More lovely work

Shay's beautiful lampshade is the second one she has completed following Zara's workshop.  Her inspiration came from the lamp itself, and Shay sampled a number of ideas before deciding on the final design.

The fabric is linen, with machine embroidery (outlines stitched twice), 

and French knots added by hand.

Finishing those UFOs

Some members have decided to make use of lockdown time to work on unfinished projects - what a lovely feeling it is to complete those pieces that have been languishing for a while!  As you will see, cushions are a popular theme ...

Julia's elegant cushion was inspired by Zara Day's workshop, using appliqué and reverse appliqué on wool fabric. The motifs are Maori designs seen in new Zealand.

Likewise, Mary started her cushion on Zara's course, and now it's beautifully finished with embroidery both sides and contrast piping:

Janet's cushion was started last year at Anne Kelly's Folk Art workshop. She added motifs from 1960s curtain fabric to an old hand embroidered cushion front, together with printed motifs from Anne’s collection of wood blocks and pieces of dyed lace. Janet added a large central motif in the same style, hand embroidered some of the applied motifs and then free machined further outlines. The border trim and backing were made using the 1960s fabric.  The end result is this very vibrant cushion (and a great upcycling piece).

The following pieces were completed following Jayne Emerson's Zoom workshop in June:

Judi created this beautiful decorative piece with lots of embellishment:

  

Janet had torn fabric into strips, and made them up into nine squares, which were stitched to form a larger square, then lots more stitching added, and a motif cut from the floral fabric.  The square has now become a fabulous cushion cover with piping and a toning plain green on the back.

  

We're so looking forward to seeing more completed pieces, whether lockdown UFOs or inspired by the Zoom sessions, or blog projects. Email photos to: leamingtondistrictitrep@embroiderersguild.co.uk

"Inspired by Ceramics"

Our latest Zoom co-create session was another great success, and brought together a substantial number of members. The brief was to find a ceramic item at home to use as inspiration for stitching, and to have ready small pieces of fabric and threads in appropriate colours.

Gill's very professional introduction gave us some ideas and examples: 

Plate interpreted in appliqué  

 

Simplify the design

 

Use the shape, and create a background of fabric and paper overlaid with organza

The inspiration for Lucy's delightful appliquéd sample was a pair of Christening mugs:
 

 

 

So, this is how some of the pieces were interpreted in the session ...

Ruth based hers on a patterned cup:

 

Judi's stylish Biba urn:

 

Diane's hippy chicks come from a 70s mug:

Beth's subtle plate design:

 

Margaret stitched onto a fabric/paper background:

Margherita's vase with further details to be added:

Mary's 'Christmas trees in the snow' is from a special plate:

Wendy's vibrant flowers:

 

  

Carol based her design on this colourful china bull:

Lucys delicate flower design:

 

We had a 'show-and-tell' at the end, and everyone agreed it had been a really enjoyable and stimulating session - plenty of food for thought and further pieces.  It's fabulous to be able to have a look at people's creations again, and see the very different interpretations of such a variety of ceramics.

Many thanks to Gill for organising it all, and we will definitely be having another workshop like this one.