Designing for Stitch - Talk by Pauline Barnes, Friday 2nd October

Pauline explains in this talk that much of her inspiration comes from the architecture and culture of places she has visited - Peru, Italy, Thailand, Mexico and Egypt, among others - and more recently, abstract themes, such as secrecy and concealment, calligraphy and rain.

Pauline often uses geometric shapes and patterns, and usually plans her quilts on graph paper after a few minimal line drawings.  She makes lots of samples to find the best way to interpret a motif or pattern, and so creative thinking takes over and the finished quilt is often quite different from the initial design.

Visitors are very welcome to come along to this talk on 

Friday 2nd October, which starts at 7.00 pm. 

We meet at St Mary's Church Hall, St Mary's Road, Leamington Spa - there is a map on our How to find us page.  Visitor charge: £5.00

'Wired to Form' Summer School with Pauline Verrinder

Time is marching on and we've been so busy with the exhibition and National Stitch Day that we haven't yet shared the photos from our extremely enjoyable and productive summer school on 7th - 8th August with Pauline Verrinder, so here they are.

You can see that under Pauline's patient instruction, we made a variety of machine- and hand-stitched skeleton leaves

as well as some very colourful, wired and heavily stitched felt pieces, which will become more sculpted shapes once the stitching is complete, wire inserted and internal elements cut away.

Pauline specialises in creating all sorts of structures using wire, fabric and thread, especially in 3D. She says about her own work that inspiration "comes from the beauty and diversity which surrounds me in the natural world."  This was amply demonstrated in the beautiful sketch books she shared with us.

Besides being an exhibiting Textile Artist, Pauline is a very encouraging and  supportive Tutor, and she gave us a wealth of tips and techniques to help us to carry on and complete our own pieces - and start new ones ...

Exhibition in full swing

Leamington Embroiderers' exhibition 'Continuous Threads' continues at Arts Trail Gallery, Leamington until 29th August, open Tuesday to Saturday, 11 am - 5 pm (directions to the gallery can be found on the Arts Trail website).  

Here's a sample of some of the work on view.  

Our members are all ages and levels of skill - some are just beginners, while others have a wealth of experience to share.  Our regular talks and workshops are given by textile artists, who cover a broad range of topics and techniques, including hand and machine embroidery, mixed media, use of metals and non-traditional materials, to name just a few, and we are always keen to explore new ways of doing things.  We also have a thriving Junior Embroiderers Group, who meet monthly on a Saturday morning.

If you would like to see more of what we do and maybe get involved, why not come along to one of our Friday talks - details of when and where we meet are under the 'About our Branch' heading on the right.

(Please note: the exhibition closes on Saturday 29th August, 

not Sunday 30th as previously advertised.)

Mad Hatter's Tea Party

Thank you to everyone who came along on 1st August and celebrated National Stitch Day by making a card for the Mad Hatter's top hat, or if you just came to browse our 'Continuous Threads' exhibition on its opening day at Arts Trail Studios & Gallery.

People had a lot of fun delving into the stash of ribbons, trimmings, buttons, threads and lace to create a unique card - either to take home and use on a special gift, or to add to the growing collection adorning the Mad Hatter (aka gallery owner, Gerry Smith):

'Continuous Threads' is on until 29th August, open Tuesday to Saturday, 11 am - 5 pm 

(directions are on the Arts Trail website).  

Do drop in and have a look at our members' work if you are in the area - we would love to see you.

"Leamington Observer"

Stitch with Leamington Embroiderers, 1st August

National Stitch Day, 1st August

We are launching our August exhibition at the Arts Trail Studio, Leamington with activities for National Stitch Day, which just happens to fall on the opening day, Saturday 1st August.

The theme for the day is 'Alice in Wonderland' (2015 is the 150th Anniversary of the publication of Lewis Carroll's book).  Just pop along to the ArtsTrail Studio between 11 am and 5 pm, and have a go at a bit of creative playing.  We will provide the encouragement and materials, and you can take home your small creation ...

Leamington & District 'Continuous threads' Exhibition, 1st - 30th August

Our sincere thanks go to Ann Rogers, who gave us a superb talk last week.  We probably learned as much about Shakespeare's heroines - both evil and innocent - as we did about her lovely bags, and an hour and a half flew by!  What's more, we had the chance to pass round the bags and inspect the exquisite details, which was a real bonus.

We're all now gearing up for our 'Continuous threads' exhibition in August.  Our 2012 exhibition was very well received, and this one is even more special, since 2015 marks the 50th Anniversary of the Leamington & District Branch.  Here's the flyer for it, and we look forward to welcoming anyone who is in the Leamington area during August.

We will also be marking National Stitch Day on 1st August - exhibition opening day.  More details shortly.

Directions to the Gallery are on the Arts Trail website.

Change to the talk this Friday, 3rd July

Unfortunately, Kathleen Laurel Sage cannot be with us this week-end as planned, owing to an accident.  Kathleen has injured her knee, and we send her our best wishes for a good recovery.

We are indebted to Leamington member, Ann Rogers, for stepping in at this short notice to give us the second part of her very popular talk on the bags she has made for some of the female characters in Shakespeare's plays.

Part Two: Shakespeare's Women with Attitude  

deals with heroines who are 'naughty' to downright evil, as well as the characters who are victims. Ann gave us the first part of this enchanting talk, Bags for Shakespeare's Heroines, in November last year, when we got the chance to see some of the bags close to, and we've been eagerly awaiting the sequel.

Ann has not attempted to make her bags historically accurate in style, but has used her imagination to  illustrate the heroines' characters through the bags.

We're looking forward to an extremely entertaining evening, and welcome visitors and friends who would like to join us.    The talk starts at 7 pm on Friday 3rd July at St Mary's Hall, St Mary's Road, Leamington Spa CV31 1JW (Visitors: £5 on the door).

"Extrav-Organza", Talk by Kathleen Laurel Sage

Kathleen Laurel Sage is a freelance textile artist, designer and enthusiastic embroiderer. Her inspirations are captured from carvings and ornate plaster work depicting patterns from nature and from the natural environment around her. Kathleen's fascination for working with organza fabrics has produced work ranging from conventional items through relief to exciting three-dimensional embroidered structures, such as floral vases, fashion accessories and unique jewellery.

In this friendly and relaxed talk, Kathleen outlines her transition from hand-worked embroidery in the form of stump work to machine-embroidered organza. She explains how she works and combines these techniques into dimensional and structural artworks.

Visitors are very welcome to come along to this talk on Friday 3rd July, which starts at 7.00 pm. We meet at St Mary's Church Hall, St Mary's Road, Leamington Spa - there is a map on our How to find us page.  Visitor charge: £5.00

There are also a couple of places available on the follow-up workshop on Saturday 4th July, in which we will make either small bead-like elements to form unique jewellery, or work a panel on a larger scale. If you are interested in this, please contact Jenny:
jennyarcher401@gmail.com. 

Junior Embroiderers' wedding bunting

We are just sharing pictures of the lovely bunting made by two of our Junior Embroiderers, Evie (11) and her sister Milly (8), for their Aunty's autumn-themed wedding.  The bunting was much admired by the family and other guests.