialising in machine knitting. On leaving college she had a job designing samples of knitting for DKNY but found the pressure to produce new work was too much.

About this time she joined the Embroiderers Guild and it was through them she progressed to making the beautiful textiles that were on show. Her inspiration comes from nature and the world around her. She started by sketching some Roman pots and creating the design with a sewing machine, fine fabric and Markal oil sticks.

Clare Muir’s workshop showed her how to sew over and into parcel tape, which she now incorporates in her pieces. She moved on to experiment with a heat gun and soldering iron to make her design from fossils and sandstone. She used transfer dyes to make her design from the Willis Museum, colouring synthetic velvet and embossing it with a wooden stamp.Her latest piece was inspired by the Icelandic volcano, using vanishing fabric (Romeo), to make a lacy fabric for the ice, with metallic thread and glitter paint.

Pauline continues to experiment with new materials like metallic powder and puff paint. A recent workshop by Carol Waddle may lead to new work incorporating copper sheet moulded and coloured by heat. Another idea is to cover boxes with Kunin felt that she has coloured and distorted with heat. We can be sure that if there is a new technique or fabric to be used Pauline will find a way to use it.

SEW Regional Day

2010-08-09T17:42:00.000+01:00

Wolfson College is a relatively new and large concrete pile in the suburbs set beside the Isis (the River Thames to you and me) with lawns and willows, punts and Sunday students, clean corridors and neat quadrangles. In fact, a good place for a convention on a hot day.
The Oxford Branch were perfect hosts, bestowing handmade fabric bags to all guests at the signing-in table from where we could see the traders' room set out with stands full of everything that looks better than the things we have at home. So we looked, and drooled, and bought, and dutifully filled our bags. Sadly, the E.G. bookstall was missing, but Art Van Go, 21st Century Yarns, Winifred Cottage, Gillsew, Margaret Beal, Mace and Nairn, and the Oxford Beadshop were there amongst others. Sue Rangeley was also there with a stunning display, and her new wonderful book. Also there was Alastair McMinn, Director of Coats Crafts in Europe, an old friend of mine, and our own Basingstoke Branch was well represented by Ann Beer, Sue Crook, Chris Dicker, Gill Drury, Sue Oakham and myself.

We were told to expect both Anthea Godfrey, (E.G.Chairman), and Jane Sweet, (Chief Executive), but the latter had returned to London the night before, unable to find anywhere in Oxford to stay the night. Since she must have known about this appointment months in advance, we all found it rather strange, wondering what might have happened if Anthea had not already been in the vicinity that weekend. As it was, when Gill Drury (Regional Chairman) opened the proceedings with the suggestion (hope?) that Anthea would speak for two minutes or so before allowing questions from the floor, this was interpreted quite literally when Anthea spoke for exactly two minutes to say that if we had any questions to put to her, she would make herself available during the lunch-break. Two ladies attempted questions there and then, but these did not concern most of us, so the looked-forward-to discussion on the situation at the H.Q. re. staff shortage, funds, new accommodation and problems of communication, did not materialise.

However, during the lunch-break, I managed to speak to Anthea and, since we've known each other for a long time, I felt I could be frank when I told her how annoyed I was that my letter to the late president had never been acknowledged, sent at the end of Feb.. Not surprisingly, she knew nothing of it. I also pointed out, kindly, that our branch are concerned by the non-availability of anyone to reply to our messages and that, although we see the new e-mail contact as a step in the right direction, we are still frustrated by the blanket of silence that covers Hampton Court Pal... Anthea understands our concern and assured me that she will make every effort to find a solution to the problem, one of them being a gentleman called Jonathan who has been appointed to field queries at H.Q. Gill Drury has spoken to him personally and discovered how little he knows about the guild in general, so our expectations should not rise too dramatically.

To put the other side of the picture, it became obvious to me that Anthea is in a very unenviable position, both domestically and professionally, and so to have insisted on a more precise answer would have been both churlish and self-defeating. There was no apparent solution which was why, I suspect, Anthea was relieved to escape questions from the floor that could not be answered to anyone's satisfaction. It looks as if we may have to deal with the problem in whatever way we can until things improve.

The two lectures were the highlights of the day. First, Bobby Britnall whose manner, generosity and passion for her subject was a delight. Based on her training in theatrical costuming and tailoring, her work shows a strong tendency towards construction, both two and three dimensional in which her love of drawing and morris dancing plays an important part. She was an intelligent and witty speaker, knowledgeable and totally at ease with what she is producing. She appears to be a born teacher as well as a good speaker.

Michael Brennand-Wood spoke after lunch and, although it is still difficult to regard him as an embroiderer, his deep knowledge of textiles and all aspects of fabric production is what informs most of his work. That he was able to explain this succinctly, with conviction, and with humour and self-deprecation too, made his presentation so fascinating, and I was left with the feeling that, although his work does not appeal to me personally, I do at least now have a better understanding of what it means. As he quite rightly pointed out, if people don't understand his work, that's their problem, not his. Nevertheless, like it or not, I felt better for having listened to this remarkable man. The fact that he's a northerner like me has, of course, nothing to do with it.
Altogether, it was a day well spent in the company of old and new friends.

North Waltham Country Fair

2010-08-09T17:16:00.003+01:00

This is an annual fair on Cuckoo Meadow, near the church and is in aid of the North Waltham charities. This year handicraft groups from outside the village were invited to take part in addition to the usual ones. There were some interesting contributions such as beautifully turned wood, small engines, weaving, candlemaking and jewellery. The bouncy castle, tombola, book stalls, flower stalls and the other usual attractions were enjoyed by the visitors.

Two of our members loaned us their gazebos and this gave an ideal setting for our exhibits.In total 18 members contributed so that we had a stunning array of our fans, eye catching exhibits of machine embroidery and three dimensional items and a large number of items for sale. These included cards, cushions, bags, lavender bags and pictures.

At the entrance we had Jan Messent and Jo Jarvis industriously sewing and attracting many comments and questions. It proved a very good publicity outing. We hope that we may be able to repeat this next year.

Carol Waddle Workshop – Heavy Metal

2010-08-09T17:01:00.005+01:00

Carol Waddle’s inspirational talk in May, entitled ‘Art On The Rocks’ covered her love of travel and told of her special passion for the Grand Canyon, where she took many photographs of the awesome beauty and colour of the magnificent rock formations. These photographs also showed ancient rock paintings, made by the native Indians, as a tribute to their legends and history. For without these their story could not be told. They did not have the knowledge that goes with books and the written word, but for them a far greater wisdom for storytelling and the wonderfully naïve paintings left behind from long ago tells us in detail of what their beliefs and lives must have been like.

Carol was greatly touched by these rock paintings. These and the sandstone colours and shapes of the rocks, tortured in shape by wind, weather and time have greatly influenced Carol in her love for the ethnic subjects used to inspire her work. Carol has discovered metal copper sheets in various thicknesses can be coloured by heat and then twisted and tortured into different shapes, much as the rocks would have been over time. As she described her various methods for producing her beautiful and unusual samples, it gave many of us in the Guild ideas for producing something different to add to our sewing repertoires. With this in mind we signed up for the ‘Heavy Metal’ Day School in July.

The workshop was a very happy place that day as we hammered twisted, painted and rubbed back the results to produce our ideas for ethnic metalwork. There were some beautiful pieces produced during the morning where we actually embossed and prepared the thin copper sheets, changing them out of all recognition from the plain shiny squares we had started with. We were given some work sheets with pattern ideas but Carol was wearing a wonderful ethnic print Kaftan that was inspirational in itself for those of us short of ideas.

To emboss a copper sheet we placed a heavily patterned object on a thick rubber mat or padded board. Then placing the sheet over it and using much muscle power we rubbed a cork over the surface until the pattern appeared in the copper. An old used biro or special embossing tool can also be used to inscribe or indent patterns. Anything really, such as the wooden wheel type edging pastry cutters produce excellent patterned results. Shopping will never be the same again as I think we will all be looking at everyday objects with a view to maybe utilising them for our metal work. We then took our pieces – held with tongs – into the kitchen, and moved them over a flame until they turned colour. Wonderful hues of pinks, purples at times shot through with threads of viridian and turquoise resulted in great excitement. Some of us – me included – found the thinner sheets over - coloured and bleached out with dark patches, but it didn’t matter, as we were then able to go on and colour the metal once it had cooled – and it did get extremely hot which means great care has to be taken with this particular exercise. Fast drying nail polishes in exotic shades and glass paints are excellent for their instant impact when colouring the distressed sheets. If the results are too garish and not quite what was intended, the sheets can be rubbed back with small squares of emery paper. This gives a lovely antiqued effect that would be perfect for making jewellery.

Once we had prepared our metal sheets we were able to cut them with patterned scissors, weave them, fold, squeeze them, add embossing powder and using a heat gun add speckled surface texture. The list is endless, as the imagination takes over and wonders what else would be possible.

After lunch we were shown how to knit or crochet with fine wire, add beads and other embellishments, as well as stitching the wire with blanket or stem stitch to create small ornamental baskets, hearts, necklaces. In fact, again, there is no end to what can be produced by this new and exciting medium. Apart from the safety hazards such as when heating the metal sheets and the obvious razor sharpness, which was made even more obvious when Carol produced a First Aid Kit to be used if we cut or damaged ourselves in any way, I think most, if not all of us found this was a very therapeutic medium to use.

Carol was a very good tutor who shared her many ideas with us, and was very generous in providing help, and inspiration where it was needed. However, she also allowed us free rein to produce the many varied and interesting samples that evolved during the day. If Carol ever pays us another visit in the future, this is one workshop that I think those who attended in July would certainly recommend, and I know that I for one would certainly sign up for again.

Stumpwork from 17th to 21st Centuries – Kay Dennis

2010-08-09T16:51:00.007+01:00

After studying the subject in depth, Kay began to specialise in stumpwork in 1989 and began to teach it full-time in 1997. She now teaches the City and Guilds stumpwork syllabus at the Embroiderers’ Guild, Hampton Court, and has recently launched a distance learning course that can be accessed by internet or by post. She has written numerous articles and three books for Search Press, and now teaches Elizabethan embroidery techniques and goldwork.

Stumpwork is a technique that dates back to the second half of the 17th Century, recognised by its padded and raised surfaces, intricate lace-like stitches and Biblical themes that decorated caskets, boxes, mirror-frames and panels, book covers and pin-cushions. The “stumps” were either pads of wool or small pieces of shaped box-wood used to raise the stitches from the background, which explains the original name of “raised work”. The term “stumpwork” was not used until the 19th Century.Most of the existing samples of 17th Century stumpwork were executed by aristocratic young ladies who, having once mastered the skills of canvaswork, whitework, needlelace and beading, would have been eager to show them off using one of the kits then available. The pattern-maker, a man, would draw the designs on silk panels and provide a selection of threads and beads and, presumably, instructions too although none of these now exist.
Kay told us that it might have taken about two years to embroider the component parts, then a further two years for the specialist cabinet-maker to assemble it, depending on the complexity of the object. Some cabinets had many compartments, drawers and extra cupboards, and must have been a nightmare to put together with linings and handles, braids, mirrors, knobs and feet.

The scenes on the panels often represent moralistic stories from the Bible; Adam and Eve or David and Bathsheba. Some are based on Greek mythology, while others portray kings and queens with their attendants, sometimes commemorating an event with the date of the embroidery. Favourite themes were allegorical in nature, seasons, senses, virtues, always including a profusion of flowers and insects, none of them to scale, fish and fountains, castles and mansions, gigantic butterflies and every kind of bird and animal, real or imagined, all jumbled up together in perfect harmony. There is a wonderfully joyful and uninhibited feeling about these scenes that seems to dispel any notion that the work might have been a chore. Fiddly, perhaps, but such fun. Imagine a young girl telling her mother, “I worked an acorn and half a frog today, mama, and tomorrow I’ll be doing the king’s shoes.’

What a pity, Kay told us, that no written records exist to explain exactly how the effects were achieved. There was a time when she hoped the Victoria and Albert Museum would allow her to dismantle a very old and badly worn piece so that she could find out more, but they did not, and she was obliged to resort to her own experiments to discover that the 17th Century embroiderers may have used paint to shade some of their stitches. However, she was asked to reproduce some figures from an old box owned by the Embroiderers’ Guild to show how the faces and hands were fashioned from wood, wrapped with long vertical threads glued in position to resemble three-dimensional satin stitch. The hair was of wrapped coiled wire. She also showed us a mirror-frame from Liverpool made up of squared panels that may originally have been intended for a cabinet. She was also asked by the National Trust to reproduce certain elements from two mirror-frames to show visitors how they were constructed, a caterpillar, a ladybird, a flower, a 3” high orange-tree and a Stuart figure whose draped cloak was something of a puzzle until Kay found a way of making it in two parts.

Kay drip-fed us some enticing tips on how these miniscule marvels are made. She uses a gold gel-pen (available in art shops and stationers) to outline her shapes on the fabric. She explained that stumpwork should ideally be seen on three levels: flat background stitches, padded and raised shapes, and free-standing shapes made on a cordonnet of wire. Other free-standing and raised shapes make use of padding over card and felt, modelling-clay and wood, examples of which were almost all, in Kay’s case, based on natural forms.

Michael stepped in for a “commercial break” to tell us about the workshop on May 13th, the two-level distance learning course of 6 units each, the small kits for sale, and the three books. Kay then continued to show us many examples of her work and that of groups, explaining with infectious enthusiasm how she achieved certain effects using egg-boxes, photographic backgrounds, silk rods (i.e. waste silk) and a convincing earth! soil effect made of tea-leaves and glue. As an expert on needle- lace, she showed us how the stitches could be used to obtain a variety of delicate lace-like effects, all so convincingly explained that, by tea-time, we had doubled the number of applicants for the workshop from 5 to 10. It was a most enjoyable talk given with much generosity and good humour, excellent presentation, and an impressive display of work to be examined at first hand.

