'Embroidering with Paper and Fabric' Summer School with Isobel Hall, 1st - 2nd August

Many of us have seen Isobel's work, if not up close, then in one of her stimulating and informative books.  Her wonderfully original bags, books and boxes are so invitingly textural that they immediately inspire the desire to touch and handle them.

"My personal obsession is that I like to embroider and work with fabrics that have been made from scratch. Experimental sketchbook work is important for me and I go on to create items that are fit for purpose so my bags, books, vessels, boxes and jewellery all have to be robust and useable."  (Isobel Hall)

So we were excited about spending two days with Isobel and getting to grips with the techniques she uses. We probably hadn't appreciated the amount of work that goes into original fabrics "made from scratch".  We really did start from scratch with a basic hessian base into which ripped and stitched teabag paper was woven, painted and then embroidered with fabric strips and knitting yarns.  However, it was fascinating to see the textures appear as layers were added and stitched into, and clearly the final bags, needle cases or book covers will be robust and a delight to use.

Besides guiding us through this particular technique, Isobel also explained how she had made a number of the beautiful, tactile surfaces that are featured in her latest books and gave us lots of tips and advice on products and alternative materials  - in fact pages and pages of notes were produced, as we scribbled away, trying to keep up with the wealth of information Isobel so generously shared.

Heads buzzing after a very packed two days, and with so many possible new techniques to use, we went away with some very different pieces to continue working on ...