February

Meetings of the Grassington Embroiderers' Guild are continuing to be virtual and not at the Rugby Club.

If you are not already a member of the Grassington District Embroiderers' Guild Branch and would like to watch our Zoom Speaker Meetings you are now able to do so. For an annual fee of £20, you will be sent the link to the Talks which take place on the first Wednesday of each month. If you are interested contact the secretary:

GrassingtonDistrictSec@embroiderersguild.co.uk

One of our members has just noticed this from Samuel Taylor Fabrics and Crafts:

 

NEW IN Cotton Batiks! It's time to get started with the summer sewing and what better material to get creative with than a traditional handprinted Batik for the free-spirited Bohemian in you. The gorgeous floral and butterfly patterns come in blues, greens, and oranges at a fabulous price of £5.99 per metre.

February 17th

This morning we had an excellent mini workshop by our Chair-lady "Creating a Textile book and Exploring Stitches". Chris discussed the various ways of creating a fabric book and sent out instructions and information to our members so we could begin to stitch during the workshop.

We were encouraged to investigate the running stitch. Working the stitch in a variety of threads, of different thickness and texture: smooth, fine, twisted, thick, hairy, gave some interesting results. Varying the size and density of the stitches was also effective. Experimenting with a solid area of texture to contrast with lines of stitch, and working the threads tightly or smoothly, all added to our exploration.

Chris suggested having a look at "Stitches: New Approaches" by Jan Beaney. 

Another Textile Artist exploring stitches is Cathy Reavy and it is well worth a visit to her YouTube video.

Cathy Reavy "Stitch Wheel"

February 3rd

Cat Rowe our speaker for today at the Grassington Embroiderers' Guild, has just brightened this damp, dull, cold day in the Dales! Embracing the technology of Zoom meetings, we were able to book an inspirational textile artist from Redruth Cornwall.

Cat initially studied Art History and continued to obtain a masters in Illustration. In her purpose-built studio, she is able to create beautiful textile pieces and offer workshops in stitch and design.

Cat explained that she draws most of her inspiration from her home County, its seaside and rugged landscapes providing never ending images.

She prefers to create small works of art drawing the viewer into the picture created from pieces of fabric. She explained that she loved rummaging through her stash of fabrics, new, recycled and vintage, looking for just the right piece, matching its colour, pattern or texture.

We were treated to a view and talk about her new ambitious piece of larger circular work which was about four foot in diameter. What a sensational piece of textile art, and we look forward to seeing the eventual finished piece.

Cat explained about her slow stitch approach to sewing as a more mindful and more environmental method of using what you already have. She explained about her inspiration by the simple yet beautiful stitching techniques and ethos of Indian Kantha, Japanese Boro, quilting, visible mending and simple embroidery stitches. 

She likes to use a combination of machine embroidery and hand stitching, and combining new and old fabrics to give her completed work a super textural finish.

Cat offers a number of zoom workshops and can be contacted on her web site.

Cat's Website

Thank you Cat for a super and really enlightening morning, just what we needed to brighten up our day. 

Grassington Embroiderers' Guild Programme:

March 3rd          Jennifer Collier: "The Art of Paper and Stitch"

March 17th        Patchwork techniques.

April 7th            Alison Wake: "Painting with thread and yarn" 

April 21st          Building the Book

May 5th             Chrisie Freeth: "Traditional textile crafts and exploring them as a contemporary art                                                              form"

June 2nd             Helen Robson