Finished Pieces of Work

Alison has finished her work on velvet and it looks beautiful.

I love the contrast of the mid blue with the ochre which produces a lovely background for the cow parsley and dragonflies.

You have used an amazing range of techniques to provide interest.

Thank you Alison.  It's lovely.
 

Sandra has finished her last two demo pieces.

The first one is a smack of jellyfish.

The second one is a garden with butterflies.

Thank you Sandra

Mary has made a very beautiful small quilt of flowers and geometric shapes. The colours are very pretty from pale pinks to dark pinky-reds.

It is now hanging in her kitchen to brighten up a plain white wall.

Thank you Mary it is lovely.

Sandra has finished two of her demonstration pieces from Working On Velvet

She has tidied them both up, added beads to the lizard and French knots for eyes in swallows.

She is still working on the other two pieces.

Alison has completed her work on circles and produced a pattern with beautifully muted shades of felt, over embroidered modifying the colours and producing texture. 

Well done Alison!

Working on Velvet- Sandra Kendall July Meeting 2023

 This month our workshop was led by Sandra Kendall one of our own members who had brought samples of work she had made on velvet.

She told us velvet was a lovely fabric to work on because of its sheen, ability to take colour and its sumptuousness. We would be working in stages building up our embroideries from scratch.

Sandra demonstrated painting our velvet with Dye na flow using two colours and allowing the colours to flow slightly.

After members had painted their velvet they dried it with a hairdryer and then they were ready to print with textile paint using bought and hand-made blocks.

It was suggested they build up dense printing at the bottom to provide depth to the piece and print a few special prints in the lighter shade which would be brought to life by embroidery.

Members chose to print flowers, dragonflies, butterflies, fish, birds etc. as their special prints which would be embroidered heavily later.

Adding gold/silver paper with bondaweb was also demonstrated for anyone who wanted to add gold highlights.

Most members got as far as the printing. Sandra demonstrated attaching the sheer over the top of the piece.

The sheer does two things, it supports the stitches so they stay on top of the pile and it can also be used to enhance or modify the colour.

The piece can then be machine stitched or handstitched using a continual stitch on the darker shade e.g. granite stitch[machine] or a line stitch[hand]. This produces a lovely texture.

Individual stamps are then stitched more heavily to make them come to the front.

This beautifully printed hare once it has been embroidered will pop to the front giving more depth to the picture.

Sandra showed everyone how to cut back the sheer and then finish with a heat gun once all the embroidery was finished.

Beads and buttons can be added at this stage.

Members took home their half finished pieces to complete at home and soon we will see some beautifully finished embroideries made completely from scratch.

Well done to everyone and thank you Sandra

Exhibition of Textiles in Grange Library by South Lakeland Stitchers.

Today three of our members set up a display of our textile work in Grange over Sands  Library for the general public to view. Each member gave on average two pieces for display and these are set out over three boards.

 The work varies from applique and machine embroidery to goldwork.

There is bunting, jigsaw animals and embroidery on plastic.

Applique and collage animals can also be found.

There is traditional counted thread whitework, weaving. crewel embroidery, flower ponding and abstract embroidery.

Recycling and felt work is present.

Beautifully embroidered mandalas are next to our Positivity Wall-hanging.

Thank you to all our members for allowing their work to be hung and offering such a range of work. 

I hope you all find the time to pop in and see the display before it finishes on Thursday 20th July and it is taken down on the Friday.