We have a wonderful new exhibition at Heart Space Studios. It is a collection by Stephanie Wooster ( who conducts unusual knit workshops with us) developed from her MA studies and it concerns itself with wrapping, tying and generally caressing the upper body. the names of the different pieces tell how they are perceived by the maker – Swaddle, Swathe, Shawl, Sheath, Mantle, Shroud. The work is embroidered, felted, machine knitted, plaited and patch-worked together, with feathers, braids and calico. It sets a calm but slightly surreal feeling to our small gallery space.
Steph starts to set up her exhibition
The first things brought in were a series of clear plastic torsos which were then dressed in simple calico shifts before being hung on the wall.
The calico shifts or shrouds?
then Steph started to dress them up; first the dramatic feathered collar was placed to set the atmosphere….
scarves and stoles begin to be layered
Then out came feathered scarves, stoles and wraps, hand knitted and coiled hanks of wool, even felted knitting with feathers as the motif….
felted feather design on machine knitted wrap.
the large wraps, shawls or scarves, call them what you will – are made from several different textiles and hand stitched or even embroidered together often using a red knitted braid as a backing, this causes interesting lines to be drawn around the body when draped.
the feathered scarf with plaited woolen collar
the row of 4 pieces are really powerful and entice people to study them up close and personal…viewers are not quite sure what they are seeing, are these felted woven blankets, some unusual woolen ticking or simple striped knitting?
row of 4 pieces awaiting the extra exhibits.
When this group were placed Steph brought out a whole range of very finely machine knitted lengths in different colours and combinations, these can to worn any which way – I like them draped around the neck as an elegant sort of knitted necklace.
wall of fine knitted necklaces in brilliant colours and pattern combinations.
We like to have exhibitions of selling stuff at Heart Space, and most of these pieces are for sale, but Steph also brought a selection of beautifully refined knitted ribbons, that are carefully joined at the back so that they always behave well when draped! This is what I like to have for sale in the studios, exciting but wearable pieces with an edge, not fashion but style!
Also seen in far right of the picture is another knitted and embroidered piece ” I am what I am”
wall mounted scarf with embroidery ” I am what I am..”
this was made for another exhibition and shown earlier in the year , Mending at the Museum, it was really good to see it again with these earlier pieces and interesting to see how new work develops out of completely different stimuli. Steph has also made a series of mixed media hot water bottle covers, developed from her samples at the Heart Space Mixed Media workshop earlier in the year, with more of her hand warmers( it is Autumn after all) and these have specially colour co-ordinated to the exhibition.
colour-co-ordinated hand warmers – heat them first in the microwave!
This is what intrigues me about many successful textile makers and designers, they can develop many different types of work, from applied art pieces for museum exhibitions, to practical hand crafted things for everyday use. This is the way many of us manage to make our living while finding time and energy to research and develop our own personal work. In fact without the research and development of private passions many new and commercial designs would never see the light of day.
work book showing stages of making as well as research inspiration for the collection.
Looking through this book lets us see how Steph links all sorts of unusual images and ideas and then literally knits them together to make new and exciting wearable textiles.
my totally moth eaten cashmere cardigan – but with darning still intact!
This is a sad story with a happy ending. My favourite cardigan that was included in my first ever post, Make Do and Mend, where I proudly showed the careful darning that I wore with pride, sadly, got lost. When I eventually found it pushed to the bottom of my laundry basket (don’t ask) it was totally ruined even beyond my restorative darning powers.
I decided to felt it by boiling it twice. The colours are so vibrant that I just had to try to find a use for it and I found the perfect solution when designing with some lovely felted woolen blanket flowers that Kirsten Hill-Nixon had brought along as a new idea for a class at Heart Space Studios.
the reds and pink selection- I really like the tartan rose.
the neutral colour selection
Kirsten will make the flowers in the morning class and I will develop the design and make session with them in the afternoon…but first I had to design something with what she had brought me, and she had brought me a whole selection of disparate flower heads – just as I has asked her to.
