JETS' Christmas decorations

At our last meeting of this year, the JETS group had a happy session making tree-shaped Christmas decorations.

They chose two- or three-sided shapes, and cut them out in felt using a template.  Dipping into the 'bits and shares' bag (donated bits & pieces), they had great fun sewing on beads, sequins and cord.

The shapes were then stitched together and stuffed - not forgetting the hanging ribbons.

Helpers, parents and JETS had a lovely time sewing and eating cake! 

A massive thank you to all our helpers for their help and support throughout the year.  We make a great team, and we're looking forward to another fun and creative year next year. 

and a Happy, Stitchy New Year!

Leamington Member to decorate Pump Rooms Gallery

Well done, Fiona!

The poster below says it all - do go and have a browse :)  

Compton Verney Textile Fair

What a fabulous day we had at Compton Verney's annual Textile Fair on Saturday!

It was a perfect late Autumn day, and we had a prime location in the beautiful, recently-renovated Palladian-style Chapel.  Sunlight streaming through the tall windows showed off our work to its best advantage.

This event has become increasingly popular and attracts a huge number of interested visitors.  We were kept on our toes answering questions, and comments in our visitors' book filled several pages.

Here are some photos of the work we had on display.

Looking down from the balcony

 

Making an embroidered appliqué robin with Delia Cecil

Our recent workshop with Delia Cecil was enjoyable and very absorbing.  Delia's technique of  using freezer paper to make the intricate pattern pieces for this delightful robin was new to most of us, and we were impressed by how effective it is - once you get the hang of what you are doing!

This is a photo of Delia's robin hanging, to show what we were aiming for.



Using Delia's and our own eco-dyed fabrics to make the robin helped to make it more realistic.

We all managed to complete the assembly of the robin, but most of us found it pretty time-consuming, which meant that we didn't get far into free machine stitching the feathers to add texture.  We knew that stitching the background and finishing the hanging wouldn't be possible in the day - something to look forward to doing at home.
  

Here's a clutch of robins waiting to fly away home to be completed .....

'Winter heads' and junior member's success

The JETS had a fabulous session this month making 'Winter heads'! They made little scarves and hats to decorate polystyrene balls mounted on kebab sticks, and attached beads and sequins with pins for eyes and noses.

    

  

These cute characters can be added to flowers or a table decoration for Christmas.

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While we are still with JETS, here's a picture of Regional competition winner, Harry, that missed the last blog post.  Harry is shown with Alex Messenger, the Guild's Artistic Director for JETS (left) and Anne Prior, Branch Chairman.  Alex presented Harry with a certificate for his winning entry (shown in more detail on the previous post) at the Branch's recent exhibition, On My Doorstep.

'On My Doorstep' and JETS winner

There are a few days left to catch our exhibition at All Saints (Parish) Church in Leamington, which continues until Sunday 4th November.

It's great to be able to report that Harry, one of our Junior Embroiderers who only joined the group in March, won the West Midlands Regional Day junior competition.  

Harry's winning entry is a jar with a stitched lid featuring a seahorse, and comes with a matching seahorse pin.  It is on display during the exhibition.

We were also delighted that Alex Messenger, the Guild's Artistic Director for JETS, was able attend the exhibition private view evening to present Harry with his certificate.  Alex came with Guild CEO, Terry Murphy, and joined a number of local dignitaries, among whom were Leamington Mayor, Heather Calver, Mike Hitchins, Mayor of Kenilworth, and Stephen Cross, Warwick District Council Chairman, who were all very complimentary about the branch's skills and creativity.

Exhibition opening times are shown below. Do come and have a look if you can.

'On My Doorstep' exhibition starts this week ...

Coming soon, and recent work

Friday 2nd November - 'Wild and Wonderful'

We are delighted to be able to welcome Delia Cecil to talk about her work and then give us a whole day workshop.  Delia is one half of the textile duo Running with Scissors, working with Jennie Calloman - you may have seen them at Fashion, Embroidery and Stitch at the NEC, and other events.  She is also a member of TAGS (Textile Art Group Suffolk), and her work has been featured in textile magazines.  

Delia's work is influenced by her love of wildlife and nature, so it is appropriate that the title of her talk on Friday 2nd November is Wild and Wonderful.  It will be a show and tell of her work, past and present.

Visitors are very welcome to come to this talk.

Appliquéd Robin workshop - Saturday 3rd November

Delia is known for using her own eco dyed and printed fabrics to make pieces featuring small birds, which are then embroidered by hand and machine.  This will be the basis of Saturday's workshop, when we will make a robin - appliqué, machine-stitched feathers and some hand stitches to add texture. All of the appliqué and stitching should be achieved in the day, although the background stitching and piping may need to be finished at home.

A kit is available, if required: £10.

There are still a few places left on this workshop.  If you are interested, 

please contact  leamingtondistrictdaysch@gmail.com / 07715 664084

Here are a few pictures from recent workshops.

