Sunday 6 December 2020

December

Meetings 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 or 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


December 16th

This was our last meeting of 2020, a virtual Christmas celebration with a sewing quiz. Below I will keep updating our programme for 2021. Our first discussion topic for 2021 will be "Twin and triple needles" ! Please have your samples ready to show if you are familiar with these, or be ready to take on board a whole new meaning to machine stitching.

The year has ended with some excellent news. Kathleen Carlisle has been the recipient of the National Embroiderers' Guild Trustee Award.

The first records we have of the Grassington & District Branch of the Embroiderers’ Guild begin in 1980. A group of ladies met in a house in Arncliffe.

In 1983, Kathleen joined this Branch of the National Embroiderers’ Guild in Arncliffe. She saw the group relocate to Grassington Town Hall, Grassington Church House and finally to Threshfield Rugby Club. She has now embraced modern technology and despite hearing loss is an active member of our zoom meetings.

 For thirty-eight years she has been steadfast and committed to this group of needleworkers. Her hand embroidery work is exceptional and inspirational to all those who see it. She has spread the word of the Guild through her talk “My Journey as an Embroiderer” and through her Needlework success, every year, at the prestigious Kilnsey Horticultural show.






Kathleen is a quiet but valued member of our Branch, but she is always willing to share her expertise, ideas, and knowledge with others. She is an extremely competent needlewoman and produces outstanding work. 

As Secretary to the Branch, I thought a good Covid activity was to sort, and file electronically, all the old records I had inherited with the job. I came across the original Branch registers and realised that Kathleen was our most long-standing member and her contribution for all those years to the National Embroiderers’ Guild and to our Branch activities, should be commemorated in some way. 

What I had not discovered in our old records, was that Kathleen had been a member of the National Guild for far longer than 38 years. Prior to joining our Branch, she had been an active member of the Skipton Branch for at least 5 years.

It was Kathleen who argued very strongly for the case of re-joining all our members to the National Guild in September and supported you in a way you would never have heard about. This is the sort of honourable woman she is.

 She has been a wonderful mentor for me, and without her, I know that our Grassington Branch would not be the friendly cohesive group that we are today. Her long-standing experience has always quietly steered the committee in a positive direction. She has not been on the committee herself, but her quiet advice has been invaluable. 

Congratulations Kathleeen and we hope that you will continue to enjoy many more years with our Branch.



Dec 2nd

Zara Day was our speaker for our first meeting in December, with a talk: "It is never to late to be what you might have been", followed with a workshop: Stitching and embellishing a lettering sample. 

After studying a BA (hons) in textile and fashion design, Zara freelanced for several printed textiles companies before training as a teacher. She taught textiles, art, and design in secondary and further education establishments for over sixteen years, delivering GCSE, A-level, International Baccalaureate and HND courses.

She is now the founder and creative director of Rosemaryrose, bespoke embroidered textiles which  specialises in the embellishment of fabrics for luxury residential and commercial properties.




Whilst running Rosemaryrose and during this Covid period, Zara has continued to share her love of embroidery and teaching, by offering Zoom embroidery courses and talks. Her Zoom talk and workshop with the Grassington Embroiderers' Guild this month was a thrill to be part of, and our members thoroughly enjoyed two very stimulating and interesting hours. Her beautiful and innovative free flow design work work was illustrated with a  Powerpoint presentation and we were able to see her wonderful ideas and techniques.




A big thank you to Zara for a really refreshing needlework morning. Please visit  Zara's instagram page to find the courses that Zara is now offering on line.

Over the last few months our members have been busy with free knitting:

A Geology Time Line




 and Lanterns for the Christmas tree.

I hope members will continue to send photographs for me to include in our Blog each month


Our next meeting will be December 16th. A discussion on all things Christmas, a festive drink and a mince pie.

Next Meetings
We are still finalizing the January and February speakers and discussion topics.

January 6th        Helen Wray: "Gam Farm Rare Breeds Wool Shop Grassington"
January 20th       Discussion topic  Sewing machine twin needles and triple needles, sharing work so far in the Travelling Books, working with Angelina fibres.

February 3rd      Laura Edgar Textile Artist
February 17th
March 3rd         Jennifer Collier: "The Art of Paper and Stitch"
March 17th
April 7th            Alison Wake: "Painting with thread and yarn" 
April 21st
May 5th             Chrisie Freeth: "Traditional textile crafts and exploring them as a contemporary art                                                              form"
June 2nd             Helen Robson

November

Meetings 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 or 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


Unfortunately our speaker for Nov 4th was cancelled due to illness and we hope to reschedule Deborah Mullins in the New Year. 