I made 2 colour sets of flowers. the neutrals were really soft and wooly, very tactile and I thought first to just make a heart out of them – well I would wouldn’t I? and in fact this is a really nice idea I may go back to…..
sewing on some beaded and buttoned centres
But then I imagined them as adorning a woolly winter jumper or cardigan, they aren’t heavy but they are bulky and a brooch seemed better than stitching them to a piece of clothing. But I had been given so many flowers that I soon decided on a necklace….
Kirsten’s red flowers arranged as necklace
I set to work but when stitching them together without a backing fabric, soon realized that I needed just a few more roses….then I remembered my old ruined cardigan. I cut the sleeves into ribbons of different coloured stripes and stared to stitch the rose buds by simply rolling and folding the strips to suggest overlapping rose petals.
cut strips of sleeve being curled to start roses
stitching the rolled rose securely with matching fine wool thread
I had used this system many times as it is so easy – you just need to stitch as you go and control the folded edge, I found the way to do it in a vintage dressmaking manual from the 1930’s; the natural affinity to roll for cut knitting really helps the rose petal effect. I was starting to see a new life for all my old felted woolens.
the finished necklace –
I inserted my knitted roses between Kirsten’s more substantial felt blanket ones, ( I really like her use of the blanket stitched edge for a fat rolled rose). She had provided leaves as well so they helped make the reds even stronger. Then I simply stitched 2 suede strips for ties onto the last roses and there it is – now for the neutral necklace.
the neutral necklace made of different blankets and added wooden beads.
this time I added wooden beads by threading them onto the leather strips to make a more decorative finish. Kirsten had filled some of the centres of the flowers with soft glowing beads so I added some wooden ones as well, the soft tones and texture of the wood feels just right for this sort of fabric.
finished felted blanket necklace
I was really getting into my stride, and now I just want to make more of these simple flowers pieces and I didn’t use the lively red tartan rose – so now I need to pluck up courage to felt my tartans and paisley scraps to use with my old washed out jumpers……
strip sampler of tweed, embroidery, nuno felt copper and paper- Kirsten Hill-Nixon
I am interested in developing a set of workshop using mixed media at Heart Space, think leathers, metals, ceramics, fabrics, glass and wood….. so I thought I could try the idea out on the people who work with us, all expert in their own field and up for a challenge.
And as Crazy Patchwork samplers have been such a success at Heart Space Studios that I decided to run an Away Day for the tutors and staff to enjoy time making together. I asked everyone who could attend, to bring their own favourite materials and their tools. Each person would make either a strip sampler or a crazy square sampler by using decorative embroidery stitches to join the materials together.
tutor’s own stash of hand made wool felt
the administrator’s collection of everything vintage
Most people brought their own stuff to share between the group, I am always impressed by the generosity of makers in workshops like this. The group dynamic is encouraged so that people really want to help one another. What is also an added bonus is finding a shared love of a particular technique or material, even makers of different ages and styles come together when they find they both appreciate a particular aspect of their chosen discipline.
I also brought a large selection of materials from my home-based studios, all kinds of things: woven metal fabrics, stencilled enamels on copper, leathers, plastic lace, metallic damasks and other fabrics – and also the tools to drill stitch and manipulate them.
one of the best things about attending any materials based workshop is the abundance of new and unusual stuff that is introduced by people who are experienced in working with it – this can save days of researching.
my stash of copper discs, enamelled triangles and metallic braids
copper and aluminium wires for working with in any way possible.
I particularly like metallic leathers and fabrics, so I brought lots of these in for everyone to sample, as well as scraps of thin copper, some patterned with vitreous enamel. such a shame I had no time to experiment with the other tutors’ materials for this research session.
metal meshes and pressed copper foil, enamel applique and metallic leathers.