P.S. A tip from me. Both Barbara Hirst and Kay Dennis recommend laying a temporary foundation fabric with a shiny upper surface upon which to work needle- lace free-standing shapes across a cordonnet. This is to prevent the needle from piercing the background fabric except where the cordonnet (i.e. the wire outline) is temporarily couched down. I have found that the most easily available “shiny surface” is that sticky-backed transparent material used for covering book-jackets sold in rolls on a one-inch marked paper backing which you cut and peel off. It’s made by Fablon and/or Contact and can be bought at stationers, and will not gum up your needle when you stitch the wire cordonnet onto it.

Young Textiles Artists – Twinkle Book Covers

2010-08-09T15:02:00.004+01:00

This year we have moved venue to The Vyne Community School which brings with it many benefits the main one being that we didn’t freeze in the winter months as we did at Viables and the water pipes didn’t freeze. We also have the use of sewing machines which the girls have taken to like ducks to water.

Over the last two months they have been working on twinkle book covers with our resident twinkle expert Sue Oakham. We started off with a piece of black felt and strips of twinkle which we layed across the width of the felt until it was all covered. To secure them in place we stitched a line of straight stitches across one end. We then had to weave strips of twinkle down the length of the felt securing each line with a fancy line of machine stitching. The girls soon got the hang of what they had to do and spent the morning happily weaving and stitching their covers. It was a more time consuming exercise than we first thought so rather than rush to get them finished we decided to finish them off this month. It always a risk when we do this as not all the girls can come every month so some don’t get to finish their projects. The girls very soon got back into the swing of weaving and stitching. Once the piece of felt had been covered we had to do a line of stitching across the end to secure the strips.

The books were then placed on the felt and were wrapped around the covers of the book. Lines were drawn on the felt for straight stitching along the top and bottom edges. All the lines of straight stitching were covered with a zig-zag stitch then trimmed back very carefully to get rid of the excess fabric. The girls then had to decide how they were going to make a book mark. They could do this by either plaiting three pieces of twinkle or by laying two pieces of twinkle on top of each other and then stitching down the centre with a fancy stitch and they were then sewn inside the book cover. They could then if they had the time make Suffolk puffs for decoration.

Thanks go to Sue Oakham for another interesting project and for all the time she spent fraying the twinkle so we could all just get on with the sewing

Jennifer Hughes Workshop -Small Bags from Thai Silk

2010-08-09T14:52:00.001+01:00

This was a very happy workshop on the technique of making a small bag using appliqué with hand embroidery and handmade braids which is a technique used by the Hmong tribes of Thailand and the tucked and folded appliqué was a technique used by the Lisu and Lahu tribes. Jennifer brought with her a selection of Thai and Chinese examples of the use of appliqué on items such as bags, collars, purses, appliquéd fronts of tunics and aprons etc. This showed the variety of hand stitching, appliqué and embellishments of pompoms, tassels, shells, beads and braids and more. The work on these was very intricate and was amazing how small the stitching and decoration in appliqué was and also how vibrant the colour combinations were and how the symbols varied from country to country or area to area. The Hill Tribes embroidery was very symbolic and the spiral represented the family and the colours were also important to them.

Also on display were the bags worked in spiral and geometrical designs using the Thai silk for the front of the bag in appliqué and prairie points in cotton fabric plus the use of hand stitching and flat braids worked by hand with the back of the bag being a Hemp fabric. Jennifer handed out some worksheets on how to make the bag plus appliqué and tucked folded Appliqué, one on Braids and Prairie Points and another one on Hmong Motifs and Akha appliqué and embroidery to help us to decide on what design we would like to try out on a larger scale than the samples so we did not go cross-eyed. We then had to choose a piece of patterned Thai silk, a piece of cotton fabric and a piece of Hemp. The cotton was used as to apply silk on top of the other silk it would be very slippery so therefore not so easy to sew into to get the required effect.There was such a vibrant selection of fabric colours to choose from and also Jennifer told us it did not matter if the colours did not match exactly as it would make the bag more interesting and give it a zing. Also to enhance the design you could use beads, sequins or other embellishments to enhance or to cover an awkward bit.The design could be drawn on or by means of a template. The silk has to be handled with care as it frays quite quickly. Now a demonstration was done on how to work the design to first tack the cotton onto the silk and to cut out the cotton layer to create the design and tuck the edge in and secure with the stitching of reverse appliqué onto the silk which required small and even stitching with either a matching or different coloured thread to help with the pattern enhancement. This kept us quite and any queries Jennifer was pleased to give help and advice.

Also we had demonstrations on how to make the tucked in folded appliqué and also two examples of how to make the handmade braids which we also had a go at. Also small designs could also be sewn together in strips and then cut up into the necessary design in the form of strip patchwork or for applying strips working from the base upwards therefore covering the stitching and only displaying the coloured strips and this can also be intermingled with folded patchwork or the design reversed.

By the end of this enjoyable workshop we had a look at all of the bag fronts in their degrees of being worked on and it was interesting to see all the different designs both circular and geometric and in various colour combinations and the various effects the patterned Thai silk made peeping through the appliqué and tucked and folded appliqué. Also we had the chance to browse and purchase the many lovely beads silver and glass, Jobs tears, fabrics, postcards, fabrics, magazines purses, Hill Tribes pieces and handmade items made in the style of the Hill Tribes.

Welcome to the Wonderful World of Waistcoats – Harriet Robinson

2010-07-13T20:17:00.005+01:00

I must admit I was a bit daunted when asked to do the write up about waistcoats through history. I was amazed when I saw the lovely ones that Harriet had brought along to the March meeting to show us. Of course we all know and have seen many waistcoats of all shapes and sizes but I didn’t know the origin of them. When it is explained to you from fashion down through the ages it all makes sense, how the waistcoat evolved. Harriet started the talk by quoting the The Tailor of Gloucester in a very confident and clear voice. She was quite entertaining. She made her first waist coat for her Husband because he was going to a “Posh Do”, it was made of green velvet over contrasting green silk, slashed to reveal the silk underneath which was very effective.

Later, after making many more she made a tiny one for her toddler grandson but it was stolen from her car. She had slides of her handy work which we all enjoyed. Harriet holds City and Guilds in Embroidery Parts I and II, a Diploma from Windsor College and is a friend of Royal School of Needlework. Waist coats are made with the decoration down the front as they are worn under jackets King Charles 11 of England introduced the waist coats as part of correct dress during the Restoration of the British monarchy. Samuel Pepys the diarist and civil servant, wrote in October 1666 that "the King hath yesterday in council declared his resolution of setting a fashion for clothes which he will never alter. It will be a vest, I know not well how". This royal decree provided the first mention of the waistcoat. Pepys records "vest" as the original term; the word "waistcoat" derives from the cutting of the coat at waist-level, since at the time of the coining, tailors cut men's formal coats well below the waist.

Fashion changed in 1066 from long breaches and coats to the knee. Some jackets had lots of buttons as many as 248 all handmade. 1066 was the year his majesty decided to change his fashion to the shorter front, 1800 even shorter cut up to the waist with long tails at the back, worn with white trousers hence waistcoats.

The decorated ones were for more formal occasions. Victorian men wore plain ones to match suits. Victorian ladies favoured Berlin wool work. Now they are popular at weddings for the men usually in brocade material matching bridesmaid’s dresses.

The Worshipful Company of Broderers – Peter Crouch

2010-07-13T19:48:00.012+01:00

Peter Crouch, Clerk to the Worshipful Company of Broderers gave an interesting talk about Guilds and in particular the Worshipful Company of Broderers. Peter posed 3 questions which were answered during his talk.

1.Why is Carnival Float, called a Float?
2.Why, when we may feel we don’t know which way we are going, we say we are at sixes and sevens?
3.Why does a Baker’s dozen consist of thirteen loaves or buns?

Livery Companies have existed for over 1,000 years, the first being the Weaver’s Company with a charter from 1155. The word “Guild” is believed to be Saxon from “Gilden” which means to pay. Mystery derives from the Latin “misterium” or professional skill.

In 1515, there were 48 livery companies and by 1945, this had increased to 79. Currently there are 108 with one of the newest being the Company of Information Technologists. The names of Livery Companies can be found throughout London in Bread Street, Milk Street, Ironmonger Lane and Pudding Lane which is at the top of Fish Street where the Great Fire of London started in September 1666.

Other examples of Livery Companies are:
The Worshipful Company of Cordwainers who work with leather especially for shoes, Pattenmakers whose pattens kept shoes dry on muddy streets,
Fletchers who made arrows and Fan Makers who are now involved in jet turbines.

London is not the only place to have Livery Companies as similar organisations exist throughout the UK including:
The Cutlers in Hallamshire, Sheffield, The Merchant Adventurers of Bristol
The Fellmongers of Richmond, Yorkshire and The Mercers, Grocers and Haberdashers Richmond, Yorkshire.

Scotland and Ireland both have strong Guild traditions as do Germany, France and Switzerland.

Ancient Guilds used to:
Control the provision of services, manufacture and selling of goods and foods in the City of London, help prevent unlimited competition, help to keep wages and working conditions steady in unstable times such as plagues, fire and civil unrest

Protect their customers, employers and employees by checking for inferior work that did not meet their standards, was of bad quality or underweight, hence “baker’s dozen”, the selling of overweight rather than being fined for underweight.

Sometimes Companies merged if there was not enough business for both for example the merger of the Brown Bread Makers (for the poor) and the White Bread Makers (for the better off) to form the Bakers’ Company.

In addition to protecting standards, the Guilds also looked after their Members or Liverymen if they were sick, helping to train other family members if necessary. Guilds could also offer spiritual help as each company had a patron

In past times, the Broderers were also known as the Co-Fraternity of the Holy Ghost. This is reflected in the Clerk’s Badge which has crossed quills and the sign of the Holy Ghost. Guild Members or Liverymen wear Livery or distinctive clothing and badges worn as symbols of privilege and protection. Each Company has its own colour such as blue for the Broderers and orange for the Wheelwrights. Gowns are worn in the Guildhall, London for the election of the Lord Mayor and services in St Paul’s Cathedral.

Livery Companies, today, are involved in education. They founded the City and Guilds of London Institute in 1878 and the Lord Mayor’s Scholarship Scheme. They have “adopted” deserving schools adjoining the City with financial assistance and by becoming Governors. They promote apprenticeships to train in technical and craft skills and they have also founded the City University, Queen Mary College and Goldsmith College and schools such as Merchant Taylors, City of London Freemen’s School, Hab Aske’s and Greshams.

They founded almshouses such as the Whittington College Almshouses found by Sir Richard (Dick) Whittington, his bequest of £6,000 now providing an annual income of £25-30,000, and gave charitable donations of over £40m. Other activities include EU wine legislation and implementation by the Vintners’ Company, the training, examining and qualifying of optical technicians by the Spectacle Makers’ Company and examination and qualification of Notaries Public by the Scriveners’ Company.

Gold hallmarking originated in and still continues at Goldsmiths’ Hall, the home of the Worshipful Company of Goldsmiths.

Finally Swan Upping, where the Vintners and Dyers have shared a royalty with the Monarch, since the late 15th Century, to count the swans on the River Thames each year.

There are a total of 108 Livery Companies with Broderers at 48. Company number 1 is the Mercers who originally controlled the Market in Cheapside where fine linens and materials were sold. Sir Richard Whittington was a Master and Lord Baden Powell, founder of the Scout Movement was a Member as was Lord Montgomery. However, the Companies of Merchant Taylors and The Skinners, who were numbers 6 and 7 respectively, were not happy with their numbers. They agreed to swop numbers every year unless their company produced The Lord Mayor when they automatically took the higher number. These companies were at “sixes and sevens” which is where this phrase comes from.

Each year a Lord Mayor is elected from the Livery Companies. This started in 1067 when the City of London Corporation received its charter from William I. Aldermen were set up in each of the 25 Wards of the City together with Common Councillors. In June each year, at the Guildhall, two Sheriffs are elected with at least one being an Alderman followed, in September, by the Lord Mayor who is elected from the Sheriffs. The first Lord Mayor was elected in 1189 and the current incumbent is the 830th. The Sheriffs are responsible for the daily opening of the Courts at the Old Bailey, the comfort of the Judges and the reception of distinguished visitors. The Lord Mayor’s Show follows the election and installation of the new Lord Mayor. Originally, this started in 1378 as a ride by the Aldermen from the City to Westminster. By 1401, the procession included in minstrels and, in 1422, it became a water pageant. The barges were known as floats and this term is still used in today’s carnivals and processions.

The Worshipful Companies of Broderers is part of this history, its earliest reference appearing in the 13th Century. Queen Elizabeth I granted its original Grant of Arms in 1558 followed by the first Royal Charter in 1561. This Charter was renewed in 1609 and is the only one to survive as a great many records were lost in the great fire of London.

Many of the Livery Companies had their own halls for administrative functions and social activities. Currently, there are only about 40 Halls remaining many of which have been rebuilt since 1945. As mentioned before, Broderers’ now share a Hall with the Mercers’.

Embroidery was a wealthy craft carried out in professional workshops by men and women who had served a seven year apprenticeship. English Church embroidery reached its peak of excellence in the 13th and 14th centuries with work in silver and silver gilt thread often incorporating pearls and precious stones. Embroidery was considered a good investment in the 13th century but standards of design and workmanship steadily declined due to the Black Death in 1348, the War of the Roses and the dissolution of the monasteries in the 16th century meant less demand for church embroideries. The craft had a revival in the Elizabethan era with a demand for embroidered furnishings and costumes.

Two benefactors of note were John Parr, embroiderer to Elizabeth I and James I, who bequeathed a silver cup to the Company in 1606. Similarly, Edmund Harrison, embroiderer to James I and Charles I, bequeathed a silver cup in 1628.