Deborah is a hand embroiderer, working predominantly on themes related to Palestine and using traditional Bethlehem tahriri designs and technique but in innovative and modern ways. She was awarded a gold medal by City and Guilds and by the Worshipful Company of Haberdashers on the completion of her C&G studies a few years ago. She staged her first solo exhibition in Haworth, W Yorks in 2017. Deborah is possibly the only embroiderer specializing in this field in the UK, and enjoys sharing both traditional techniques and her own creative response through talks and workshops.

Read more about Deborah's work on her website.

November 18th meeting was a members discussion session "Transferring photos, prints and patterns to fabric". Members shared their experiences of using Reynolds Freezer Paper to stabilize a fabric which enables it to be put through a printer, using Inkjet printable silk sheets and PPD Inkjet transfer papers.

We were able to see the progress of  some of our Travelling Books. Below are pages from "Hay Meadows"









Next Meetings

December 2nd - Guest Speaker Zara Day


On-line Textile Events, well worth a visit to these websites. Click on the links in blue below:

"Woven" is about celebrating our textiles heritage.

 Stitchery Stories is an embroidery and textile art podcast, hosted by Susan Weeks.

Textilia Exhibition is at Farfield Mill, 3rd Nov - 4th Jan

Textile Snippets

A visit to Sue Hawkins Needleworks by one of our members found the thread cutter: Details.

Glow in the dark threads can be purchased from Minerva Fabrics.

For all those interested in Freeform knitting have a look at Fibre Artist Jenny Dowde's Blog. She is also the author of numerous books.

Have a look at Chris Gray's work as a textile artist, author and tutor. 

The Yorkshire Button Kit has been a great hit with our members.

TextileArtist.org is a place for textile and fiber artists to be inspired, learn from the best, promote their work and communicate with like-minded creatives. A number of our members have joined and are enjoying the challenges of this group. Have a look at the web site for further details.

Emma Herst, a university of Huddersfield student has won a prestigious Wool Week design competition to create a coat.

100 years of Textile Designs and Fabric

Tennants Auctioneers in Leyburn are selling a hundred years of textile designs and fabric samples from two private collections. Curator Harriet Hunter Smart said: "These two private collections of fabric samples and textile designs are an extraordinary treasure trove of pattern, colour, and design."

Pop into the Singer Outlet shop for a look at all things sewing! I especially like the Christmas 2020 Advent calendar 24 piece sewing kit!!  Or into Scraptastic for all kinds of craft ideas.

Here is a list of fabric retailers sent in by a member:

Amo Threads sell fabrics that would otherwise go to waste.

Polin Fabrics are an online store but low in price.

The really useful textile company Calico Laine.

Shop on line at the Yorkshire Fabric Shop.

 Interesting gadgets to check out!

Cocoknits row counter

Free from Google Play, Knitting Genius is an app with video tutorials, a row counter and several free knitting patterns. Might be worth a look.


Wednesday 7 October 2020

October

 

Meetings 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 or 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


Amanda Hislop, speaking from her summer house studio in Oxfordshire, has just given Grassington Embroiderers' Guild branch a marvelous zoom talk, "Imagined Seascapes", drawing on sketchbook inspiration while land locked in lockdown; a personal response.

Amanda Hislop has a degree in woven textiles and painting. She began her career as a teacher in art and textiles but in 2007, she took the opportunity of redundancy to pursue an exciting pathway as a textile artist and tutor.

Amanda spent the first half of our meeting using a power point presentation and followed with a second half, showing and talking through her wonderful sketch books.

She shared with our members the processes she used to produce her incredible seascape textile art. Working with cloth, paper, colour and stitch, she discussed her inspirations, her design stage and her final pieces. 





Some of the materials Amanda used were new to our members and I am sure we will be busy sourcing them for our own work!

Whether you were able to join in or not, check out her work on-line, where there are lots of photos of the things we saw today. 

Amanda has written a book "Stitched Textiles: Seascapes"  Details hereThis will certainly be on my Christmas list this year!

Amanda also mentioned "Stitch Magic", by Jan Beaney and Jean Littlejohn as being a super reference book. Details here.

