February's Meeting: "Felting" with Annis McGowan

As I drove along through the Dale to our February Grassington Embroiderers' Guild meeting, I switched on BBC Radio 4 to listen to "Book of the Week". How appropriate, it was an excerpt from Clare Hunter's "Threads of Life". What a wonderful story. It is no ordinary history of stitch, rather uses samples of stitch to portray historical and political stories created by sewers unable or forbidden to write out or speak out for themselves. After our meeting, I came home and ordered the book for myself, it is the most fascinating, easily read and well researched stitching book that I suggest is a must for all those interested in our subject.

I was a little sceptical about my interest in this month's talk as I drove along, yet another felter!
Last year we welcomed Sue Amphlett to give a workshop on felting for Easter and now this year  Annis McGowan  was coming to give a talk and demonstration on her passion for needle felting. There was no need for concern, Annis's work was a complete contrast to that of Sue's and her story and demonstration was fascinating.
Needle felting for Annis began as a hobby and she combined her love of wildlife with her needlework to develop a small business. The business has flourished and her husband is now working with her. It was wonderful to watch them working as a team during our demonstration.

After explaining about the types of fleeces used in their work, Cheviot, Bluefaced Leicester, Jacob, Merino, Swaledale, Herdwick, to name but a few, we were given a demonstration of carding the raw wool using the machine below.

The wildlife of her home surroundings inspired her to design her animal doorstops. Using a series of hares at different stages of felting, and felting as she talked, we were guided through each of the processes involved to create a finished model. 

Annis set up a display of her work and a had a continual set of slides illustrating more of her work running behind her as she felted and chatted to us.

I was really blown away with this 3 dimensional cushion with a difference and I know all my grandchildren would love it!

All seventeen of our ladies thoroughly enjoyed the afternoon with Annis and her husband and a big thank you from Grassington Embroiderers' Guild for a delightful and fascinating afternoon. We shall all be looking at the courses she runs and hope one day to be able to tackle our own door stop.

https://artison.co.uk/tutor/annis-mcgowan/