Zara Day talk and workshop

Zara's talk was riveting, and as a bonus she had brought along two of her stunning chairs for us to see firsthand, along with a range of exquisite samples.  

She outlined her development as a textile designer from studying print making for fashion at college, through teaching to the time when, as a Leamington branch member, she came along to a talk by a textile artist that inspired her to review what she was doing and to consider the possibility of working for herself.  Zara had been teaching textile art at Warwickshire College and took the decision to invest in a secondhand Bernina, which opened up a new textile world for her.  She became hooked on drawing with the sewing machine and soon began to exhibit her beautifully stitched designs at textile and handmade craft shows.  

  

Zara carried on teaching for a while longer, working on her collections in her spare time, but arrived at the point where she knew she would have to commit all her time and energy to her growing business.  As a result of successful exhibitions at events like Heal's Modern Craft Market in their London store, where her furnishing designs made a great impact, Zara realised that the handmade aspect of her work, though time-consuming, was what satisfied her. She didn't want to go down the retail route, which would mean losing control of her work after the design stage.  

Inevitably, the market for her work is niche - at the higher end, reached mainly through working with interior designers on designs for individual and corporate clients.  She has produced a number of collections and now works on leather, silk and other fabrics, as well as her trademark wool.

We were privileged therefore to benefit from Zara's expertise in a whole day's workshop to produce our own designs for a panel on wool fabric.  This involved cutaway and appliqué techniques, free machine embroidery and hand stitching.

Zara Day - cutaway, appliqué, hand and machine stitch designs on wool

The design element took some time, but we all managed to create a design and start the stitching - to be completed at home, of course ....

We had a thoroughly satisfying and enjoyable day, and our thanks go to Zara for returning to Leamington to inspire us in turn!

Friday 6th February Talk: Jane Cobbett, "Quilt Detective" / Workshop Saturday 7th

Jane Cobbett’s talk delves into the more unusual ways of dating quilts, looking at pattern, fabrics and hidden clues. Jane has an extensive collection of historical textiles from around the world, and she will be bringing some of her extensive quilt collection for us to look at.

Jane has been a tutor for over ten years, teaching with Coventry University, Adult Education and the Herbert Art Gallery & Museum.  Her other areas of tuition are Historical Needlework, Patchwork, Appliqué and Traditional Embroidery.

This promises to be a really interesting talk and visitors are always welcome to come and listen.  (Details of where we are on our 'How to find us' page - see right-hand column).  

This will be followed by a workshop on Saturday 7th:

“Folk Art Appliqué”

The workshop will give you the opportunity to study a selection of household items, including vintage appliqué pieces from a felt tea cosy to full-size old and new appliqué quilts.

Learn and make samples of three different popular appliqué techniques and create a Folk Art style notebook.

Hand-outs and patterns will be available to use at the workshop and there will be a small sales table selling material, kits and patterns.

Branch members have received a requirements list for this workshop, but if you have any queries, please get in touch.

Young Embroiderers are getting ready for Christmas ...

Our Young Embroiderers Group were busy making Christmas gift bags on Saturday morning.  They measured and cut out their bright Christmas fabrics, then made up a fabric motif - quite a few snowmen :-) - which could be appliquéd to the front of their bags.  There wasn't quite time to finish all the bags in the session, so we hope to get a few photos to add to the blog once the bags have been made up at home, in time for Christmas of course!

Please note: there will be no meeting in December.