Today, the Broderers’ Company has about 125 members. Membership is achieved through redemption where an applicant is recommended by two existing members and then pays a Fine to join. The applicant has to be made a Freeman of the Company and then obtain his Freedom of the City of London in order to be a full Liveryman. Membership is also available through patrimony, that is, if his father was a member when he was born. Currently, membership is only open to men however discussions are taking place regarding the possible admission of women.

After being a member for some years, a Member can be invited to become a Court Member with a view to becoming Master of the Company. After Master, the Member becomes a Past Master and is entitled to remain on the Court for the rest of their life. The Court meets at least three times a year. The Clerk is responsible for day-to-day running and administration including organising three Court dinners, two Livery dinners, banquets and other events. Clerks are often referred to as “Learned Clerks” as they have the skills of reading, writing and arithmetic or “Gallant Clerks, if the post is held by a retired military person.

Records of Clerks in the Broderers exist since 1666 and Peter is the 16th Clerk. It is a part time paid position assisted by a secretary and other members of his firm – he is a Chartered Accountant.The Company has a separate Charity with funds of over £300,000. The Charity’s income is for Royal School of Needlework to train apprentices, the Embroiderers Guild and other Charities such as Fine Cell Work to encourage prisoners to learn embroidery and The Grange at Bookham where mentallly and physically challenged people are encouraged to learn embroidery and other craft-related projects.

Currently, the Company is planning its 450th anniversary of its first Royal Charter and, from June 2011, will be holding a number of special events including a float in the Lord Mayor’s Show and holding a worldwide competition to design an embroidery to commemorate the occasion.

From Cathedral Windows to Origami - Wendy Lowes

2010-07-08T20:04:00.004+01:00

It was five years since Wendy’s last visit and I think very few of us had heard her before. However, we had heard of Cathedral Windows when related to patchwork. For the few who are in the dark, Cathedral Windows technique is also called Rose Points, Prairie Point, Mayflower or Pain in the Neck!! It is a clever method of folding material so that the finished patchwork is several layers thick and can be joined to other patches to produce a cover or picture. Top stitching by hand or machine gives added interest to the design

Calico or cottons are best to use although Wendy showed us some stunning samples in organdie. She showed us slides and many of her own samples to give us an appreciation of her talent in this field.

Wendy is an expert in Cathedral Windows and knows all that there is to know about the subject. Her interest began when she had to choose a topic for her diploma at Windsor and she quickly realised that there was a wealth of historical information relating to this subject. There is evidence that this technique was carried to America by early Pilgrims, who used flour sacking as a base for their precious pieces of coloured fabrics. However, other stories say that it was the Chinese who were the originators of this folding technique and that their expertise spread to America. Who knows?

Origami, the paper folding method made famous by the Japanese probably had an influence on Cathedral Window pattern and apparently the people of the far east were surprised when they first discovered that others liked to fold fabric rather than paper.

Wendy’s success has come only because of her tireless patience manipulating, pleating, measuring, colouring and cutting very accurately. Only a top class mathematical brain could achieve some of the spirals, hexagons and circles included in her designs that she showed us;..hyperbolic parabolas… fibanaci spirals…wow!

Having our new microphone enabled us to hear what Wendy said but unfortunately the projector was not on its best behaviour and time did not allow her to demonstrate folding methods, which she had promised.

Nevertheless we were treated to a stimulating afternoon and loved looking at Wendy’s display of cushions, wallhangings, diaries, a necklace and a Christmas bauble. We hope she may return to show us how to make one of her beautiful boxes.

Janice Lawrence Workshop – Sumptuous Surfaces

2010-07-08T16:55:00.013+01:00

By the time you get to read this you will have forgotten the snowy days of January, but for those of us that braved the conditions we enjoyed a very relaxing workshop with Janice Lawrence.

Janice explained that we wouldn’t go home with a finished piece but with little samples and ideas that would enable us to add texture to our work.

We started off recycling tights and the plastic strapping that you get around parcels. From the tights we made cords. First we had to cut a leg off a pair of tights and then we cut off the end of the foot. This left us with a tube of material. Starting at one end we had to make a cut about half an inch into the tube of material and then continued cutting around the tube to make a long piece of fabric. We then sewed over this on the machine with a zig-zag stitch twisting it around as we sewed.

Next we stretched a piece of the tights over an embroidery hoop and free machined into it. Whilst we were sewing on our tights Janice walked round with a bit of that plastic strapping that is wrapped around parcels and showed us that by just using a zig-zag stitch it could be transformed into a very useful piece of material.

For those of us that had one we then used the tailor tacking foot on our machines. You sew a line of stitching and then cut through the centre of the loops. For a more tufted effect you can sew on top of the first line and cut through the loops again. The tufts do pull out quite easily so you need to sew down the centre with a straight stitch or put some sticky tape on the back of the material.

We then moved on to using thicker threads in the bobbin case which have to be hand wound. As the thread is in the bobbin you can’t see the effect until you remove the fabric from the machine so it does require a bit of faith.

Janice then showed us how to make our own fabric. We had to sandwich bits of thread and fabric between two sheets of water soluble fabric and then free machine over the sandwich until we had secured all the pieces together with stitching. Once completed it was then just a case of rinsing it in warm water to get rid of the WS fabric and leaving it to dry.

All too soon the day came to an end and we had to pack up and venture out to the car park and dig our cars out of the snow.

Textiles of the Russian Arts and Crafts Movement - Pamela Smith

2010-02-22T20:00:00.006Z

Pamela has always had a fascination with Russia and as a child loved the presents bought by her father from the Russian shop near her home in High Holborn. She was able to visit Russia in 1973 and has acquired a great knowledge of its history and customs as well as many embroidered samples. At the meeting she used a new computerised projector, which enabled us to see her pictures more clearly on quite a sunny afternoon. When European Russia was more closely linked to the west of the continent Russia produced some wonderful gold work with couched metal threads and encrusted icons and crowns. This was for the richer people. Stitching in peasant communities before the Russian Revolution was largely done by the women, who prepared items as part of their ‘bottom drawers’. One of the main items was a towel. It was long and narrow and richly patterned at each end.

Pamela had some to show us and described some motifs. A lady with her arms held upwards was hoping for a husband but if the arms were akimbo then she was probably already married. These towels were multipurpose and used in weddings, funerals and household tasks. Pamela had several examples on display. Work was usually done on linen and invariably was in red threads on a white background. Drawn thread and counted thread work were most common. Pamela then showed us examples of bed valences with red patterns, girls’ dresses with vivid geometric designs and samples of white work. We learned how collections of Russian work were started in several places in the UK.

Places to visit include the Nottingham Museum, which has a collection of over eighty pieces of white work, the Whitworth Museum in Manchester with more white work and the Bankfield Museum in Halifax, developed by and enthusiastic mayor with a love of Russian work. In addition many shops have been opened selling Russian goods and shopping on Bond Street and at Liberty’s may provide just what you want. Pamela included names of many influential Russians who developed their embroidery but perhaps one of the major influences was our own William Morris. It was a very educational and interesting afternoon and Jan gave a warm vote of thanks to Pamela. She wondered what one motif with a lady with one arm up and the other on her hips meant!

Gill Banks by Jan Messent

2010-02-22T19:30:00.003Z

Although now a highly-qualified textile-artist, Gill Banks had no family heritage on which to rely for her childhood inspiration except the usual make-do-and-mend, home-made clothes, fancy dress costumes and knitting. She did, however, have a feel for all things textile and, once her family of three grew up, she took a City and Guilds course in soft-furnishing before setting out on a search of the London area to find an adult education class in creative textiles. There was nothing.

Eventually, she discovered the well-known course at Windsor where she came under the influence of Jan Beaney, Jean Littlejohn and Janet Edmunds from whom she absorbed the art of sound technique, design, good presentation, the fine arts, history and all those inspirational techniques that had previously been a mystery to her. She was in her element. She also learnt how to keep sketchbooks and make samples, which she showed us. Good enough to eat, I thought. Her drawings of small clothing details are gems in their own right, made as a result of Hilary Bower’s urging to draw for half-an-hour every day. Gill showed us some of her first C & G pieces, a beautiful textured deep-red jacket based on the idea of chopped-up medieval vestments seen in the V & A; a small white bag based on an engine-part; felt-making based on the rich colours of Guatemalan textiles.

Gill’s innate love of handstitchery was obvious from the beginning but, as she continued the diploma course at Windsor, the emphasis from perfect technique to developing her own style proved to be rather daunting. She found it difficult to communicate any particular “message”. In her own words, ‘I didn’t have anything particular to say, really.’ We all know that feeling. But it was the death of a close friend in Norfolk that acted as a catalyst, for when Gill found how she was affected by the Norfolk landscape (wide open skies, loose ends, natural colours) she found a personal theme that could make use of her contemplative hand-embroidery. “Please May I Leave the Table?” was a cloth made under the tutelage of Louise Baldwin, a subtle evocative piece that reads better on close inspection than at a distance

Gill’s experience in dressmaking and tailoring stood her in good stead at this time when, during her diploma course, she worked on a highly-commended set of loose “vessels” made of denim costume details, seams, pockets, zips and buttons, tucks and patches. Charity shops are regular sources of materials for Gill, especially old shirts and indigo-dyed fabrics for patchwork of a “primitive” nature(raggy, in other words) which owe something to Japanese influences. As usual, the same dilemma affected Gill as affects many graduates in their final year, too many ideas, finding a style that will take them on further, eclectic samples from workshops, too much and too many for comfort. From this distance, it becomes easier to see where Gill was heading, but from where she stood at the time, there seemed to be too many directions to take. Know the feeling?

At a friend’s workshop, she discovered how to change the nature of fabrics by rusting, pleating and smocking, slashing, composting (yes, as in compost) and discharge-dyeing, wax-resist techniques and Shibori, and ancient Japanese technique on which Vivien Prideaux is our Cornish expert. This Gill loved, particularly as she trod in the footsteps, so to speak, of ancient masters who used sewing and dyeing together, making small statements which could also be pieced. Concerned that so many successful textile artists work on a large scale and that she did not, she found comfort from Louis Baldwin who assured her that working small was equally good too.

Gill is a lady after my own heart: she began to concentrate on delicate strip-hangings constructed from small bits lovingly crafted together by hand, using her knowledge of dyeing techniques, tailoring details and brilliant presentation. Instinctively, Gill seems to know when “less is more”

At the end of her college years, Gill found the sudden loss of contact and stimulation very hard to bear. She was invited to join a group of artists known as Haptic Art (Greek: tactile) and was thrust precipitously into the business of hanging exhibitions and marketing which proved to be a good, if not particularly lucrative, experience. She continues to exhibit with the group every March, which has given her the impetus she needed to prepare a body of work that “hangs together” in style and theme.

For an exhibition with Textile Forum at Wimborne themed on ideas from the museum, Gill researched Dorset buttons from the museum collection and has now continued to base recent works on these as an on-going interest. She uses photographs, drawings, postcards and photocopies, sketches and samples pinned to a board as visual reminders of ideas, colours and textures and, in 2008, her visit to Lindisfarne (Holy Island) provided another boost into her established theme of detailed textures made by man, time, weather and nature, all these expressed through fabric-scraps, hand-stitchery and a soft monochrome palette. Gill exhibits her work at the Sunbury Millennium Embroidery Gallery(closed on Mondays) where many of these beautiful evocative sandy pieces can be appreciated in their own space.

On a personal note, I found Gill’s talk to be extremely inspirational. I admired her disciplined approach, and her ability to search inside herself for what matters to her most in terms of style, skills, interest and scale. Whether this is because she is obviously a deeply spiritual lady, at times self-deprecating yet confident in her approach, I don’t know. But I would not be surprised if this had something to do with it. That she was able, without a hint of panic, to step into our scheduled speaker’s shoes (Dawn Thorpe) at such short notice and to speak so eloquently about her work is a tribute to her professionalism.

Big Bold and Beautiful - Annette Collinge

2010-02-22T19:08:00.005Z

What do many-coloured vegetable and fruit bags, bubble wrap, wire form, second hand blankets, large scale plastic mesh and American children’s drink powders have in common? They are all materials which Annette Collinge has used to brilliant effect in her textiles. Annette has been a knitter and stitcher from as far back as she can remember but during her secondary education she discovered an interest in science which ultimately led her to a PhD in microbiology. Even while pursuing this career path her interest in stitching and textiles remained and was stimulated by exhibitions at the Victoria and Albert Museum and by an evening class at the Royal School of Needlework.

After marriage and the care of a young family, Annette’s creativity and love of colour and texture was reawakened and encouraged by City and Guilds courses at Windsor. She was drawn to the vivid colours and vibrant scenes of India and Thailand and later of Mexico, and chose to interpret these by using recycled materials of many kinds. Annette shared with us slides of her largest works and installations and also brought with her a large selection of articles to share with us during her talk and for us to look at afterwards.

Some of Annette’s most recent work has been inspired by prayer flags which she “discovered” on recent travels in Bhutan, where they abound. It is the custom to place prayer flags by roadsides and at the edges of fields and once in place they remain until destroyed by wind and rain. Annette’s interpretation of this idea has led her to make a tree from a natural branch decorated with twig people, an installation which — like the prayer flags — will be left to fall into decay.

One of her recent ideas has been to return to those collections of iron-on transfers that so many of us have. How about digging yours out, cutting them up, mixing them together, reassembling them and making a new design to stitch in an experimental way? It’s a great answer for those of us who find drawing difficult. Annette’s visit and amusing, entertaining talk was very much enjoyed by an appreciative audience. As Jan, our newly elected President, remarked in her vote of thanks; Annette “is truly one of us”.

Carol Naylor - Embroidered Landscapes

2010-02-22T17:29:00.008Z

The September workshop was run by Carol Naylor who describes herself as a cross between a painter, sculptor and weaver on canvas using her sewing machine as a paintbrush and her threads as a palette. What a lovely vision that conjures up. Carol’s beautifully machine stitched landscapes on canvas told us exactly why she uses that description. Distorted by the high machine tensions and with some stitched from the back of the fabric they undulated in vivid colours, creating beautiful wall-hangings one would be proud to display in their homes. Carol describes her work as very tactile and for that reason she prefers to leave her larger pieces unframed as she feels the public can interact more fully with them. I often think a framed piece can look a little stiff and unreachable therefore could relate to what she meant by that. In a way what she is making are the modern equivalent of the medieval tapestries.