Amanda is a member of the textile group "Prism". Prism Textiles exhibit contemporary textile art of the highest quality, highlighting the breadth of textile practice and challenging notions of the textile as decorative and domestic. 

A big thank you to Amanda from all our members for another excellent Grassington Embroiderers' Meeting.

What a lovely idea for the box we were all given in September. Please continue to send me photographs.




Next Meetings

November 4th - Guest Speaker Deborah Mullins

Read more about Deborah's work on her website.

November 18th - Members Discussion Topic: Transferring patterns and pictures to fabric

December 2nd - Guest Speaker Zara Day

December 16th - Virtual Christmas celebration 


On-line Textile Events, well worth a visit to these websites. Click on the links in blue below:

"Woven" is about celebrating our textiles heritage.

 Stitchery Stories is an embroidery and textile art podcast, hosted by Susan Weeks.

Textilia Exhibition is at Farfield Mill, 3rd Nov - 4th Jan

Textile Snippets

A visit to Sue Hawkins Needleworks by one of our members found the thread cutter: Details.

Glow in the dark threads can be purchased from Minerva Fabrics.

For all those interested in Freeform knitting have a look at Fibre Artist Jenny Dowde's Blog. She is also the author of numerous books.

Have a look at Chris Gray's work as a textile artist, author and tutor. 

The Yorkshire Button Kit has been a great hit with our members.

TextileArtist.org is a place for textile and fiber artists to be inspired, learn from the best, promote their work and communicate with like-minded creatives. A number of our members have joined and are enjoying the challenges of this group. Have a look at the web site for further details.

Emma Herst, a university of Huddersfield student has won a prestigious Wool Week design competition to create a coat.

100 years of Textile Designs and Fabric

Tennants Auctioneers in Leyburn are selling a hundred years of textile designs and fabric samples from two private collections. Curator Harriet Hunter Smart said: "These two private collections of fabric samples and textile designs are an extraordinary treasure trove of pattern, colour, and design."

Pop into the Singer Outlet shop for a look at all things sewing! I especially like the Christmas 2020 Advent calendar 24 piece sewing kit!!  Or into Scraptastic for all kinds of craft ideas.

Here is a list of fabric retailers sent in by a member:

Amo Threads sell fabrics that would otherwise go to waste.

Polin Fabrics are an online store but low in price.

The really useful textile company Calico Laine.

Shop on line at the Yorkshire Fabric Shop.

 Interesting gadgets to check out!

Cocoknits row counter

Free from Google Play, Knitting Genius is an app with video tutorials, a row counter and several free knitting patterns. Might be worth a look.







Wednesday 2 September 2020

September

What a delight to welcome Claire Ketteman as a speaker to our Grassington Embroiderers’ Guild September zoom meeting. She is a prolific and inspirational needle worker. Claire has a science background but took the opportunity to explore her creative side by studying for an HNC in Textile Design with Bradford College in 2009. Her work has been exhibited in local galleries across Lancashire and Yorkshire. Claire is now the Chairman of the Skipton Embroiderers’ Guild, and her recent work, “The Strawberry Thief”, won her first prize in the Aurafil competition, and a first prize for the Jo Quinn award for creativity.

The “Strawberry Thief” was her 3D version of William Morris’s naughty song thrush. Claire stitched onto vintage linen, red woven picots, satin stitch, seed stitch and button stitch, to create her final 3D piece.

Claire talked us through her love of 3D work, and her introduction to stump work using Kelley Aldridge’s book on raised embroidery for technique advice and inspiration. I was not familiar with this book, but having had a peep at it on Amazon, I have put it on my Christmas list!

Claire’s work, from tiny fabric embellished shoes, to dragon flies, to embroidery on crystal organza and fabric cacti terrarium, was stunning. She explained how much she had learnt from tutors such as Nicola Jarvis and her crewel work, Liz Cooksey with her intricate wire and thread work, Hannah Lamb’s technique of seeing stitching from both sides, and Serena Partridge’s intricate stitching.

Claire gave a big Thank You to the Embroiderers’ Guild for helping her to find like minded people to share and learn from. It has been a big influence in her development as a Textile Artist.

Claire is a member of the group Textilia and they will be exhibiting at Farfield Mill, Sedburgh, Nov 4th until January. This will be well worth a visit.

Thank you, Claire, for spending time preparing and sharing this wonderfully illustrated display of your work at our Zoom meeting. We do appreciate all the hard work that you had put into this new approach to giving talks.

