A Little Stitched Workbook - Rachael Margeson May Meeting 2025

 Rachael one of our own members led the workshop today on making a little embroidered book. She brought some very pretty samples of little books, a concertina book and individual framed page [pictures below]. The choice was ours but most members decided to have a go at the little embroidered book with one member choosing a concertina book.

Rachael inspired us by talking about the different pages in her books and how they had been achieved.

She suggested that we stick to neutral colours and embroider seedheads over/beside the pieces of fabric and lace.

To help us out with the seedheads she had produced some  stylised drawings of seedheads and suggested that we had a go at drawing them first,  to help with muscle memory when embroidering them.

We were all raring to go and cut out our pages and began auditioning fabrics and threads.

We began by attaching some of the fabric and lace and then embroidering seedheads onto the pages using stitches such as stem stitch, chain, running, lazy daisy etc..

We were aiming for a front and back cover and approximately 5 pages which would then be sewn together to make a book.

By home time most members had partially made a couple of pages but it dawned on us all despite the size of the book it was going to take quite a while to complete.

 Hopefully they will be finished some time in the future!

It was an enjoyable and fun day and our thanks go to Rachael for inspiring us, suggesting stitches for seedheads, showing us how to put the book together and offering guidance when needed.

Thanks again Rachael for an inspiring day.

Little Stitched Workbook - Rachael May 2025

 

Ring of Bright Water - Raffle May 2025

 

Finished Pieces of Work

Pam has been very busy since the March meeting and has made three wonderful bags pictured below.

 The first two bags are Jewel Bags made by joining  patchwork squares together in the shape of a bag twice and then fitting them inside of each other so they are reversible

The first bag used geometric patterned fabric while the second used pretty floral fabrics, both Japanese in style. She has covered the drawstring ends with a folded tulip construction.

The third bag is a flower bag with a contrast lining and drawstring top.

All three bags are wonderful and I love how she has made a feature of the drawstrings.

Thank you Pam.

Christina has made two beautiful bags

The first is a flower bag with contrast lining which has been hand sewn as the traditional bags would have been. She has emphasised the seams by hand stitching in orange running stitch.

The second bag is a jewel bag with a lovely contrast between the pink and the darker patterned fabric.

Thank you Christina.

Joan has just finished her neat and precise  blackwork that she has made into a name badge.

She has embroidered her name and then decorated the edges with beads attaching a brooch pin to the back.

She has thought carefully about the placement of the motif, beads and name to produce a very eye-catching piece.

Thank you Joan.

Experimental Stitching on Papers - Sue Tyldesley April Meeting 2025

 Sue who is a member of our group set up a beautiful and varied display of embroidered work using a range of papers [ See Below]. As soon as we saw them we wanted to have a go at experimenting with ideas and then having a go at making a piece.

Sue talked to us about textile artists who used papers in their textile art and showed us some of their work.

She told us that first we were going to modify a range of papers using a variety of techniques and most members had also brought papers from their home stash.

She had set up work stations for painting, inking with walnut ink, stamping, waxing and she had a pile of papers that we could further modify.

We could modify the papers flat or  crease and screw up to produce a ruffled soft surface.

Members set to work with gusto modifying papers trying to remember to stick to a colour scheme as advised by Sue.

Once the papers started to dry we were able to start to build our "pictures" by overlapping, cutting and tearing, trying out colours and thinking about stitches we might use.

By the end of the afternoon most members had reached the point where they were ready to stitch. They took home their paper piece to machine and hand stitch and we wait until next month to see a variety of landscapes, bags and abstract pictures.

A big thank you to Sue for giving us lots of ideas for what to do with modified papers and inspiring us with her own work.

Thanks Sue!