There were a dozen or so Guild members taking part in the workshop and Carol demonstrated how we should start a piece of work. It looked so easy when stitched by an expert but I think we all found difficulties in starting off mainly because of the differing stitch tensions we were told to use more than anything else. Most people I know tend to wrestle with tensions and when they are set wrongly it can ruin a whole day as the machine will cough and splutter its way across the fabric instead of running like a dream. For that reason it is a good idea if you want to do a lot of work involving setting different top and bottom tensions to invest in a special bobbin which, will not only take thicker threads for upside down stitching but better still, shouldn’t need altering. I am not sure about other machines but the Bernina range has a bobbin with a black latch. I have got one and find it invaluable especially as I love whip and cable stitch and am pretty useless at re-setting my tensions every time I want to make a very textural piece of work.

We had all been asked to bring a reference picture with us to work from. Landscapes are very good for this if they have clear dividing lines and colours separating different contours. I chose a picture of lavender fields and a seascape with reflections from a fishing boat. Both had very clear defining lines. However, for some reasons I didn’t bring the right colour threads-for the purples I needed for the lavender. I also made the picture I was painting with my sewing machine too small. But what a learning curve as it showed me how to be prepared the next time I want to try Carol’s method of sewing. There were some beautiful pieces of work produced by the end of the workshop and I think we will all be excitedly trying out this newly learnt technique.

Lesley George Workshop

2010-02-22T15:43:00.005Z

Lesley George entertained us with her talk and display of absolutely beautiful work during our meeting last March. Lesley’s talk was entitled ‘A Stitchaholics Dream’ and it certainly wetted the appetites of a few of the Guild members, as they signed up to take part in one of Lesley’s workshop.

Lesley lives in Southsea and resides above and around her workplace. She lives on a very busy street with restricted parking. As you can imagine that presented a few problems for us with our sewing machines, fabrics and all the paraphernalia we had to take with us. Luckily we found a parking space just around the corner in the next street. If any of you are considering going on one of Lesley’s courses be aware of the possible parking problems. It might be better to use one of Lesley’s spare sewing machines and to take advantage of the many packs of materials she sells for her coursework. There is a railway station within easy walking distance of the studio. As we were not sure what we would need we all took far too much stuff and in actual fact could have got away with a very limited bag of essentials had we had more idea of what we would use.

Lesley’s workroom covers nearly the whole of the ground floor of her house. It’s in a large room with nice high ceilings and a front window that gives a good natural light. She has her beautiful textiles displayed everywhere and it was rather nice to have a little nose around looking at all the works of art.

We discovered that the velvet workshop we were on should really cover two days. We could see why at the finish of the day as we had really pushed the boat out in our attempt to tackle all three types of samples that we were expected to make. The samples were all made on dyed, silk, plush, or synthetic velvet. As Lesley uses a lot of burning in her techniques cotton velvet is unsuitable for that method.

The first sample was made by using a transfer method on stitch and tear paper. This is a good way of outlining the subject matter, a flower, or butterfly for instance, in stitch on the fabric. Under the velvet we had to place a very thin layer of polyester wadding, and beneath that felt. The effect we got was almost like quilting, and I think had we had the time we could have produced some stunning effects, but we barely had time to cover the rudiments before we had the tackle the next two samples.

One very interesting technique that was demonstrated by Lesley left us longing to try it out for ourselves. Taking a wooden - stamp she wet the wrong side of some plush velvet with a fine water spray. Place the velvet over the stamp with the plush side down, she covered it with parchment paper and pressed with a fairly hot iron for about a minute. This produced lovely embossed patterns in the velvet with a really clear raised edge. It would be a wonderful way to create a very rich piece of embroidery using this method. Also one could use any heat resistant patterned sources to use as a stamp as long as it was possible to iron the pattern on to the velvet.

The last sample’s we made were created by taking a piece of synthetic velvet, placing it over a piece of the polyester wadding and a piece of acrylic burnable felt. The chosen pattern was put onto the velvet using Markel crayons over wooden stamps. The outlined areas machine embroidered then foils were added to the velvet to create a luxurious surface. The stitched pattern was cut out using a soldering iron to melt through the synthetic fabrics. The possibilities using this method are endless.

I think we all enjoyed our day with Lesley but we did think it was rather a lot to cram into one session. However, we now have the skills to practise all the techniques we have been shown and we intend to do so but all we need is a little more time to perfect some of the lovely ideas that are invariably thrown up during the course of the day. If any of you would like details of other workshops take a look at her website.

Young Textile Artists – Visit to Whitchurch Silk Mill

2009-12-17T20:07:00.003Z

For our July meeting we went with 10 of our YTA’s, family members and helpers to Whitchurch Silk Mill to have a look around and do some silk painting. Once the tables were set up those who were painting and that included the adults chose what they were going to paint from a selection of ready prepared fabric. The fabric was then sellotaped to a cardboard box with the design centred over a hole that had been cut into it. A very good substitute if you haven’t got a wooden frame.

Everyone was given a palette, a few drops of paints in their chosen colours, a jar with some water for washing brushes, kitchen roll for testing colours and most important of all a shirt to cover up their clothes. Marion explained about the lines of gutta on the designs and gave a quick demonstration on how to use the paints. Everyone then started on their own designs and it all went very quiet as they concentrated on getting the paint to stay within the lines. They quite quickly learned that a very small amount of paint spread a long way over the fabric. One by one they finished their pieces and they were left to dry.

We had hoped to have lunch in the grounds but as it was one of those rare wet summer days we ate in the tea room. All too soon it was time to go home but I think everyone enjoyed the day including the adults and all went home with a finished piece of silk painting.

Thanks go to Marion for organising the trip.

Festival of Quilts - Birmingham

2009-12-17T19:39:00.002Z

I am not a quilter, but now I am beginning to understand how you don’t have to do patchwork in order to make a quilt, I might do some more – once I have finished this year’s challenge to make six mini journal quilts. Of course, I’ve known that you can have quilts without patchwork for a while, but now I know a bit more about contemporary whole cloth quilts and how you can approach ‘piecing’ without accurate joining.

To begin at the beginning. This was only my second visit to the Festival of Quilts and I envisaged it mainly as a shopping trip and principally to stock up at Oliver Twists. But, as we entered the exhibition hall I saw some amazing work: quilts, wall-hangings, textile art? I don’t think that it matters what you call it. Shopping became a lower priority. I decided that £5 for a catalogue was too expensive. Mistake! It would have answered so many of my questions as I made my way through the exhibits. In Gail Lawther’s work I saw ways of applying a variety of fabrics, including scrunched net and silk, frayed metallic sheers; and hand embroidery alongside machine quilting and couched cords and beads. In Shelley B...... ‘s piece entitled Storm I found a complete quilt which appeared to be traditionally pieced, but closer inspection revealed that each piece had raw edges – vividly coloured pieces which included felt, velvet and subtly patterned cottons.

One of my favourite exhibits was Alicia Merrett’s ‘The fields beneath’, made of all kinds of neutral-cream fabrics, including cotton flannel(?), felted wool, velvet and scrim and just a hint of colour with some touches of green paint. The machine stitched quilting echoed some of the patterns associated with traditional quilts and the accuracy of the lines was awesome! In my notebook I wrote, ‘Must try this!’

Of all the collections exhibited, I loved Sheena Norquay’s work: Winter Whispers, Rising Sun, Millennium Moon and other stunning pieces. Why do people forbid you to photograph their work but fail to offer a catalogue? I don’t want to go round taking photos of everything – just a few very special exhibits.

As well as the work of quilters from many European countries, the work of quilters in the USA, Japan and Australia was well represented. I liked the ‘Please do not touch’ notices in so many languages but the quality of the stitching was a bit naff. I wonder why?

I am always impressed by the accuracy of the piecing and the quality of the stitching in traditional quilts, not to mention their sheer size. I marvel at the capacity of stitchers to persist with some of the repetition required in such large quilts but, although I can admire the techniques, it is the modern wall/art quilts that appeal to me.

Once again, I found the children’s work disappointing. I really think that quilters, embroiderers’ and all those involved with working with textiles with children need to think and talk hard about what they are about. I feel passionately about textiles and stitching as part of our heritage and that education should be concerned with passing this rich heritage on to the next generation. But enough of that.

Eventually, I did get around to my shopping, but it was less important than I had anticipated. I just found those traders I had planned to visit and passed most of the others by on the way. I lunched on pasta and salad – tasty and fresh if not cheap. By the time I returned to the coach for the trip home I was very tired but full of ideas for many weeks to come.

Creative Book Binding – Beppi Berlin

2009-12-17T17:10:00.034Z

everal of of us had been to a previous workshop with Beppi and knew that we were in for a stimulating and productive time. Beppi had us enthralled from the start when we viewed a range of her beautiful books. Most were small with wonderfully embroidered covers and some were filled with more samples of her work. We had been issued with instructions about cutting the hard covers and the pages beforehand, as this was one of the most time consuming parts. So we arrived ready to begin construction. First we coloured two double pages, which were for the fly covers at the back and front. Beppi admitted to being a hopeless artist and suggested that we used a sponge or toothbrush to apply a simple pattern in colours linked to our cover material.

Meanwhile we chose a suitable ribbon to match our cover and attached two pieces to one of the pages. This acted as the spine and soon we found out how to join all the other pages (in groups of two doubles)together. This was very cleverly done by first pricking holes through the pages in appropriate positions and then sewing them together using perle or similiar thread. Next we cut wadding to fit over our covers and stuck it down with PVA glue.

Between us we had brought a wide variety of covers. Jo Jarvis had done a beautiful ribbon design, Sue Crook had kimono fabric, Jenny McCue used plain fabric that she was going to paint and I took some silk bought in India. This was cut to size and stuck in place round the cover board. Finally the pages and covers were united and more PVA and a ribbon or two completed the book. It all sounds simple but careful measurements and excellent demonstrations by Beppi enabled us all to produce a professional looking book by 3.30pm.(In fact some of us had not quite finished but we knew what to do so complete it). For me it is always a bonus to make something worth having at a workshop and we were all pleased with our results. Many thanks to Beppi for her patience and inspiration. I am sure we all went home intending to make more books.

Confidence with Colour – Ann Smith

2009-12-17T12:17:00.025Z

As a previous carpet designer, our July speaker, Ann Smith’s work was heavily influenced by pattern, colour and design. Following her graduation from University, Ann was drawn into the industrial world as a carpet designer. It was a transition she found very hard to take, going from a four - year degree course with all the lively intonations of student life and the relative freedom of using her own designs, to the boredom of working in the industrial world with all its limitations and restrictions. Because of Ann’s frustrations at being unable to freely express herself in her work, she set up in business as a self employed artist in the mid eighties as she found this suited her personality and allowed her freedom of expression.

Ann’s speciality is colour. She lives and breathes it, but it has not come easy to her, as she explained that it has taken years of practise to perfect her expertise in analysing colour and in particular the colour wheel with all its’ endless combinations and hues. Most people probably use too many colours when painting a picture for instance, but with Ann’s approach it would be possible to get away with a very limited palette. A very useful tip indeed, for those seeking to sketch and paint outside without the need to carry vast quantities of materials.

Ann advocates buying one of each primary colour, i.e. red, blue and yellow, before adding a few more to use as mixers. She suggested maybe a scarlet or crimson, magenta, cobalt blue with perhaps an indigo blue. Viridian green is good and white is allowed. However, black is taboo and should always be mixed from your existing palette. Some of Ann’s colour suggestions were magenta and viridian to make a pleasing black. Adding red to greens makes a lovely soft olive green. Reds combined with blues, can make a deep or gentle purple depending on the mix and can always be lightened with a touch of white.

She stressed that experimentation is the key to perfection and one can spend hours playing with colour and making reference charts. Obviously to do that it is essential to make a note of each colour combination as nothing is worse than creating a spectacular result and not knowing how one achieved it. It is sometimes very difficult to know where to begin when experimenting with colour and to anyone new, or tentative, to this experience Ann suggested a very interesting way to overcome any difficulties overcome any difficulties. She has found by taking a picture and analysing it for colour, that she has a perfect base for creating her palette.

For instance by taking a Van Gogh painting and noting the colours used by this great artist, Ann will try to replicate the hues by matching them as closely as she can and painting her reference chart in those bands of colour. This in itself can produce a fairly pleasing piece of artwork that can be used over and over again as a guide. Magazines can also be a great source for inspiration, as one can cut out blocks of colour from the numerous illustrations in them. By placing these and anything else pleasing to the eye of the individual in a scrap - book, it is a pleasant way of going back to it when time allows. Any colour combinations created by you on paper from these sources can then be easily interpreted in fabric and stitch.

Richard Box – Adventures in Embroidery

2009-12-17T11:05:00.013Z

Richard Box has been a top British embroiderer for many years and we were delighted to welcome him to our monthly meeting in May and for a workshop the following day. He arrived with some of his trademark floral pictures including ones of ox-eye daisies, honeysuckle and blackberries. Recently he has worked on animals such as foxes, hares and cats and had some stunning paintings and embroideries of these.

Richard trained at Goldsmiths as an art teacher but soon had the opportunity to try working with fabrics. He learnt more from the green haired Constance Howard and soon was experimenting with cutting, dyeing and stitching fabric. One of his first ventures was a cope for his father, who was a clergyman, but apparently it was too colourful and father wore it only once. Today we associate Richard with flowers although five years ago he produced a series of large mythological figures in golds and ‘bling’.

He told us what to expect at the workshop and had a series of examples building up the picture stage by stage. He generally uses Hessian as a base because of its wide grid and then adds many small pieces of cut up fabrics on which he stitches by machine and hand. We learnt this method in full at the workshop.