The following photos have all been kindly provided by Claire.

Ketteman - Beachcombing 

Ketteman - Nature Table

Ketteman - Strawberry Thief

Ketteman - Woodland fern

Ketteman - Goldfish bowl


We will be having a Zoom meeting on Wednesday, September 16th. The Topic for discussion will be "Threads". This will be the chance to share your knowledge of your experiences , likes and dislikes, retail outlets, prices of all things threads.


October 7th     - Guest Speaker  Amanda Hislop

November 4th - Guest Speaker   Deborah Mullins

December 2nd - Guest Speaker   Zara Day


Sunday 16 August 2020

August - Grassington Embroiderers' Guild - The New Format

The committee has now decided on a new format for the Branch Meetings! This term we will meet twice a month on Zoom. The dates and times are as follows:

Next meeting:

Wednesday, Aug 19th  10:00 - 11:00   

This meeting will start with a virtual workshop on using Koh-i-noor dyes for fabrics. Have a pen and pencil ready for taking notes and a cup of coffee! 

For those involved in the travelling books, we will be wanting to know your title.

We hope a few of you will be ready to show a sample from your wooden box that was delivered to all our members.


Future meetings:

Wednesday, Sept 2nd   10:00 - 11:00

        Guest speaker Claire Ketteman

Wednesday, Sept 16th  10:00 - 11:00

Wednesday, Oct 7th  10:00 - 11:00

Wednesday, Oct 21st  10:00 - 11:00

Wednesday,  Nov 4th  10:00 - 11:00

        Guest speaker Deborah Mullins, "Palestinian Embroidery"

Wednesday,  Nov 18th  10:00 - 11:00

Wednesday, Dec 2nd   10:00 - 11:00

Wednesday, Dec 16th   10:00 -11:00 


The programme will slowly evolve, so keep watching this space.


Here are some more photographs of our members' work during this period.









Monday 27 July 2020

July - Members' Activities During Lockdown


Welcome back  To Grassington Embroiderers' Guild! 

I hope you have all remained safe during this very difficult period and have found plenty of time to put your sewing skills to the test.  The committee are having a meeting today to decide on the new format for activities in the autumn. We will email all members with our future plans and we hope there will be plenty of Stitch to look forward to.

Chris and Marjorie sat outside Chris' house on the National Day of Stitch in June, where usually lots of walkers come past. The weather was not brilliant, but those that passed by were very interested!



This week as I read my Saturday Yorkshire post there was a wonderful article about David Morrish's giant embroidered tapestry documenting Windermere litter louts. David is a Fashion Design teacher and lecturer At Sheffield Hallam University. The embroidery project forms part of his own MA studies at Nottingham Trent University and is a collaboration with the Sheffield branch of the Embroiderers' Guild. Find out more about the project on Instagram@kingflytailoring. 

Over the next few weeks I shall be using the Blog to showcase members' work during this period of Lockdown. It has been a great inspiration to me to see such wonderful work and my waning enthusiasm for stitch has now been revived! 

Chris Mitchell our chairman has sent in the first photographs and details of some of her work these last few months. I hope you will enjoy them as much as I have.

One of my Lockdown projects!

 I was inspired by Jackie Martin’s visit to use an old wooden box that once contained a bottle of wine, to produce little samples of different techniques. Each one is backed on to pelmet weight vilene and I wrote methods and materials used on the back.
The wooden box was decorated with pyrography designs.


Another Lockdown project was inspired by Anne Brooke’s blog, of a long stitched strip wrapped around an old bobbin. Now I didn’t have an old bobbin, but I do have a husband who is a wood turner! I have used recycled denim, and fabric which I have “rusted” in other guild meetings.

Another Lockdown project was my book, “What’s the Story?" . Each page has a fabric picture and you make up the questions. Ask a child ...."where is that car going ......guess what happened to the family at no. 3”, etc. Good for home schooling story starters!







I’ve been taking advantage of the time spent in Lockdown to make a start on Christmas presents! I’ve made lots of little felt brooches, key rings and handbag ornaments, embellished with embroidery and little beads.



Thank you Chris for sharing your wonderful work and ideas with the group. I have certainly been inspired by your work and it has filled me with enthusiasm for this autumn term. All my free time in the summer has been spent in the garden but let the weeds grow, I need to get back to Stitch! I hope you will all enjoy seeing the work of our members which I will post throughout August ready for the new  program in September.