Our meeting this month was taken by Mary Seaman, one of our own members, on machine embroidery. Our members have a wide range of skills as far as machine embroidery is concerned and Mary had planned exercises and ideas to cover all level of expertise.
Mary had brought some of her beautifully stitched pieces with her and you can see them in the pictures below.
Mary explained the basics of machine embroidery and then suggested ideas for us to work on and skills to practice. As we worked at our machines she circulated giving advice and encouragement.
Every now and again Mary would demonstrate a new skill for us to practice and you can see circles and sewing over a gap below.
We all went home with a lot more confidence in using our machine, more ideas to try at home and a couple of the beginners found they now had total control stitching with the feed dogs down!
Thank you Mary for a fun and enjoyable day and giving us lots of ideas to increase our abilities in free machining.
This month we tried a different format for our workshop. We have a range of experience across our membership and quite a few members said they were not sure what to do with certain products or needed to develop certain skills.
Four of our members volunteered to lead a taster session of approximately three quarters of an hour. This would mean 3/4 members in each group and then they would move round until all 4 workshops had been tried.
The workshops were xpandaprint with Brenda Pearson, angelina with Sue Tyldesley, cutting sheers with Dorothy Pearce and bondaweb with Sandra Kendall
Brenda brought in some beautiful samples of how Xpandaprint could be used and members were able to use heat guns to have the xpandaprint bubble before their eyes.
Sue brought bags of beautifully coloured, sparkly angelina and lots of ideas of how to use it. Members were able to play with the angelina and add all sorts of bits and pieces.
Dorothy brought some lovely samples of delicate work she had done with sheers. Members were able to cut a pattern on sheers with a soldering iron and then use the piece to make a card.
Sandra brought some samples to show how bondaweb can be used in applique and ideas for when it has been painted. Members were able to paint a piece and then build up some sparkly pictures with painted bondaweb which they could tear and attach with an iron.
Members enjoyed the day making samples using the four techniques. It is a format we will use again and thanks go to Sue, Brenda, Dorothy and Sandra for their hard work and preparation.
This month we were introduced to Origami Twist a method of fabric manipulation in patchwork by Lis Binns.She gave us a short introduction about her career so far and how she got started with patchwork.
She explained how we were going to manipulate our cut squares and then piece them together to make a cushion or a hanging.
Lis had brought some samples with her to show us.
We were then shown how to measure and cut our material accurately and safely.
Lis then demonstrated the folds to make a smaller square in the middle of the larger square and how this square could be manipulated to make slightly different shapes.
When we had manipulated our squares we then placed smaller squares in the middle of some and decided on a pattern we liked.
We then rolled the edges of the square and either hand stitched or machine stitched the edge in place.
The squares were then joined together.
We then took our pieces home to complete and here is a finished cushion!
When we started this workshop quite a few of us were apprehensive as we had done little or no patchwork but Lis was very enthusiastic and gave clear demonstrations. We all went home very pleased with what we had made.
Thank you Lis for an enjoyable day.
This month we were pleased to welcome Mary Taylor who produces the most beautiful landscapes in machine embroidery. Mary had come to deliver a talk on the way she works and what inspires her. She starts with photographs of landscapes/seascapes which inspire her and is very careful with her composition. Samples of her work are below.
Mary explained how she is inspired by landscapes, the changing moods of landscapes and the relationship of plants and structures to those environments.
She has a particular love of the sea which features frequently in her work.
Mary explained how she took photographs and then cropped the picture for the piece she wanted to reproduce in embroidery.
She then builds up layers of calico, pelmet vilene, coloured velvet and coloured sheers in the appropriate colours as you can see below.
She then sets her machine to machine embroidery and begins stitching, first to secure the sheers and then to build up texture and colour.
After machining the background she sometimes burns the sheers away to reveal the colours underneath. When the background is finished she machine stitches the foreground e.g. a tree or grasses and then sometimes finishes with handstitched flowers.
The results are very beautiful and you feel that the landscape is before your eyes.
By the end of the talk we were all itching to get our machines out and start stitching!
Thank you Mary for an inspirational talk.
Our printing workshop was led by Sandra Kendall one of our own members. We were shown various samples of printing patterns and what the various motifs looked like when embroidered [see pictures below].
We then started to print with blocks making the various printing patterns of rows, brick, half drop, rotation and so on .
You can see some of our efforts below.
Sandra then showed us how to make our own blocks by carving corks, erasers and by using funky foam. These home made blocks often have an appeal of their own and can be tailor made to suit the embroidery you are working on.
Sandra then showed examples of using printing in a more random way.
We all went home with coloured fingers and content with our samples and inspired to do more!
Thank you Sandra