Richard uses a Bernina machine and has a darning foot, which enables him to do free stitching He described how he likes to draw with the machine or stitch with the picture upside down enabling him to use a thicker thread in the spool. Experimenting is very important to him. During the talk he imparted a wealth of useful tips about colour, design and planning which proved his skill as a teacher and this is what he loves. One of his popular courses is entitled Drawing for the Terrified and Painting for the Petrified! Richard also has time for commissions and showed us slides of two of his triptychs, which had to be hung on a washing line when he was viewing it.

Jan Messent thanked Richard and echoed what we all thought, that he gave us a most stimulating, interesting and informative afternoon full of witty asides. With a glint in his eye he quoted Oscar Wilde ‘Try everything once except incest and country dancing!!’

Jennifer Hughes – Beautiful Batik

2009-12-16T20:44:00.020Z

Jennifer is a member of East Surrey Branch of the Embroiderers Guild and has been their Chairman. She runs workshops and gives many talks based on Asian Textiles as she has spent some time living in Asian countries. Here she has collected many costumes and other textile related items from the surrounding countries along with beads and other connected items. Jennifer had a selection of articles from China, Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia and other countries.

She showed us many fine examples of batik in various forms from strips that were sewn into garments as part of the design and subsequently enhanced with embroidery, shells, beads, coins and metal ornamentation. Such items on display were lengths of fabrics, pleated skirts, baby carriers, aprons, hats and other items. The technique was explained on how the wax was added to the fabric before the dying took place using special copper pots on a stick with different spouts to control the flow of molten wax going onto the fabric. The fabric was placed in the dye usually indigo and was either dipped several times to get the depth of colour or after the first bath in colour the fabric was left to dry. Once dry a further wax pattern was applied to cover the 1st colour you wanted to keep. The fabric was then dipped into another colour dye bath and repeated each time the colour was to change in the design. (Working from the lightest to the darkest colour). The final stage was to remove the wax by steaming the fabric.

The fabric used for dying is usually of cotton or natural fibre bases which accept natural dyes i.e. indigo. But in more recent years chemical dyes have been purchased from local markets. Also in China they had a process to mix egg white in with the dye which changed the colour of the dye and made the fabric shiny. Mainly the pattern was carried out by one group in the village, dying by another, the original weaving by others. Each group had their set tasks. The skills were learnt at a young age by doing simple patterns and as they got older the more intricate the design. To enhance the dyed fabric hand embroidery, shells, coins, pom poms, and other metal objects were shaped into various forms. In modern times machine embroidery was used and not so intricate a pattern. Also the modem generation were wearing western style clothes so the art was not being passed to the next generation in the same numbers therefore the art would eventually be lost.

Jennifer had a wide selection of different types of batik from Asia and also demonstrated how some of the items of clothing were worn. It was a very interesting talk and demonstrated the depth of knowledge that Jennifer had gained over the years.

Lesley George - A Stitchaholics Dream

2009-07-27T21:39:00.013+01:00

There is only one word to sum up the talk by Lesley George … Wow!

Lesley’s work was so vibrant, rich, and sumptuous, that the room positively glowed. No one could fail to be moved by the wonderful display that greeted us, as we walked through the door for our March meeting. Our speaker had bought a rich variety of samples to show us ranging from book covers, butterfly brooches, bags, dresses, and corsets. She also showed us slides of the beautiful wedding dresses, and other work she was commissioned to make. One in particular stood out. Designed for a bride who was getting married in Barbados it was stunningly simple in cut and design, apart from the bodice, which was a sheer work of art. A Celtic design in gold work somehow gave the dress a medieval feel, and would certainly have added to the magic of a fairy tale wedding day for the young bride.

Another dress incorporated a gold worked wheat sheaf on the bodice, so appropriate for the bride about to marry a farmer. The thought, and skills that had gone into the making of these dresses would ensure they would become the heirlooms of the future to be marvelled at by future generations.

Lesley started her training at the Portsmouth University where she studied Fashion Design. However, she had a great interest in art, and sewing long before that, and not only won a drawing competition netting a first prize of 5/- when only five years old, but made her first pair of shorts at the age of eight.

Although Lesley drifted into a few jobs involving sewing when she finished College, she was unhappy in her work at that time. What she really enjoyed was designing, and making clothes for her friends and family. This prompted her to open her own Boutique, and she traded successfully for some years until recession forced her to close down. Sometimes fate steps in and suggests a turn of career, for Lesley decided to take the opportunity of this forced closure to re-train. She went back to College in Southampton where the course she was taking included business studies.

By this time, Lesley marriage had broken down, and she divorced. With two daughters to care for times were difficult, and her only income came from making, and selling children’s clothes, and running Party Plans. This was during the late eighties, early nineties, and it was during a visit to Salisbury to check out an exhibition of historical wedding gowns that Lesley was side tracked. Glancing into a small side room she was over whelmed by what she saw. The local Embroiderers’ Guild were exhibiting, and what she saw there that day changed Lesley’s life and set her on course for what she is doing now.

Lesley joined the Southampton branch of the Embroiderers’ Guild where she was encouraged to set her sights on taking her City & Guilds under the tuition of Ruth Smith, and Anne Wheeler. This led to her taking her Teacher’s Certificate, which again led to her teaching Adult Education in pattern cutting, and dressmaking. Creative Embroidery followed this, and Lesley knew she had found her vocation.

Today there is nothing that Lesley won’t tackle, as her varied, and large selection of samples showed. She passed many of these round to the packed audience where we were able to gasp at the beauty of her work, and hope some of the magic emitting from these beautiful pieces would rub off on to us.

Lesley’s success is well deserved, but it didn’t come lightly. She has really earned to be where she is today with perseverance, and sheer hard work, not to mention that certain star quality that we can all see, but cannot really define. It is something we all strive for, but most never quite grasp it. However, seeing, and experiencing Lesley’s wonderful show of work today, we can but hope.

Myfanwy Hart - Stitching with water soluble paper

2009-07-27T21:01:00.015+01:00

A day school with Myfanwy is always a fun and well organised learning experience and this was no exception.

Water soluble paper (now to be known as wsp) – not a particularly wonderful invention according to my previous knowledge, but let’s see what might transpire to be of use/interest.

The day didn’t start as expected.We were given a piece of thick brown paper to scrumple! While we sat and scrumpled, Myfanwy gave us some really fascinating information about wsp.We tried to guess what it was originally invented for until all was revealed – for spies.Yes, maps, information etc could be circulated and after mental digestion, it did not need to be physically digested, but could be flushed away…. Embroiderers, being the most resourceful of craftsmen, soon realised the potential of this material.

We had to trust Myfanwy and follow her day plan which avoided delays while paint dried.From scrumpling brown paper (sample 1) which was allowed at any time as stress built up,we then painted a rough landscape on conservation tissue (sample 2).This was left in a crèche of wet tissues to dry out.

A session of basic hand stitching came next (for sample 3) on some very open weave scrim fabric which could be folded to any thickness.We hand stitched short lines in herringbone, buttonhole or any type of raised design in white perle thread.The short lines were not to be interlinked as the sections needed to be cut later.

We returned to sample 2 of the rough landscape on conservation tissue which by now had dried.We placed a few lines of yarn horizontally to suggest hill outlines, placed wsp on top of the whole piece and thoroughly soaked it with water applied carefully by brush. Back it went into the crèche to dry.Later, the yarn was removed just before the wsp dried, leaving rather jagged edges for texture and definition of landscape contours to be embroidered at our leisure.

Then back to the scrumpled brown paper (sample 1).We cut shapes (hearts, diamonds, anything) of conservation tissue and laid it on the paper with a piece of wsp under each shape.We painted the shapes and moved outwards painting the paper beyond.Myfanwy had set up a selection of procion dyes, koh-i-noor paints and the fabulous micacolour paints which add lustre.After this sample dried out it would form a basis to stitch in any inspired way…….

A single layer of Myfanwy’s very open weave scrim was laid on polythene.At this point we found out that what appeared to be one layer was in fact four when carefully separated.It was easy to distort the weave to add interest.The hand stitched line patterns we had done in the perle thread were cut around and were to form detail and texture in the central parts of flower petals, so we placed these in some sort of design on the scrim background. Wsp was placed below each petal and leaves also, if these were added to the pattern. A piece of wsp was placed over the flower parts, then held in place whilst water was carefully brushed on.

Colour could have been added at this point but we were coming to the end of the day, so it was left for homework! Slight texture was achieved by manoeuvring bits of wsp as it dissolved. At this stage, we needed to have the rather delicate sample stable on a board to take home to dry.At home, we could then colour the sample with fabric paints, spray with walnut ink or use any other suitable colouring idea and finally, when dry, add any appropriate stitching by hand or machine. So,we ended up with three very imaginative samples of the use of water soluble paper to take home and add stitching.We had been given a totally fresh look at the possibilities of the product and every minute of the day was put to its best advantage, interlocking various parts of each sample whilst allowing for the drying process.

Myfanwy kept us entertained with her wonderful humour, demonstrations, and masses of further information. She only had to pick up a piece of kitchen towel to remind us that it was in two pieces – put bondaweb between and there is another sewing surface!

I learnt Van Dyke stitch and there were also instructions for rosette chain stitch as a variation for our sewn textured parts. And last but not least, tables along one wall of the room were piled high with threads and embroiderers’ goodies to tempt us to add to our already overstocked shelves and cupboards. Many thanks to Myfanwy and the organisers.

Fay Maxwell - Burning the Happy Accident

2009-07-27T20:26:00.017+01:00

This was another inspirational talk from Fay telling us how she makes her embroidered fabrics for making bags, cushions etc.

She uses a base fabric of blanket felt, this is made of wool so will resist being burnt. On top goes a thick ’pudding’ layer of snippets of fabrics, including bright little bits of silk etc. On top you lay a piece of voile, all one colour or you can dye it with silk paints and dry it with a hair drier.This fabric needs to be synthetic so that you can burn holes in it.Then you tack this sandwich around the edge plus big tacks across the middle to keep all the bits from moving about. Then with metallic thread, or coloured sewing threads, machine stitch on the top to hold it all together. Starting in the centre and working outwards towards the edge using vermicelli stitch. Or work straight stitch in straight or wavy lines from top to bottom. Covering the whole piece, with the lines ½ to 1 inch apart to hold it all together, leaving room for the burning stage. If the lines are too far apart, when you burn the holes, your snippets of fabrics might fall out. Burn through with a soldering iron, using it lightly like a pencil. If you are going to make the fabric up into a bag or a purse etc, it is best to do the burning after it is made up so you don’t end up with holes where the seems are, since it will make the seams weaker.

You can also use Kunin felt (Poly Felt from the USA) as a base for the snippets and voile. Stitch pattern in little circles three times and burn out in between pattern to make a form of cutwork.You can also use cotton velvet and drip bleach on it to make patterns. When it looks right wash it to stop the bleach going any further and ruining the fabric. Then use as a base fabric with sheer on top, stitch again and burn. You can also use nappy liners and Markal oil paint sticks, especially the metallic ones, to make extra patterns or areas of colour. This is good for cushions or book covers, perhaps adding embroidered ‘slips’, e.g. flowers, to the surface depending on what the bleached pattern looks like.

Fay showed us lots of bags, purses, cushions and picture frames made up from her beautiful fabricsThis is just an outline of the basic techniques and hopefully will give you lots of ideas for using these techniques in your own stitching.

Joanna O'Neill - Felt Underneath

2009-06-11T18:33:00.015+01:00

The first thing Joanna said was that there were two ways to run the day. We could either have a really busy day making different types of felt then sewing on them in the afternoon and no time to chat or we could have a more leisurely day making the felt, looking at what other people were doing, time for a chat and towards the end of the day look at some samples of stitching that she had brought along. We could then take our samples home and work on them. Needless to say the majority of us voted for the leisurely approach. Joanna then told us told that we would be making three different types of felt. A piece of half felt, a fully milled piece and a piece of rubbish or bad felt. We were shown examples of each type before we started on our own samples.

We had all chosen our dyed wool tops from a selection that Joanna had brought with her. We then prepared our work area by laying down our towels (these would absorb any excess water). On top of this we placed our bamboo mats/blinds followed by our bubble wrap with the bubble side up. Next we had to pull out small tufts, 8-10cm in length of wool tops and place them in a line on the bubble wrap along one side of the mat. We then had to place a second line of fibre tufts overlapping the first line like tiles on a roof. This was repeated until the required area had been covered. A second layer of fibres was placed on top of the first layer at right angles to it. Finally a third layer was placed in position in the same direction as the first. For decoration we incorporated bits Angelina, wool rovings and throwsters waste.

When the fibres were completely wet the net was removed and replaced with bubble wrap. We then had to rub the bubble wrap using the flat of the hand, beginning with small movements and gradually getting larger. We had to pinch test both sides by trying to pull the fibres apart. If they were holding together we moved on to rolling. The bubble wrap and bamboo matt were wound around a broom handle and we started rolling. We had to roll for a count of 25 open up the roll give it a quarter turn roll again 25 times. This was done a further 2 times so that all together the piece had been rolled 100 times. Joanna came and checked each piece to make sure it has felted, if not we continued rolling. When it had felted we gently rinsed and squeezed it, rolled it in a towel, unrolled it then hung it up to dry

Fully milled felt was done in the same way as the half-felt up to the rolling. This time we had to roll it 100 times at each turn then unroll it flip the felt re-roll in bubble wrap and blind then roll another 100 times at each turn. If it hadn’t felted by this time and your arms hadn’t dropped off we had to remove the bubble wrap and continue rolling, turning and flipping the felt in the bamboo blind/mat adding a dribble of hot water over the roll if necessary. When it had felted we rinsed out the same as for half-felt.

