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I visited the three day West of England Quilt Show yesterday in the exhibition hall at the University of West of England in north Bristol. I wanted to share with everyone the work of Chrisse Seager who kindly looks after our website. She had a number of quilts on display, some cushions and a beautiful quilted jacket. Our congratulations for coming "runner up" for the Best in Show by a Professional - see centre image below. By Ros
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Helen Colling was introduced to needlework at an early age and was encouraged by her City & Guilds tutor to apply for a 3 year Stitched Textile Diploma with Jan Beaney & Jean Littlejohn. During the drawing module she explored transparency – looking through glass doors, reflections, shadows and layers. The topic for her final piece was the atmosphere after something has gone. Helen has developed her work since her qualification using poetry and the transparency layering technique. She explained how she uses Reynolds freezer paper to print photos onto cloth and hand stitches outlines. We were interested to see her final work sandwiched between two layers of Perspex which emphasises the transparency theme.
Helen takes part in Open Studios and exhibits with Okra textiles. Report by Ros Mandy Nash started her workshop by explaining the fibres and fabrics that can be used with nuno felting and how different types of wools give different effects. Mandy then went on to demonstrate the first technique of nuno felting. She laid out wisps of wool all over a square of muslin in one direction and changed the direction for the second layer. Small pieces of fabric were added for decoration and then the sandwich was put between bubble wrap and a noodle was used for rolling. After rolling and turning numerous times, olive oil soap was added at the end before throwing on the table to form the felt. The second technique also used muslin but this time the wisps of wools did not cover all the muslin, they were laid down to form a chosen pattern. The rest of the process was similar to the first. Mandy was very generous with her tips and suggestions and we left the workshop with a lovely variety of individual samples. Above are examples of Mandy's work.
Thank you for a fun day, Mandy. Report by Ros Earlier this year the Prospect Hospice in Marlborough approached Marlborough & District Embroiderers Guild to ask if they would be interested in creating a hanging for the new Outreach Centre of Prospect Hospice at Savernake Hospital in Marlborough.  Our member Margaret Heath, who had created and overseen the Upper Kennet Valley Embroidery, was asked if she would be interested in managing this latest project and kindly agreed. Margaret has now designed a triptych hanging with the theme of spring, summer and autumn and she showed her drawings and shared her ideas with a group of interested members at a recent Stitch Day. The hanging will be a mixture of hand and machine embroidery and it is hoped a number of members will contribute to the final work which will probably take about 2 years to complete.
We plan to record the progress of this project so watch out for more postings. Report by Ros
 Caroline Kirton’s talk on Monday was entitled “Telling Tales” and after a while it became clear as to why she had chosen this title. As a mature student after the birth of her three daughters, Caroline enrolled on an Access to Art course which led to a Degree in Applied Arts. During the course she researched the feminist artist Mary Kelly and her work influenced Caroline. Using her family and their friends Caroline took a series of snapshots of teenagers which explored their emotions, their relationships, their thoughts and behind each picture there is a message and an appropriate title. It all started when her daughter’s boyfriend was taken back to the States without saying “good bye” and you can see exerts from an email and see the despair in the posture of the young lad called "Lewis" below.  Many teenagers experience traumas in family life and as a result teenagers get a bad press so Caroline wanted to highlight the positive. "But I need it!", "You are ruining my life", "She is copying me" , "I think this will be OK for 6th form", "Just Chilling" and "My Mum's a proper weirdo" are amongst the chosen titles. As parents ourselves, many of us could relate to the topics which had been chosen.         From a practical point Caroline takes photos which she then draws out and enlarges. She uses bondaweb to position vintage fabrics to the background and screen prints of text often taken from emails. She amazed us all by saying that she does not use a frame or hoop when free machining and always stretches the finished work herself.