The task for the morning was to choose 3 different materials and join them together using their own preferred techniques or I would teach anyone various embroidery stitches and techniques. As the group comprised experts in knitting, stitching, crochet, felting, print as well as display, administration and even a drama student (a daughter on a flying visit), it proved to be a mixed bag of talents, attitudes and experiences. Perfect for generating new ideas and enthusiasms
colour co-ordinated mother and daughter
Everyone set to work choosing their 3 materials and laying them out, the strip sampler proved to be the most popular as it is the easiest to co-ordinate; odd crazy shapes take a lot longer to set up.For the task of joining two of the disparate materials together – colour, surface texture, weight of each material has to be considered as well as the selecting the technique.
traditional crazy shapes
strip sampler of cotton, leather and paper
I showed everyone how to make regular holes in various surfaces, involving textile techniques – a tracing wheel, an old darning needle and a hammer! It works for me every time…..and off they went with mixed but interesting results.
marking out where to make the stitching holes on copper.
At first everyone just chose a colour co-ordinated or used an unusual type of thread to work with…
metallic leather, woven braid stitched together with silky knitting ribbon, awaiting the addition of a scrap of plastic tablecloth.
only to find that when stitched it looked very different than imagined. after a relaxed start the makers’ critical faculties began to kick in!
colour co-ordinated threads and second thoughts
I noticed that the knitters worked completely differently from the stitchers; they immediately made a start by adding a linking system to one edge of a piece of material either using crochet or knit to form an edge ready to accept the next piece of material – this gave them much more contemplation time for what comes next – the stitchers are able to join 2 pieces together simultaneously. Why had I not appreciated this before? However working the wire into fine leather was a fiddly affair – see below right.
knitting wool onto a copper foil strip
developing the crochet wire joining strip
Now I really must get the knitters to teach how to do this technique. When I first attempted to join metal together using my own stitching techniques I used a different system – making rows of simple cross stitches between the strips of vitreous enamelled copper pieces, so joining each at the same time. It took me some time to try the different insertion stitches. In fact it was an aversion to drilling all the holes that put me off developing this technique for a long time – but now I happily drill rows of holes for hours at a time – well not exactly ‘happily’….maybe I will get to like crochet after all.
my very first attempt at joining metal with stitched wire
When the crochet wire was worked into some copper strips it was very successful…the strong steady base really helps achieve an even texture and the structure gives the metal wire movement and elasticity which is much more compatible to work into fabric.
copper wire crochet edge to copper foil strip
now the strips of materials are starting to look like they belong together
concentrating on the task in hand- and a heart on her sleeve
I showed several people how to embroider simple insertion stitches for a lace-like join…securing the fabric to a piece of card first to steady the gap between the pieces, a traditional technique found in my old embroidery manuals for white work.
cigarette cards stitched onto paper to steady them ready for gold insertion stitching
Now the invention started to kick in…
insertion stitches and beaded braid for that vintage vibe – Sophie Bristol
a really crazy mix of materials crocheted together by Avril Best
elegant beaded joining stitches between rows of leather, wallpaper, metallic braid, crumpled copper foil, nuno felted silk and drilled copper sheet – Debbie Bird
various knitted materials for joining disparate materials;- copper, copper wire, silk and wool nuno felt, shisha mirror in wool embroidery – Clare Griffel
ripped card, copper foil, nuno felted silk and wool, tweed and hand embroidery all joined together in crazy style – Kirsten Hill-Nixon.
interesting how the plastic tablecloth now looks like a precious fabric when seen with the other expensive elements, leather, woven brass and silver fabric. Jane-Marie Mahy
all things vintage – patchwork cotton, linen thread appliqued enamelled copper circle , cards and silver fabric. Sophie Bristol
pre machine knitted lace, crocheted copper wire with copper foil and wall paper – Steph Wooster.