Our last sample was rubbish or bad felt. For this we had to use the full thickness of the wool tops and cut them to length. So for example if you were making a piece A4 size you cut each piece about 11” long and opened it out flat before laying it down on the bubble wrap. The second and third layers were cut and laid down as before. The soapy solution this time was topped up with boiling water. We continued the same as for the other two samples until the fibres were just beginning to hold together. It was then rinsed, rolled and hung up to dry.

With about an hour to go before the end of the workshop we all gathered round and Joanna gave us ideas on what we could do with our samples.The pre-felt is good for manipulated techniques. It can be pleated, gathered or pin tucked. As with most sewing it can be slashed, re-assembled, appliquéd, hand stitched and then fully felted. Fully milled felt is great for hand stitching and can be sewn on the machine. The thick felt produced by the third method is good for machine stitching with quilting fill stitches as the felt flattens under the stitching and the unstitched areas puff up.You can also inlay felt. To do this cut the same shapes from two contrasting pieces of pre-felt. Switch the shapes, lay the inlaid piece on to another complete piece of pre-felt, then fix and roll as before. It would seem that you are only limited by your imagination on what can be done with felt.

A very enjoyable workshop and I’m glad we opted for the relaxed day.

Young Textile Artists - Sew a book cover

2009-06-11T18:15:00.012+01:00

This project was tackled over two months. In October the girls sewed a panel on Aida fabric to go on the book cover and in November they glued it all together. All the helpers took along some examples to show what could be done. I also showed them a couple of finished books so they could choose what type of book they wanted to make. They started off by selecting the Aida they were going to work on. Although they had few colours to choose from they all went for ones that had the glitzy gold or silver threads running through it. The fabric had quite small holes but they all managed to sew on it quite easily. The biggest problem is always keeping the needle threaded. Sequins, buttons and beads were used to decorate the panels.

During the course of the morning everyone selected the fabrics they wanted to use for the covers and while they kept on sewing Jackie cut them out. As they finished sewing their panel it was then sewn on to the centre of the fabric. Some hadn’t quite finished their panels by the end of the morning so took home to finish off but were reminded to bring them back in November. I took home all the finished pieces and glued the fabric to front and back covers and cut out all the other pieces they would need to complete the book.

As some girls had taken their pieces home to finish we started in November getting them all to the same point ready for glueing. although not a difficult taks it did take some time as you had to be careful not to use too much glue or to stick the pages together. We had to peel of a couple of pages as they had been glued in the wrong way but all the books were completed and mostly dry by the end of the morning.

Dorothy Tucker - Kantha

2009-06-11T16:13:00.013+01:00

On a cold November afternoon we were warmed by the thoughts of women in Bangladesh sewing in the humid monsoon rains. For this is often when Kantha is produced.

Dorothy Tucker has specialised in this form of embroidery, taught it, written books such as ‘Embroidered Pictures’ and made many friends through it. She brought many samples of her and others’ work to our meeting and for me it was an education.

Kantha traditionally was done in the Bengal area of India and Bangladesh. When India was partitioned in 1947 it was the delta area of the Ganges/Brahmaputra in Bangladesh where the craft was continued. It is an excellent example of recycling as the fabric from old saris and dhotis was used and the embroidered edges were unravelled for the coloured threads to be used to stitch the new item.

Originally Kantha was to produce simple fabrics for everyday use in the family; a child’s quilt, a small floor covering for eating on, a cover for valuable objects. It was traditionally sewn in running stitch with simple geometric designs or symbols such as lotus flowers, peacocks and fish. Following Bangladesh’s independence from Pakistan in 1971 Kantha became more commercial and Rural Development Projects encouraged local women to produce more intricate designs for sale.

Dorothy told of her desire to write a book about Kantha and how she met the eminent Indian embroiderer, Surjeet Husain, who gave us such a wonderful talk in February 2006. Surjeet has helped and inspired her and become a firm friend. With Jenny Bullen and others they have developed a learning group, which meets for Sunday lunch and brings together people of different races. As a result they produce embroidered pieces and learn from each other. One colourful turquoise blanket with bold appliquéd shapes such as the sun and a butterfly was on display.

Dorothy is also a member of the Practical Study Group and is involved in exhibitions. She enjoys drawing to inspire others to sew and following a trip to Africa produced some stunning pictures of bushmen, giraffes and elephants.

Kantha brings people together, enabling them to produce something useful whilst furthering the traditional skills and making something new and precious. Surely that philosophy should be any embroiderer’s aim?

Joanna O'Neil - From Here to There

2009-01-22T20:04:00.012Z

Joanna’s warmth and enthusiasm was evident from the start of her talk when she described herself as creative but unambitious. “Stumbling about in the dark and bumping into things” is how she expressed her journey through textiles, meaning that her progress was more by change than by planning. Nevertheless, no-one could accuse her of aimlessness, judging by the colourful, beautifully designed, artistic and well-made articles she brought to show us, quilts, bags, panels and book-covers, coats and hangings. It was this variety of techniques and her journey from one to the next that she wanted us to understand, that she had not pursued one technique only, as many embroiderers do, at the expense of discovering what more was on offer. Many of us, I thought, would identify with that philosophy.

From this period, she showed us panels based on Coptic textiles, hangings of velvet patterned with keys and Celtic motifs, ‘Shakespearean’ book covers and panels of intricate machine-embroidery, some of which must have started the trend of ‘opulent but shabby’ that still pursues us today. It was mouth-watering. Inevitably though, the feeling of being rudderless, common to ex-C and G students, hung over her until she began hung over her until she began to fulfill a need for useful and pretty bags for friends and daughters. She showed us some of these jeweled creations, double-sided and rich with embroidery, velvety and textured.

Joining two local branches of the Guild of Craftsmen enabled her to sell these bags to a wider market and also to experience the disparity between one organization and another. By this time, Joanna had her own website, business-card, label (Rich Stitch) and put herself forward for inclusion on the Embroiderers’ Guild list of speakers She learnt, as we all do, that there is not much financial reward to be had from embroidery at this stage, not even from a stand at the Maidenhead and Windsor City and Guilds Open Days. It was at this point that Joanna showed us an amazing black velvet jacket made from fabric she had personally embellished. That would have sold at Harrods for thousands, I thought, wistfully.

Seeing the joys of quilting at one of the big shows, Joanna tried it for herself, joined the Quilters' Guild and was invited, on the strength of her small jewel-like quilts, to speak at their Regional Day meeting. Dyeing became a favourite occupation on velvet and other fabrics to create patchwork quilts of stunning vibrancy. One series, called the "Creation Quilts'' was particularly wonderful with symbolism and pattern combined, an applique lizard in one corner, applique feathers in another, a moon on the third. Imagine orange, turquoise and purple, blue and lime-green, red and magenta. That's how bright they were.

She showed us a silk-dyed jacket in murky green-blues to make us gasp with envy, multi-coloured quilts in squares and hexagons. This, she told us with disarming honesty, was her quilt period. But another change was about to occur when she attended an International Felt-Makers' exhibition and caught the bug. Yes, you've guessed it. She became a felt-maker, discovering through books and workshops how to make the kind of felt she wanted. From natural-coloured sheep fleece she made bags, some with embroidery, some plain, but all very classy. She became a member of the New Embroidery Group at about this time.

Articles for magazines followed, Quilting, Stitch, Patchwork and Quilting, and one of her pieces became the jacket photo of an academic book. As a member of the Quilters' Guild and aware of the wide differences of opinion judges impose upon exhibitors, some of them contradictory, Joanna took a two-year training course to become a quilt judge, and now she offers talks on this aspect of her career. Changes, she assured us, actually prolong life. From embroidery to quilting, felt-making to paper-making, her career is, I imagine, still progressing very successfully. "And by the way" she told us as a parting-shot, I'm a horse-whisperer, too."

Val Toombes - Silk Silk and more Silk

2009-01-22T11:44:00.012Z

Like many other eminent stitchers, Val began with encouragement from her mother and at the age of 12 was already making dresses. She found the routine methods of following patterns boring and soon showed initiative with her own designs.

When knitting machines became popular in the 1980s she developed weaving on the machine and devised knitting patterns. However, the poor return for making up the pattern in 6 sizes and producing a sample for photography encouraged her to new fields, but not before she had designed a sweater for Noel Edmonds! Under Marion Glover she completed a City and Guild’s design and embroidery course and that is when her love of silk really began.

By laying fibres of silk in layers and wetting them with wallpaper paste she produced the silk paper that can be used in many ways. She advised us that Jo Sonja’s textile media is now an improved method. A beautiful waistcoat that Val produced for an Alexandra Palace Show was sadly lost in transit but another purple one that she wears at shows was on display at the meeting. She has made some stunning items and previously she had shown us a hanging in delicate shades on silk fabric.

Today she showed a lovely white silk bag with an inset of needle-lace and beading and many other bags and purses in beautiful colours.
In 2002 Val decided to set up a business and after six months dyeing she opened for mail order and shows. She trades under ‘Silk Sacks’ and also advertises in the main stitching magazines.

With her husband, Val has enjoyed visiting New Zealand and on one occasion saw that
an international exhibition was to take place there so worked hard designing and making an entry under the title ‘Nature 1.0 Technology’. This was exhibited at our meeting. The mask and dress were made in silk fibres with intricate embellishments all in vibrant reds. When she heard the entry was accepted she and her husband went to the opening and were treated like royalty. The show lasted for 10 days and the awards ceremony was akin to the Oscars night. Sadly Val was not a winner, but a very satisfied participant.

In September she has a workshop and I am sure we will enjoy learning more about producing silk paper and fabric and making a picture or 3D model.

Jane Lemon at Whitchurch Silk Mill

2009-01-22T09:31:00.008Z

During July and August 2008 Whitchurch Silk Mill had an exhibition of ‘Robes and Raiments’ from Salisbury cathedral to mark 750 years since its dedication.

In addition they arranged for Jane Lemon to give one of her rare talks and on Wednesday 23rd July several of the Basingstoke EG members were privileged to be there. Marion Proctor had organised the event.

Before Jane became known as an eminent gold work designer and stitcher she had worked in the costume department of Sadlers Wells Ballet and for the BBC.

It was in 1978 (thirty years ago) that her connection with Salisbury Cathedral began when she was approached by the new Dean, who asked her to put on an exhibition of her church work. She took up the challenge and only a few months later her exhibition of 16 altar frontals on specially made altars with elaborate flower arrangements adorning them, took place. When asked who had produced them she said ‘The Sarum Group’ which was a group of about eight ladies. So the ‘Sarum’ embroiderers were born and are still working hard today.

Jane had several examples of the design drawings she did for her works and photos of parts or all of the finished pieces.

Perhaps the most famous is the ‘Energy’ altar frontal made for the high altar at Salisbury after the new east window was unveiled in 1980. It has vibrant reds and yellows to depict a crown of thorns with a chalice in the centre. The crown of thorns is worked in padded, manipulated and piped leathers of different colours and tones whereas the chalice is smooth Or nué work.
The intricate Festal Cross altar frontal, she explained, depicted water running through the church taking God’s love to everyone.

In addition to her work for Salisbury, Jane has had commissions from many other churches including one in Portsmouth. So this wonderful lady continues her dramatic work and we wish her well.

November Meeting

2008-11-18T19:33:00.003Z

This month we have Dorothy Tucker, Tutor for Opus School and Education Officer at the Embroiderers' Guild. Dorothy works at Hampton Court for events and exhibits her work at Prism. Her talk is about Kantha a Bengali name for cloth. Dorothy will trace her journey from her discovering the Kantha in India to her present work.

September Meeting

2008-09-14T21:00:00.003+01:00

This month we have Joanna O'Neil who will be talking to us about her career to date. Joanna was a student at East Berks and has completed City and Guild parts 1 and 2. She was also awarded the college's award for exceptional motivation.

Young Textile Artists

2008-08-25T13:19:00.007+01:00

Our Young Textile Artists have been busy again this year and I joined them on a few occasions to help out. On my visits we made a purse, tie dyed fabric and made jewellery from wool tops. They have also tackled weaving, silk painting, garden collage, book covers with a twinkle, sew a portrait and have made a Christmas decoration.

Tie Dyeing and Fabric Transfer Paints

As well as tie dyeing we tried out fabric transfer paints. Most of us went home with at least two pieces of dyed fabric which is no mean feat when we only have a couple of hours to get things done. Some had also dyed their t-shirts as they were in too much of a hurry to put on their aprons. Marbles, screws and other objects were encased in the fabric with elastic bands, bands were wound round scrunched up fabric and some folded their fabric securing it with clothes pegs. The fabric was immersed into the dye bath for the requisite time and then laboriously rinsed to get rid of the excess dye. Luckily it was a sunny day so we could hang the fabric outside to dry. Whilst the fabric was drying we had a go with fabric transfer paints, for this we had to paint a piece of paper with our design and then it was ironed onto fabric with a hot iron. It’s a very quick way of getting colour on to fabric.

Jewellery from Wool Tops

Marion showed us how to layer the wool tops and manipulate them into shape before wetting them and rolling them into a felted ball and made it look very easy. I have to say my first attempt was not that good and Marion had to rescue it before it became a hard lumpy mess. Not a good start when I was supposed to be there to help out. You have to get the gathering, folding and dry rolling of the wool right before you wet it. If you don’t you end up with lumps, creases and strange shapes. Anyway undeterred I helped make a number of pieces with the younger girls. When they reached the required shape and hardness the pieces were rinsed out in hot water to make them shrink and then left for a while to dry. As is usual at these meetings we were running out of time so it was a mad dash at the end to get them threaded up with some ribbon and beads.

Making a Purse

Marion came up with an ingenious way to make a small purse out of a washing tablet bag. Using any combination of the thread, ribbon, or wool supplied we had to thread it through the holes in the bag in any direction we wanted to. This might seem like a very easy task but the first problem was threading the needle, not so easy for some of the younger girls or those of us with impaired vision. You also had to be careful that you didn’t go through both layers of the bag. I did a lot of unpicking and re-threading that day. Once completed the purses were decorated with beads and sequins.

