17th November 2022

Our speaker was Amanda Clayton with a presentation entitled 'My Blue Suitcase' 

Amanda had visited us previously and recapped identifying her formal training as Art and Design followed by a Degree in Embroidery which included fabric making, design and dress making. Her informal training was life influences, creativity or trying something that may not work. From this Amanda set up on her own, creating her own pieces - 'you are only as good as your next piece of work' and has also taught on Art/Design foundation courses.

Her work has focused on Connections, Links and Relationships especially Visual.

As a child Amanda remembered making books and book binding and has used this in her work making books from fabric and paper, she also collects receipts/personal items etc and makes books to keep them in.

 

 

Current projects include 'Health and Feelings' which communicates (to Consultants) ideas through textiles.  A book for Nurses on Turner Syndrome, created in collaboration with a Doctor from Kings College, this contains found objects and words.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mini Workshop 1.00 - 3.30pm is 'Blackwork Christmas'

 20th October 2022

Our speaker was Jennifer Collier with a presentation on 'The Art of Paper and Stitch'

 

 

 

 

 

 

Jennifer is a graduate of the print, knit, weave course at MMU. She started working with empty tea bags into which she inserted objects and sealed them using wax, then to create fruit on large pieces of fabric, next was covering glossy magazine pictures in sellotape, rubbing the picture to transfer the image onto paper which led to her use of paper as a material as well as an inspiration.

Jennifer then started to 'patchwork' pieces of paper from books together, by hand, making them into dresses,coathangers, pairs of shoes etc.

 

 

 

 Recent work has seen the remaking of household items eg a 3D paper watering can featuring 'Mary Mary' nursery rhyme. A camera from maps with the decorative detail stitched into it. A Jug made from 4 pieces - body, base, handle, spout, a bird box featuring the 'Ladybird' bird books, using the hard cover for the roof and the pages for the box. For each one Jennifer makes a pattern/template, creates a toille to check it works and then makes her piece up, the template is kept for reference/further work.

 

Jennifer has also made a full size paper Hoover, Telephone, Microscopes, Camera's, Cassettes, Singer sewing machine, Armchairs, Tables etc. She has experimented with lighting using the frames and adding paper (ensuring safety requirements are met). A mug made from a printed cross stitch pattern which is then decorated in cross stitch to highlight.

 

Mini workshop @ 13.30 is 'Acorns' 

 

 15th September 2022

 

AGM -  reviewed our first year as an independent stitch group and planning for the  future.

The year has been very sucessful with 52 members, who have enjoyed a variety of speakers delivering presentations on a wide range of topics. Throughout the year there have also been several workshops, as well as a residential 'stitch retreat' .The stitching group  meets on the 1st and 3rd Monday of the month from 10.00 - 12.30, to stitch and chat. Whilst in December we had a sucessful exhibition at Nantwich Museum, with wonderful responses from visitors about the variety of work displayed.

 At the meeting examples of work from workshops and the pieces created for the 'Chairs Challenge' were displayed, there was also the sales table and a raffle.

 

 21st July 2022  

 

 My Embroidery Journey - From then to Now by Emily Notman

 

At school Emily was interested in art, particularly paint, she progressed to college where she studied 'fine art'. An 'accident' whilst painting led  Emily into textiles, she mopped up a spillage with a piece of fabric, the pattern created by this inspired her to use the fabric in her work.  

Emily studied a Textiles and Fine Arts degree at university where she learned to stitch and experiment with embroidery. She also specialised in weaving, ceramics and embroidery using bright colours in her work. A visit to Portugal led Emily to work featuring the natural landscape, beach, sea, shells etc and the colours associated with this. Barnacles inspired her work in ceramics and she uses paper clay like fabric, making holes in it then firing it and finally embroidering.

 

 

Emily also used ink and dyes on fabric to create pieces featuring shells which she printed and machine stitched producing wall hangings.Mussel shells with darker layers and shiny mother of pearl led to use of Batik, applique and machine stitch to create layers of fabric.

 

 

 

 

After university Emily wanted to work with clay and fabric, however kilns are expensive so she instead focused on textiles and was mentored at Unit 12 by Jennifer Collier. Here she started to develop smaller saleable pieces for example flower broaches and greetings cards.

 

 

 

 

She now creates wall panels featuring bleached and dyed fabrics which are layered and embroidered by hand and machine. Emily has developed a 'looped stitch' and also embelishes with a lacy effect produced by using a soldering iron, fraying edges and including dried flowers.

 

 

Emily is a mixed media artist combining painting and textiles,hand and machine embroidery and produces 3D cylinders/bowls inspired by gardens, smaller landscape pieces as broaches etc. She is currently artist in residence at a school and encourages use of various textiles including, net applied to bondaweb, needlefelted and knitted pieces which are worked into and applied onto fabric.

Social media has also led to on line workshops world wide.

Emily talking with members. 

 16th June 2022 our speaker was Karen Rouine

Karen's life in Textiles was influenced by her grandmothers who knitted, patched, made aprons in gingham etc.

Karen knitted when here children were young and then got into cross stitchkits and creating pictures. Following on from a craft course she started City and Guilds but some of the aspects like dying etc did not appeal to her so she switched to a degree starting with a foundation course, This involved drawing however as Karen prefered the medium of stitch this is what she used throughout, even in the 'life drawing'.

For her major project she created 6 panels on dyed fabric taking her inspiration from her children and incorporating memories and work within pockets.

 

 

Following a teacher training course Karen has taught extensively 'on line' and has worked with a variety of base materials including paper. She works on small pieces making samples which she then combines into larger items.

 

 

Karen makes lace cloth taking scrim and machining over it to create the lace which she then embellishes by hand.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The sample/ experimental pieces she creates are made into cloth books in which Karen embellishes the back of the work believing that both sides deserve to be seen.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

She also buys books and embroiders into each page, while more recently she has used lace paper and bullion knots which she makes into loops to create work in white. 

 19th May 2022

'Textles - A Personal Journey' by Hayley Mills-Styles Textile Artist

Hayleys journey started aged 4 when her Grandmother taught her to knit, she moved on to embroidery teaching herself from the 'Anchor 100 stitches' book. Having always used hand embroidery she moved to digital embroidery for her Masters degree experimenting with the 12 needle machine to make a series of 'patches' from photos of the fabric on an old sofa.

 

 

 

 

Further exploration of the digital world led to the creation of a lacy cloth, she embroidered on Aquasol, which she then dissolved away to leave the final item.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hayley has also worked with ferrous metals, found items from beach combing like fishing nets, metal rings etc. She likes the colours and experiments with work on wool fabric,rings and use of fishing twine to create 3D pieces.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

For her 10 years exhibition Hayley was artist in residence at Pannett Park a Museum in Whitby where she was inspired by natural history, fossils, skeletons eg Narwall.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hayley works with various groups eg homeless, dementia those with mental health concerns etc, some of the work has been inspired by dance and also 52 pieces of embroidery including lungs etc

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

She makes pincushions which are small, easy to make and portable, stitchscapes which are semi abstract landscapes using scraps of fabric and stitch and embroidered portraits.