Fields

In our most recent workshop with Deborah Collum, we painted, collaged and stitched strips of fabric to represent fields. We couldn't help noticing that our samples placed together give the impression of an extensive patchwork landscape:

There is still stitching to be done on most, and Deborah's lovely 'fields' show the sort of effect we are aiming for:

Pretty Reels

Beautiful samples made by our Programme Secretaries, Gill and Lucy for a half-day workshop upcycling cotton reels.

Works in progress

This was a fun, relaxed afternoon spent with some creative stitching after our September AGM - just what we needed!

Friday October 5th - Don't miss Karen Nichol - 24/7 Stitch

This is a quick reminder that our talk tomorrow is by Karen Nichol - details in the post below - and it promises to be an excellent evening.  Karen is an inspirational textile artist and embroiderer.

Visitors are very welcome to come along.

October events: Karen Nicol '24/7 Stitch', and 'On our Doorstep' exhibition

24/7 Stitch

   

Our next meeting is on Friday 6th October, when we welcome renowned textile artist, Karen Nicol to give us a talk. The talk will look at her career as an embroiderer over fashion, interiors and gallery; the fantastic diversity and excitement of embroidery as a subject, looking at use of different materials and exploring and expanding traditional techniques. 

It will look at working with fashion designers and interior designers, answering a brief and the need to be constantly innovating to try to stay ahead of the game. Inspiration and the gallery side of Karen's work creating art pieces and showing in galleries.

Karen's art pieces have been exhibited around the world in various exhibitions, fairs and shows - you may have seen her striking embroidered and sculptured animals, ‘Couture Creatures’…from Napoleonic Polar Bears to Marquetry foxes, cut glass mandrills to tattooed monkeys.

In the book Embellished, New Vintage Karen explores her passion for the visual inspiration informing her embroidery that she finds in her magpie flea market collections.

Besides holding roles of senior lecturer, research fellow, visiting tutor and visiting professor on the textiles MA degree at the Royal College of Art, Karen won the Embroiderers' Guild Beryl Dean teaching award in 2014 and in November 2015 she was made a Royal Designer for Industry.

www.karennicol.com               

instagram@karennicol1

Visitors are very welcome to come to this talk.

Details are on our 'How to find us' page.

... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 

We are also excited about our exhibition later in the month.

"On our Doorstep" 

opens with a Private View evening on Thursday 18th October 

at All Saints Church, Leamington Spa

and then continues until 4th November

The exhibition is open to all during church opening hours and is free of charge.

We hope visitors will come along and see this interesting collection of original stitched textile work, and take away some inspiration.

New term for Junior Embroiderers, and flower pictures

We are delighted to welcome some new junior embroiderers, who joined our group in September.  They enjoyed learning how to couch, work satin stitch and appliqué - and made a really good start.

The students also started on their DeDenne piece, though we can't show any pictures yet, since that would spoil our entry into the competition!

Following on from the JETS session, members and non-members came together to use machines with free-motion feet to make beautiful flowers.  They learned how to use soluble fabric with layers, including organza and threads which were trapped between layers of contrasting organza, using stitch.

This resulted in the lovely easels shown below.

Art in the Park success!

What a fantastic week-end this turned out to be!  Not only was the weather hot and sunny, but more people than ever came along to enjoy themselves.

We were kept extremely busy both days with enquiries from stitchers and people just interested in what we had on display.  The handling samples were definitely a good idea - people were really keen to have a closer look and feel.

There were lots of takers for our leaf stitching activity (just visible in the background below), which was an opportunity for little ones to have a go and parents to rest for a few minutes.

The organisers should be congratulated on a well-organised event that provided a lot of fun and interest for everyone involved.  See you there again next year!

We are at Art in the Park - this week-end!

This Saturday & Sunday (4th-5th August) from 10 am to 6 pm 

You will find us by the riverside - please pop by and see us!

in Jephson Gardens, Leamington Spa.

www.artinpark.co.uk

Eco printing and wet felting

Back by popular demand after last year's mini workshop on 'Whipping and Lacing', Caroline Lindsay this time guided us through firstly, eco printing and then wet felting with an emphasis on colour and texture.  Quite a feat to get through it all in a one-day workshop, and what a full day it was!

Eco printing

is a means of extracting the natural dyes in leaves and flowers by wrapping them in cloth around a copper pipe or wooden pole and then steaming or simmering them in water for a couple of hours.

The reveal after steaming and then unwrapping ...

Ideally, the bundles would be left overnight before unwrapping, to ensure that the maximum amount of dye has been drawn out.  Although the results can be a little unpredictable, some lovely colours and prints can be achieved.

These two examples are Caroline's own work.

Wet felting

While the bundles were happily steaming away, we got on with felt making.

We started by making pre-felts, i.e. pieces that were felted just enough to hold together, and then applied them to new pieces, creating textural effects in the process.  

This was a lot of fun, making tucks, cups, ridges, and adding silk threads and fabric strips, before felting the whole piece really well.  Thanks to Caroline's expertise and excellent tuition we packed in some great techniques and produced some exciting pieces ...

The pieces are all stunning as they are or can be further embellished with stitching, beads, silk threads, etc. .....