I’m not sure who gets most out of these meetings the girls or the helpers but what is quite clear is that none of it would happen if it wasn’t for Marion Proctor, the leader and her band of helpers Sue Crook, Anne Kimber, Jackie Amies, parents and other guild members who have come along to lend a hand.

Patterns of a Northern Land - Workshop with Janice Lawrence

2008-08-25T12:54:00.006+01:00

Janice originally studied geography but after seeing an exhibition of modern embroidery (she admits "some time ago") she decided to take a City and Guilds course at the London School of Fashion, and gained a distinction. Her work has been exhibited in many prestigious locations, she has produced some incredible work for churches, but also wall hangings, pictures and silk scarves. A long-term member of New Embroidery Group(exhibiting at all the UK Knit and Stitch shows this year) and since 2003 she has been part of Zero3 group (who have an exhibition in the Braintree District Museum Oct 14th - Nov 8th 2008).

We were fortunate to have such an accomplished teacher for the day. Our first shock was that she sewed without a foot! Many of us used to free machine embroidery have always used a foot, but this was a new experience. I quickly replaced mine as, without it I had huge stitches where I had "reversed" too quickly. So, straight free machine stitching free hand, foot to the floor and moving our fabric quickly, then slowly, altering the tension, trying different colours on top and bottom, gave some interesting effects. Doing the same in circles also gave some raised "nipple" effects on some finer material, if you started on the outside of the circle - she suggested using old tights. Janice showed us some felt that she had sewn with circles in different threads, it resembled ice. Next, we tried the same things with zigzag - and sideways use of the zigzag was also different.

Having played with the top tension, we turned our attention to our bobbin cases. Janice suggested that we keep one specifically for loosening by turning the tiny screw. This is useful for thick threads (where we turned to the "wrong" side to sew) or if we wanted a loopy effect.

Our next experiment was cutting a small cross in an openweave fabric and sewing the edges back and forth - it gave a lacy effect similar to cutwork. We also experimented with zig-zagging on scrim, to produce random lacy effects.
Probably the most surprising thing of the whole day was a completely new use for old tights. Janice had used the body part as a base for a bag - stitched with straight and zigzags then cords laid in to. The cords had been made by cutting a thin spiral from the legs of the tights and whip stitching it several times on the machine. She started by using up any old thread on the bobbin on a no 2 zig-zag, then increased the width for subsequent layers. Other motifs stitched on the tights were hung from the bag. Most impressive.

There were no great finished items to take home at the end of the day but I think all felt that they had learnt some new techniques.

Stitch to Enrich and Embellish - Jean Littlejohn

2008-08-25T11:36:00.012+01:00

Jean was pleased to see some of her former students and friends as well as our members and those from other Branches and interested stitchers. It was nice to see such a good attendance at the meeting. Jean was initially introduced to stitching by her Granny however this has not been passed on to her daughter who only likes to borrow her Mum’s embellisher. Jean has developed her skills broadly from being a student herself to teaching at East Berkshire College, giving various lectures to numerous guilds and embroiderers all over the world, including carrying out workshops on a cruise liner travelling to Alaska! She has run various workshops, displayed her work widely, taking part in numerous exhibitions such as the Knitting and Stitching Show, Art of the Stitch etc. Also with Jan Beaney, she is the other half of Double Trouble and in recent times the pair of them have written and worked samples for their books to inspire other embroiderers. Her last 2 printed works are about Red and also Enrich and Embellish.

Jean is a very bubbly and enthusiastic speaker and is very passionate about her work and the development of others, and is always pleased to promote various groups such as Odyssey and Haptic Art who were her students and have gone on to form their own groups and continue another journey into their work and what interests them, as well as the work of the Embroiderers’ Guild. In addition, Jean is a member of the 62 Group who have to submit work for exhibition of which about 1/3 is rejected. If your work is rejected you lose a life and once you have lost 3 lives you are out of the group, however, if your work is accepted you gain a life, at present Jean has 3 lives and has decided to take a year out.

Her embroidery started with hand and machine work, developed into the hand stitch with machine stitching, and the addition of braids, ribbons and various fabrics, then at later date, the use of water soluble fabrics, the hot air gun, soldering iron etc. Also the use of colour and the application of numerous layers of fabric threads created varied and wonderful textures. The way the textures were built up made it appear easy in the finished result, but these were done with machine and hand stitching added and then sewn over again to create the texture required.

We then saw a display of various slides showing the last piece of work done by Constance Howard and also many of her students’ pieces including Sue Crook's work. There were a very wide variety of topics from very ordinary subjects such as aprons to recycled plastic bags made into a log cabin design with aquabond and stitched.

Jean said that when creating designs, thinking time is important and even a chance remark on a radio can set the imagination working, or just looking around you, such as Jean’s current topic of interpreting cracks in the pavement or road. This was very entertaining, in addition to the cracks, she found there were also elastic bands discarded by the postman, a jelly baby, a zebra crossing and other items that appeared on the road outside her house. As well as photographs taken of the pavement, Jean took a quick picture en-route as she crossed the road. I bet there were some quizzical looks from passing motorists, which I expect, were very amusing to see. Jean’s most recent work has been created using an embellisher. When it arrived in the morning, all she had to do was unpack it, plug it in and attach the presser foot and she was away using all sorts of fabrics and threads that she had to hand. When it came to 3:30pm her husband asked if they were having any lunch today, as once Jean got started, time just evaporated. She also lent it to others who tried it and then became owners of an embellisher. This is a very good tool to have, as it is quicker to use than a hand-felting needle. It can create very different patterns depending on how you use it. Fabric can be attached on the front of the material and felted in, or to the back of the material and stitched from there to create different designs which show through to the front of the material, creating a more shadowy effect. Sometimes, having stitched from the front, the design shown on the reverse is nicer. Also the embellisher makes you think in a different way when creating designs and can save a lot of time. With this process you can use various fabrics, different thicknesses of thread and wool, tumble drier fluff plus many other things and it is very good for experimenting with textures and designs.

Jean had many samples which we were able to handle and inspect and ask questions about and you could see how the pieces were applied in various ways, other fibres were added plus paints and gold or silver foil was sandwiched between layers to create that extra depth to the work. In her pieces of work there was even evidence of where there was a puddle on the road, and various coloured paints were applied to the surface to re-create the oily film left on the roads. Manhole covers also provided a source of inspiration and of course the shape of the rubber band applied in fibre to the piece. Jean also used felt, foil and paint in the creation of areas of cracked surfaces using the embellisher, machine stitching and either a soldering iron or hot air gun.

Thank you Jean for an inspiring talk which will make others go away and play with your ideas whether in the creation of the textures or in mixed tool techniques.

Nipper and Tucker - Jennie Rayment

2008-08-25T11:09:00.008+01:00

Jennie Rayment claims to be the greatest “Twiddler-Fiddler-Nipper-Tucker-Twister-Mainipulator” in the world and we are sure that she deserves the title. She has visited us before and no-one who has heard one of her talks will ever forget it, from the moment she steps in front of her audience the sparks begin to fly.

A great deal of her life is spent travelling round the world various lecture tours and exhibitions, and she regaled us with some of her experiences. Recently she had to fly from San Francisco to Los Angeles after a living in an “extended-stay” hotel, where the rooms include small kitchens. Jennie prefers this type of accommodation as she is often too busy or worked-up to eat during the day, and finds it pleasant to relax in her room while having a vegetarian meal that she has prepared. Fresh fruit and vegetables can be quite expensive, and as there is no restriction about transporting them between States, she decided to pack what she had left into her carry-on bag. As her bag went through the Security gate, she noticed the Customs Officer take a second look, then he called another Officer over and they both peered at the X-Ray, a lady Officer joined them and a discussion ensued, finally they all came over to her and asked if she would unpack the bag so that they could examine its contents. She removed a jumper, some underwear, a computer mouse and a magazine, 3 tomatoes, a couple of oranges, some grapes and a whole Iceberg lettuce, at the sight of which, they all broke into smiles, apparently on the X-Ray it appeared as a round, solid object, which had them rather worried! Her advice is – if you are taking an Iceberg lettuce onto a plane – cut it in pieces first.

On another occasion she had a problem of excess luggage, because she carries quite a lot of examples of her work when she is lecturing, she packs it into one of those large checked plastic zipper bag, and she weighs it carefully to make sure it does not exceed 50lb, however, her carry-on bag tends to be heavier as she puts her books in there. The large bag was put on the scales, 50lb exactly, but the other bag was well over the 10lb limit, and the attendant started talking about excess baggage and having to pay, so Jennie asked if it would be alright if she removed some things. She went into a nearby shop, bought the cheapest item that she could find, and asked for two plastic carrier bags, into which she transferred most of the books, she took off her coat, pushed the carrier bags up her arms until they rested on her shoulders and struggled back into her coat. Then she waddled back to the weigh-in point, fortunately the attendant didn’t appear to recognise her, as the bags on her arms pushed out the front of her coat, giving her a rather more voluptuous figure than she had previously displayed. When she arrived at the check in before boarding the plane, she put the big case on the scales, “That’s fine”, said the attendant, “44lbs”. “What”, screamed Jennie, “Out there, they said it was 50lbs”. “Oh”, said the attendant, “Their scales are always wrong”. Never-the-less, Jennie recommends taking a couple of plastics bags with you, for emergencies.

Initially Jennie was a caterer, and entered the world of Needlework by accident. One cold and rainy morning in 1989, her 14 year-old son claimed he was too ill to get out of bed to do his paper round, and persuaded her to do it for him. She did not enjoy the experience, quite apart from the weather, the letter boxes were often hard to find and awkward to reach. At last she had only one paper left, but the cottage just did not seem to have a letter box, so Jennie rang the bell, a lady came to the door with a handful of brightly coloured scraps of material, “You poor thing”, she said, “Come in and dry off”. Over a cup of tea, she explained that she held classes in patchwork, and was looking for an assistant to make lunches, serve teas and help tidy up afterwards; Jennie came away with a new job. During that summer Jennie helped out and gradually got the bug, so that by the end of the year she was also teaching, frequently being just one chapter ahead of the students.

She took a Teachers’ Training Course and then City and Guilds, by this time there was an increasing interest in “texture” which, to Jennie, came to mean “tucks”, she pursued this idea beyond quilts and began to design garments. Her chosen fabric is calico, not only is it cheap, but it is very responsive to tucking, of course, in America, it isn’t called calico, but muslin, which is why Jennie is known as the “Muslin Mistress”. Another form of tucking involves machine tacking a grid onto an area of calico, and pulling all the ends until the material is “scrunched-up”, Jennie made the top of a box with this method, the sides were tucked with more conventional methods, because calico tends to get dirty when handled, she used to put a notice on top saying “Do Not Touch” and derived considerable amusement watching the ladies sneakily removing the notice and trying to open the lid. The real joke was that the box did not open; in fact it didn’t have a bottom, only the top and sides!

Over the years, Jennie has branched out into colour, the simplest way is to stitch the edges of the tucks with coloured threads, producing a stripey effect, or to use strips of different coloured materials and weave them together, also, if striped material is used, some very effective designs can be produced. If the fabric is folded on the diagonal it means that it has been folded on the bias and can be rolled back to make a curve and show the material underneath, as in Cathedral Windows. Another of the items that she showed us was a “Quag”, this is a bag that turns into a quilt, a square panel is stitched at the top-centre of the back of the Quilt. The top seam is left open, and handles are attached to the quilt and the panel, the remaining 3 sides of the panel are stitched to the quilt. When the sides of the quilt are folded over the panel, and then the bottom folded up, the whole thing can be turned inside out to make a bag, which is very useful when travelling, providing both storage and warmth. One of her latest ideas is a Sudoku tablecloth, which is a patchwork of 9 colours arranged on the basis of a completed Sudoku grid, she has also explored this principle using 9 different techniques instead of colours.

As her finale, Jennie performed a striptease to display the various items of clothing that she has made which illustrate her quilting and tucking techniques. Starting with a beautifully tucked calico cloak, lined in red, she removed a jacket and waistcoat, followed by a circular skirt and then a blouse, to leave her standing in cami-knickers and a camisole with slightly off-centre tassels!

July Meeting

2008-07-02T19:35:00.000+01:00

This month we have Val Toombes who is a life long dressmaker, knitter and designer, she is now in business dyeing and selling natural fibres. Her talk is about her journey from dressmaker to tutor of silk paper making. Her talk will be followed by a workshop in September.

Photographs into Stitch - Anne Kimber

2008-07-02T17:02:00.026+01:00

Following on from Jan Messent’s delightful talk in January, February brought us another entertaining talk from a branch member. Anne Kimber, founder member and past chairman of Basingstoke Branch, delighted us all with the story of her development as an artist.

Anne’s recent work, Distaff 2, is a splendid representation of Anne’s credentials. She comes from a long line of talented makers. Anne remembers learning to knit at school aged 5. By the second lesson, Anne was well away and teaching her fellow pupils. Knitting is still very much part of Anne’s life and that of the many friends she has roped in to knitting for the Christmas Boxes scheme!

As a young mother, Anne found time to go to pottery classes and showed us a small jug made in those early days. This class led on to an Art class at The Hurst for three years which in turn steered Anne to a part-time foundation course. Anne started a degree course and though she was not able to finish it, her tutors had suggested she consider working in textiles. Reluctantly, feeling that this was moving away from Art, Anne took their advice and began a City and Guilds Creative Embroidery course. It was around this time that Anne began making ecclesiastical hangings. The relentless pace of Anne’s work is well illustrated by the Methodist Church in Tadley which Anne attends and which she describes as ‘no longer bare’. Anne brought one of the Church hangings to show us, one which involved everyone, from the very young doing handprints to the more mature parishioners and even some reluctant men. Anne’s heart-warming talent for involving others in projects is inescapable.