Thank you Caroline for sharing your techniques with us and for giving us a most enjoyable afternoon. Report by Ros Our branch was invited to take part in the annual Avebury Day on Saturday 10 September. This was a great opportunity to show our work and to promote the Guild. The wonderful hanging which our Young Embroiderers created for our exhibition earlier this year was on display and, as you will see from the photos below, children were encouraged to stitch into a sampler.  Chris C, Lindsay S, Vernice C, Maria F, Nikki VW and Christine H     There were a great variety of exhibitors - to the left and right we had a vintage fire engine and ferret racing! Thank you Vernice and Lindsay for the photos. Ros
 Following a wonderfully stimulating talk on the previous day, Isabelle Jourdan led a one day workshop entitled ‘Wild Woman Weaving’ to a group of would-be needle weavers. As it turned out the title was not a misnomer! Isabelle with her voluminous hair, bare feet, frantic hand gestures, dynamic personality and superabundant enthusiasm was truly ‘wild’ about her craft. Moreover by the end of the day our group of sedate and temperate stitchers had all become infected with her enthusiasm and were champing at the bit to invest some of their own personalities and creativity into their samples.  The day started with Isabelle showing the group how to attach the warp threads to the frame. This was more time consuming than at first appeared as each pair of threads had to be attached individually. She then demonstrated the basic needle weaving technique using a single background colour. Once the group had mastered this she provided instructions for six variations of the basic weave, using just one other colour of thread, which amazingly, resulted in the creation of some beautiful and potentially intricate patterns. At the end of the day Isabelle explained how to remove the sample from the frame, and gave suggestions about adding decorative finishes such as fringes, tassels, beads and feathers. The completed sample could then be hung on a twig or small branch to give it a rustic feel.          Although three members of the group were able to remove their samples from the frame, unfortunately there was insufficient time to complete the hangings. However, everyone had developed sufficient skills and knowledge to be able to complete these at home. More importantly, everyone had been inspired by Isabelle to unleash some of their latent creativity through the absorbing medium of needle weaving.  A great day was had by all!
Report and photos by Maria F Thanks, Maria! Ros L  After our summer break we welcomed Isabelle Jourdan to speak about her great interest in spinning and weaving. It started when she and her husband were running an olive farm on the Greek island of Lesbos and she visited a shop exhibiting local weaving. Each Saturday for the next six months Isabelle attended a workshop and became totally enthralled with the craft. A lot of her inspiration has come from Kirsten Glasbrook who has written several books on tapestry weaving.       Isabelle does not believe in conventional weaving methods but follows the simple approach using a basic wooden frame and not a loom - an old picture frame, an old window or door frames for large pieces. An embroidery needles to weave rather than a shuttle and she uses a knitting needle to knock the weft rather than the recognised tools. Isabelle used the expression "wild weaving" and in some of her work she does not start at the usual place, her weft threads do not necessarily go the width of the work and are often curved. Finishing adds an interesting dimension and she hangs her work on driftwood and uses a variety of wrapped tassels, beads and even feathers.    As a result of her introduction to weaving the next step was to create her own yarns and Isabelle passed round a basket of raw wools and finished yarns from a variety of animals - merino, alpaca, Jacob, Jacob cross and goat. She does not sell her work, she teaches her techniques to encourage people to use their own ideas, colours and wools to make hangings, cards, brooches and bookmarks. Tomorrow, Isabelle will be leading a workshop entitled "Frame tapestry weaving for beginners" so we look forward to hearing about it and to seeing members' samples.  Report by Ros L During August Marlborough & District Embroiderers’ Guild have been taking part in the National Stitch day to demonstrate their skills, answer questions and promote the organisation. Members have worked in four locations around Wiltshire - Calne, Marlborough, Swindon and Royal Wootten Bassett.  Calne Christine H organised a group of members and they hand stitched in the library at Calne. With Christine were Chris C, Diana K, Lindsay S and Linda W. Photo by Christine H  Marlborough On the morning of Wednesday 3 August, we stitched on the Turkey work for covering the replica 17C chairs at the Historic Merchants House, Marlborough. We were outside in the sunshine on the pavement in front of the house on market day and we had lots of interest from local people and visitors. We gave out information sheets about the historic house and the Embroiderers Guild. Members: Audrey P, Rosemary H, Ann J and Hazel M. Report by Audrey P  Swindon On Tuesday 9 August we had an enjoyable afternoon stitching, chatting and drinking tea in Cafe Art, Old Town, Swindon. Members present were Fiona H (left), Sarah W (centre) with guest Alli Report and photo by Julie B Royal Wootten Bassett
On Saturday 13 August, Susan P and I spent a very pleasant couple of hours in the library at Royal Wootton Bassett doing some hand stitching. We had a small display of some of our work, which attracted the attention of two ladies who sat and chatted with us for about 45 minutes. They may decide to join us at our next meeting. A couple of other ladies stopped to chat. We enjoyed the time we spent there and hope we raised awareness of the Embroiderers Guild a bit! Report by Ann K Thank you to all members who contributed to this event and for the photos and reports for our blog. Ros L |
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