And to prove that sampling really does inspire people here is new work from Steph – the day after the workshop she added some of the sampled techniques and materials to her range of knitted hot-water bottle-covers.
new knitted and embroidered samples – Steph Wooster
Everyone loves children’s art – either drawings or paintings; the pictures always have such energy and capture the spirit of the thing depicted – real or imagined. So when a visitor, Nadia Lanman, came to Heart Space Studios, to view my exhibition of ‘Mending Mottoes’ and asked if I would be interested in a commission to stitch one of her daughter’s drawings, I accepted at once – thinking “this is a challenge”
I asked to see several paintings and drawings so that we could make a decision which to depict, and really to see how difficult a challenge it would be. The price was also considered at this initial point as this was a thank-you and leaving present for the nursery school that 4-year-old Lola was leaving to go onto her primary school. Nadia brought in several, some simple line drawings and some full-on paintings. It became clear that Nadia really liked the rainbow painting (at the top of the post), water-colour paint on sugar paper…so typical of all children’s art – this was going to be a real challenge! It is one thing to stitch drawings but poster paint loaded on with energy ?
When we discussed pricing the piece I advised Nadia to go and buy a frame to keep the costs down; framing is really important but can be extremely costly, so I suggested choosing an A4 size as this was roughly the scale of the drawing papers that she had shown me – and an A size frame is easy to access; I promised her I would customise the frame if necessary.
Meanwhile I set about sampling the way to achieve the full-on colour.
first colour samples on shot pink silk
The first thing to research was the background colour, I found a yellow and pink shot silk fabric, that was about the same colour but slightly brighter than the sugar paper, this would save me having to dye the fabric – but how to get some background colour onto it first before I stitched it? i tried fabric paints but when dry it was like stitching hard leather. I needed the rainbow coloured in so I would not have to completely cover the ground with hand stitches – too time consuming, too expensive.
iron-on fabric dyes in pastel form
selecting thread colours to match paint
The next thing was to choose the threads. I had decided to stitch the whole piece in running stitches, this is the first stitch everyone ever learns to sew and it always looks both simple and innocent, so is a fitting choice for embroidering children’s art. Also I have used it a lot in my recent work, particularly when embroidering writing. I did think at this stage that machine embroidery would have been quicker to achieve the impression of saturated colour, but I am not a happy machine stitcher and felt that the mechanical aspect wasn’t in keeping with the subject; simple hand stitching was really the perfect technique to choose
I tried several yarns, silk and cotton and cottons and eventually chose a mixture of both, whatever would suit the paint colours.
directional stitching sample for rainbow and writing
I had photocopied the drawing and reduced the scale, to fit the frame, and to keep my fee as low as possible. I then drew onto this the direction of the paint brush, actually showing how Lola had swept the paint onto the paper, the lines would become running stitches, but first I had to sort out the message that Nadia wanted to send to the teachers on Lola’s behalf. “thankyou for my wings love Lola xx”
cut out photocopy and writing placement for the working drawing.
I had asked Nadia to get Lola to write it on a separate sheet of paper and then I traced it into position onto the photocopy – previously I had cut out the photocopy to gauge where to put the writing – a copy of this became my working drawing…..I have my own arcane ways of getting there!
I found this stitching really interesting, it had to be kept simple but needed to show the rhythm of the painted bands. Sadly the pastel once that it had been ironed to fix it was a bit too dull – but hey ho – it helped things go smoothly and quickly. What also helped was to draw the directional lines straight onto the dyed areas with a water-soluble pen to keep a track of the flow, they can be seen on the yellow band above. The last thing to do was to stitch the message again in running stitches, then wash and stretch the work and mount it in the frame.
finished and stretched embroidery
I so enjoyed this relatively simple stitched commission ( in comparison to the recent Thangka) that I thought it would be a good idea to run a class and now that I have sorted out how to express the rhythms and colours of paintings I think that I can show other people how to embroider their own children’s drawings – they would make great presents for anyone in the family. And when I told Nadia how her commission had inspired me to develop a new class, she immediately signed up for it!