When the City and Guilds course ended abruptly, Anne decided to finish the course by enrolling with the Opus School of Textiles where Julia Caprara offered to be her tutor. Anne was advised to choose a subject close to home for her research and the garden theme is one which runs through much of Anne’s work to this day. It was at this time that Anne’s adventures with photographs began. Anne’s use of photographs has led to much innovative work, The work on show illustrated the many ways in which Anne has used photographs, always looking for new ways to incorporate them in her work. Some of the resulting work travelled to Alexandra Palace and Harrogate with the Opus stand for the Knitting and Stitching Shows and was also featured in Quilting Arts. Photographs are sometimes combined with sheet copper which itself can be embossed, heat treated and stitched. The materials have then been fashioned into vessels. Many of these are on a theme of the seaside, another enduring topic in Anne’s work.

As well as exhibiting with Prism since 2004, Anne has exhibited at Greenham Arts Centre and taken part in the Open Studios with Julie Smith as well as sharing an exhibition with her daughter Rebecca at the Willis Museum in 2006.

One of the great pleasures of Anne’s talk was seeing the luscious books which she produces, recording her research and her experiments with materials and forms, allowing her to constantly push boundaries and take her work in new directions all the while finding inspiration close to home and making references in her work to her own life.

We look forward to seeing more of Anne’s work, possibly at the Festival of Quilts and under the aegis of Quilting Arts. Closer to home, we look forward with anticipation to the workshop Anne is leading for branch members.

On Second Thoughts - Jan Messent

2008-07-02T16:37:00.025+01:00

In October 2006 I had a phone call from Jan Messent, which led to my inviting her to our EG branch meeting. She was impressed by our friendliness and joined as a member. Since then I have been privileged to get to know her better and delighted to learn that because of us she started to embroider again.

She generously agreed to speak to us. I notified other branches about Jan’s talk and we were impressed to have 22 visitors as well as most of our members, to hear her. Many of us have at least one of Jan’s embroidery and design books and some may have a ‘Mills and Boon’ written by her under her pen name!

There was a wealth of treasures on the tables around Jan when she began to speak and she used slides to illustrate her journey as an embroiderer and designer. Having trained as a teacher, she taught art, English and history in a secondary school before marrying and having three children. She wished to stay at home to look after her family, but like many women, wanted to contribute to the family purse and made clothes, soft toys and embroidered items for sale. Having lived in the north, she moved to Reading in 1971 and joined the Reading Branch of the EG where she met enthusiasts like Val Campbell Harding, Sheila Paine, Kit Pitman and others who encouraged her to exhibit and gained her commissions.

Jan’s whole life had been ‘going off at tangents’ she said and this was primarily because she needed to make money for the family. So she began to give talks, did drawings for Search Press books and then started a series of very successful design books published by Batsford between 1980 and 1996. Her interests were wide and varied from Embroidery in Architecture to Embroidery and Animals. At the same time Jan became involved with the Knitting Craft Group (KCG) pioneering freestyle techniques, which we saw illustrated by slides. She was photographed in an impressive knitted coat on a precarious wooded slope, made fascinating crochet and knitted panels and experimented with combining colours and patterns of knitting and crotchet on canvas.

Jan’s husband, following ill health, took early retirement and they moved north to a spot where she could see the vales of Yorkshire and he could see his native Lancashire hills. Then followed Jan’s very successful time as a top embroiderer. She was in great demand to lecture in the UK and abroad and write and this necessitated producing samples of all types. She had many on display for us and we were able to admire them after the talk.

In the 1990s her love of history led her to research more about the Bayeux Tapestry and she arranged to make the missing 8 feet that had disappeared from the end of the tapestry. Having a commission from Madeira Threads, who provided plant-dyed yarns and linen gave her time to gain an insight into how the work was produced. In 1997 the tapestry was launched and it was taken to Falaise to show the French. Then followed more lecture tours and another commission from Madeira to write a book. For those who have seen ‘The Bayeux Tapestry Embroiderers’ Story’ we can only marvel at the hours Jan must have spent drawing all the illustrations and hand-writing all the text. It is still available from bookshops.

Her love of the NE with the legends of St Cuthbert of Lindisfarne inspired her to design and hand embroider a series including a large wallhanging, two cushions and samples of Aedgyth’s sleeve and Aelfreda’s gown. These were also on display for us to enjoy. All are lovingly stitched and appliquéd in soft silks and cotton on silk, linen, cotton and paper.

About 1996 Jan began writing ‘Mills and Boon’ novels, which have an historical background and to date has had 17 published and still has several more in the pipeline. However, she warned us that they were not suitable for people who did not want to know what went on behind the bedroom door!!

Recently Jan has produced exquisite note books, which were on display. Her recent one was written whilst on holiday in Crete, where she visited the Knossos site. Before leaving home she coloured the pages of her notebook using paint, water soluble pencils and gold powder to provide an interesting background for her drawings and reminiscences. So this remarkable lady still works incessantly, writing, drawing and stitching and we thank her again for enabling us to share a wonderful afternoon with her.

Workshop playing with mixed media - June Lydiate

2008-06-12T14:43:00.008+01:00

One thing was certain this was going to be a very busy workshop not least because there were twenty participants. When June read out the list of things we were going to make during the day I thought that we may not get finished until midnight. Having bought our paper and card kits which June had prepared for us we were ready to start. June demonstrated a variety of techniques throughout the day a flavour of which I have given below.

The first thing we made was a photo holder. Taking our two pieces of shaped card we first had to paint both sides with acrylic paint then cover front and back covers with decorated paper. It was then down to each person to decorate them in whatever way they wanted. We helped ourselves to the decorative bits of paper, embossing powders, material, beads, glitter and die cutters that June had laid out for us to use. To finish off we joined the two pieces together with a couple of ring clips.

It was then on to labels. June went through all the steps and then we were off making our own. Using the blank labels from our kits we cut out shapes from decorated paper and stuck them on to the labels. Then we embellished the labels with cut out shapes, sequin waste, foil paper and whatever else we could find.

Embossing miniature book covers with ultra thick embossing enamel (UTEE). To do this we had to stamp the covers with glue then cover with UTEE. The UTEE was then heated until it went shiny and then before it cooled down again we had to stamp our design into it. The pages could then be inserted into the book and finished off with some ring clips.

Making beads from paper, string, glitter, paint and glue. To make a bead all you need is a strip of paper which can either be straight or shaped like a pennant, plain or decorated. The paper is rolled around something like a knitting needle and the edge glued down. Once you have the basic shape it can be decorated in many different ways. Plain paper can be painted, a piece of string wrapped around the bead and painted gives a raised edge, glitter glue painted on.

With all these techniques we were only limited by our imaginations and it was interesting to see the different results on display at the end of the day.

June Meeting

2008-06-12T14:29:00.004+01:00

The afternoon will be for members to bring one guest free of charge. There will be a talk and demonstration by Gillsew with items for sale. Members have been asked to bring items they have made to put on display and we will also have tea and cakes and time for a chat.

June - Workshop

2008-05-13T19:00:00.005+01:00

For our June workshop we have Janice Lawrence, student of the London College of Fashion, member of the Embroiderers' and Art Workers Guilds. This is a workshop with the sewing machine creating elaborate surfaces using a variety of yarns, stitches and fabrics. For further details please email mbroider1906@yahoo.co.uk

May - Stitch to Enrich and Embelish

2008-05-13T18:47:00.003+01:00

For our May meeting we have Jean Littlejohn, teacher and lecturer both in the United Kingdom and overseas. She is a member of the 62 Group and co founder of Double Trouble Enterprises. Her talk with slides will show a range of rich and atmospheric sufaces using hand and machine stitching plus embellishing.

April - Jennie Rayment

2008-04-03T17:40:00.005+01:00

This month we have "Nipper and Tucker" Jennie Rayment giving us a talk. Unique in her field, she's now internationally known for her quick, simple, innovative and original techniques with manipulated material and her lectures always very entertaining.

March Meeting - Talk by Linda Miller

2008-02-25T14:42:00.003Z

In her Winchester studio, The Colour Factory Linda creates rich, colourful, naive and often humorous embroideries. Her work has been exhibited around the world, she has received commissions and awards and has been artist in residence at several establishments.

February Meeting

2008-02-03T12:44:00.000Z

Our talk this month is by Anne Kimber who is one of the founder members of our branch. An accomplished textile artist her work has been exhibited at various locations including the Willis Museum in Basingstoke and the Mall Galleries in London. She is also a member of Prism. Anne will talk about her distinctive work using photographs.

We also have a trader this month Karen Veck.

Enquiries to mailto:mbroider1906@yahoo.co.uk

Celtic Influences and Inspirations - Talk by Maggie Grey

2008-02-03T12:30:00.001Z

Having been to other talks by Maggie I thought we may be in for a very interesting and entertaining afternoon and I wasn't disappointed. Maggie's enthusiasm for anything to do with embroidery certainly shows through. She was ably assisted by her husband Clive for this talk called Celtic Influences and Inspirations. Maggie did the embroidery and Clive operated the computer and jumped in with the history bits.

The Celtic people originated in the Danube Valley of Central Europe and then expanded their territory throughout most of Europe and beyond. That's the history part done, now on to the embroidery. Maggie showed us some pictures of work by Marji Hennan, Jill Nicholls, Diane Bates, Sheila Hatch and Brenda Weeks who have all been influenced by Celtic imagery.

We were also shown pieces of Maggie's work and she shared with us some of her techniques. One that I found particularly interesting was her use of embossing powders. Using a Melting Pot she melts ultra thick embossing powder (UTEE). Add a small piece of glue stick and melt it with the UTEE, this makes the results less brittle. Drip the melted UTEE on a flexible moulding mat and cover with either a piece of scrim or water soluble paper. Once dry remove from the stamp. These pieces can then be coloured and stitched to a background fabric.

Having said that Clive does the history part of the talk he was tempted into some sewing. He got very interested in shrines as part of his research; these were used to hold sacred relics or books. He then went on to design and make a casket based on a house shrine using a machine called a Poem which linked to a computer.

Maggie along with the late Val Campbell-Harding has written a book about Celtic Inspirations for machine embroiderers. A lot of the pieces that were on show feature in this book, along with the techniques used to achieve the results.
Maggie also has a blog now where you can keep up with her travels and latest sewing and writing projects.

Goldwork Workshop - Clare Hanham

2008-01-27T19:15:00.000Z

I have never attended an Embroiderers’ Guild Workshop that I didn’t enjoy and have always come away with a new skill and/or lots of exciting ideas, which unfortunately, usually prove to be too ambitious when viewed in the cold light of day. Clare Hanham’s workshop was no exception to the rule, and, in fact, will take its place high on the list of my favourites.

Clare is a delightful young lady who served her apprenticeship at the Royal School of Needlework and, obviously, made good use of her time there, as could be seen from the examples of her work which she brought to show us, and the teaching skills which she displayed. She had prepared kits for us to create the picture of a Christmas Bauble made using Goldwork. The kits not only contained all that we needed to complete the project, but instructions in case we forgot what Clare had told us.

First we had to tack the piece of silk from the kit to some calico and then secure it very firmly in an embroidery hoop, the material should be "as tight as a drum" and Clare advised the use of a short screwdriver to make it was really secure, a very valuable tip which I hadn’t heard before. I have always only tightened the frame by hand. Since we were to make a golden bauble, the kit contained a piece of yellow felt to be used for the raised backing, if the bauble had been silver then white felt would have been supplied and if copper was to be used the felt would have been brown. The reasoning behind this is that it is almost impossible to completely cover the backing felt and the relative colours make it less obvious, this is the sort of idea that comes with experience.

When attaching the felt, Claire said to start with the smallest piece and work up to the largest,thus producing a smooth surface, and to bring the needle up through the backing material and down through the felt, which gives a neater edge. Most of the design is accomplished by couching down the different types of gold wire threads and the stitching should be done in such a way that the wires are always pulled together. These are the sort of tips which are never explained in kits; they are so obvious that no-one bothers to mention them, you really need a teacher in front of you while you are working, which, of course is the great value of our workshops.

Clare explained each step to small groups of us and then moved around the tables giving additional assistance as it was required. I must say it was one of the quietest workshops that I have attended, the concentration was so intense that you could hear a pin drop, apart from an occasional sigh or muffled curse as the gold wire refused to stay where it was placed. It was a most enjoyable day and we left, exhausted, but happy and determined to finish what we had started.

Straw as a Textile Fibre - Veronica Main

2008-01-26T11:07:00.000Z

The display on the table looked shiny like gold and was wonderfully intricate with tiny stitches. But we were amazed to learn that all the exhibits were made of straw. In the next hour we were to be educated in the skill of producing embroidery based on natural grasses such as flax, rushes, palms and woodchip as well as the obvious wheat, barley, rye and oats.

In a loud voice Veronica emphasised that she did not make ‘corn dollies’ but was fascinated to find how many products had been manufactured using straw; the obvious one being hats. Veronica’s background was in textiles and she had been self employed for 30 years. Recently she has been appointed curator for costumes and textiles at Luton Museum and had just completed an MA in costumes at Winchester. Her work also involves setting up an exhibition at Stockwood Discovery Centre in 2008.

A series of slides showed us some very old examples of hats, church robes, shoes and a bodice for a tiny person. Most were several hundred years old and the photographer produced excellent close-ups showing the tiny detailed stitching. Veronica explained that straw needed to be damp to work and had to be cut or flattened before sewing to the silk, net or horsehair. Many examples were from Switzerland where rye straw is often woven into silk, giving a flexible fabric, which can be shaped into a hat or bonnet. Sadly competition from China and Japan hit the European market in the nineteenth century and then by the 1970s hats went out of fashion. So the British hat industry declined and is only found as a small cottage industry in places like Luton.

Veronica’s enthusiasm for straw resulted in her being asked to write a book about straw in textiles. A glance through it showed information on design and use of straw as well as excellent photographs of finished products and diagrams illustrating methods used.

She was also allowed to bring some exquisite samples from Switzerland, which she proudly displayed for us. Before she let us browse over the samples she pleaded with us to try our hands at straw work.