Crazy stitching on a Crazy Patchwork by Naomi Clarke from a recent workshop at Heart Space Studios
Crazy Patchwork classes have always been popular at Heart Space Studios and several people asked me to teach them more hand embroidery stitches, so I started a course called Crazy Patchwork Sampler. The course is built around the sampler that I made for my book, Crazy Patchwork, published in 1998 by Collins and Brown – it seems what goes around comes around……
my book of Crazy Patchwork ideas and designs.
For the FIRST WORKSHOP I started off with the absolute basics, first we chose the colour scheme – I supplied various ribbons and fabrics for people to choose a small group of their favourite colours: this takes longer than anyone imagines it can and causes a lot of negative ideas to flow as people are usually very nervous about using colour, but I have learnt that this choosing is really important as eventually by using the same set of colours in various patterns and proportions the finished piece can be made harmonious.
strips of ribbon ironed on to backing fabric
first chosen coloured ribbons
Most people, to their own surprise, choose colours similar to what they are wearing. The next choice to be made is the threads – I ask them to choose similar colours to the fabrics but to stitch in complementary coloured threads – so that the stitching will show up.
choosing complementary coloured threads
The first sampled stitches are the straight ones – running, back and all the variations, easy does it….but it also includes writing a name…very simple but very effective for the first workshop. There are various methods of writing onto fabric so that it can be embroidered and we start with the simplest by using a water-soluble pen or the old-fashioned transfer paper still used by dressmakers.
the maker’s name worked in back-stitch over water-soluble pen.
The SECOND WORKSHOPsession was cross stitch, counted and herringbone – which is the main stitch I use for joining the patches together. The group was still concerned about colours, but I assured everyone that we had a long way to go and plenty of opportunity to make the whole sampler work in harmony – I was delighted that they had all done ‘homework’ and had finished the first workshop’s ‘patch’ and found more variations to add to the straight stitches.
finished patch from first week being decorated with herringbone stitch
Counted cross stitch is another way of embroidering letters and numerals……
my working chart of cross stitch motifs for the accompanying sampler
There is a whole world of cross stitch motifs and I like using the traditional ones – to illustrate the technique of charting for cross stitch I showed them some old work of mine that was designed from vintage needlework manuals. I still work as a freelance designer for a canvas embroidery company, Ehrman Tapestry, where I sometimes use similar charting for some of my designs, even though the stitch for tapestry is tent or half crass stitch. So I have lots of reference material and the group spent an hour of the 3 hour session looking at all my books and notes before they began charting their own designs.
Jo and Helen choosing cross stitch motifs and alphabets from my reference book
The task for this second session was to chart a name and date as well as a small multi-coloured motif and to stitch it onto the counted thread fabrics.
Jo decides to chart and stitch HOPE – she s going for an aspirational crazy sampler.
choosing the colours from a limited range of counted thread fabrics involves creative use of colour
Helen uses a shaded red thread creatively to harmonise her cross stitch samples with her first straight stitch patch
it is interesting how the maker’s character soon emerges from their choice of colour and letter forms, above Helen’s looks strong and directional while Sophie has chosen elegant letter forms and motifs ; the colour combinations are similar but the proportions are very different
cross stitched bands being cross stitched together
By the THIRD WORKSHOP the patchworks are starting to look very rich and there is less uncertainty about colour choices, everyone seems to be enthralled by this process and are bringing in finished pieces that they have developed at home alone….everyone comments on how good it is to just stop for a time and concentrate on their stitching.
2 finished ribbon patches with 3rd ready to be embroidered
The third week is supposed to be looped stitches – chains and lazy daisies and feather, but we have to spend some time catching up on herringbone as the counted cross stitch took up most of the last class at the studio.
looped stitch patch of chain, lazy – daisies with feather variation being worked in beads
The patches are now starting to harmonise together by careful use of colour; everyone really enjoys the frivolity of stitching with multi-coloured threads to make up the herringbone variations
herringbone stitch variations plus feather stitch rows that are beaded
By the LAST WORKSHOP we have got a small range of patches ready to be worked into a whole square.
Anne’s collection of patches ready to stitch together.
The piecing together of the patches for the last class was easier because of the colour co-ordination of the embroideries, but the strict oblong patches made for geometric patterns for the final piece. Maybe for the next session of this class I will give each person a triangle as well as oblongs and squares of fabrics to apply the embroidered ribbons on.
geometric patterned patchwork for final piecing
I just didn’t have the heart to ask them to cut up their embroideries to look like a more authentic crazy, even so each person had completely different patchworks –
the inspirational crazy patchwork sampler is pinned together
This group of students want to learn more stitches and techniques so I am running an advanced course for them – and other more experienced embroiderers can drop in for single sessions. Considering that this group had only 5 classes for 3 hours each they have really advanced their practice in many ways and not just by learning how to stitch. I think that they have caught my bug – the embroidery bug – and are now developing their own libraries and stashes of materials ready to try out new techniques and new ways of expressing themselves.
vintage DMC book of counted cross stitches bought by Jo after seeing my old battered version with her almost completed Crazy Sampler
At the summer festival for our local community of Westbury Park in Bristol, England, Heart Space Studios held a day long drop-in session to make felt flowers – for all ages – and all ages came and made masses of flowers and went away wearing them.
selecting materials from the array of patterns and fabrics
Poppy helping choose felt shapes
I spent a few days making samples and developing patterns, getting supplies of felt and pre-cut flower shapes from the Craft Department, the one- stop on line shop for lots of interesting and exciting craft materials. The younger children of 4,5 and 6 years are not really able to cut and stitch all the little petal shapes so we provided lots of odd buttons and felt shapes
patterns buttons an felt all ready to make new flowers
and I had been given some strange pom poms from Aza Adlam, who is a member of our Wednesday Knit and Stitching club – they proved very popular after Poppy, my young volunteer had sampled a few and found out how to use them.
different designs using all different kinds of layers of shapes
I had designed several shapes for different abilities and tastes, the simple daisies were popular with the younger children – even a few boys got in on the act….
simple and effective felt daisy brooch ,
a badge for a fleece
The pom poms proved the most popular of all the styles for hair clips for girls…
brilliantly coloured pom pom flower
prettily coloured pom pom
and many children managed to make a couple of flowers in a very short time.
Meanwhile, for the more assured stitchers and one adventurous man, the spiral ruched flower was a quite a challenge.
Andy contemplates his choices of colours
these flowers are rather more sophisticated and a lot more fiddly to make well.
choosing 2 colours for the spiral rose.
The gathering threads on the interior spiral are simple to stitch, but manipulating them into something lovely is not so easy
the spiral rose is ruched by pulling the fine running stitches
the choice of colours here is all important…..
fastening the layers together with a large pony bead
trimming the petals later helps to retain a good even flower shape
wiggly scissoring helps soften the petal edges
lots of the finished flowers were worn with pride for the journey home, by parents who had joined in seeing how successful their children had been…..
nice use of a safety pin makes the old fashioned felt flower look modern
and other grown-ups who were all very colour co-ordinated
lovely heathery shade for heathery cardigan made by Heather!
This vintage embroidered panel was brought to me by Caroline Doran who has requested a mentoring session recently at Heart Space Studios. Caroline was a member of our regular Knit and Stitch group who meet each week to talk, work and enjoy textiles together. The last time I had seen her she had brought a small hand embroidery she was working on, it was of her own neighbourhood with some enormous cranes from a local building site – she had asked me for some advice on windows . I remember discussing the work at length, which looked really very promising …then I didn’t see her for several months!
original neighbourhood embroidery – Caroline Doran
However she turned up again asking if I could review her work as she was a bit “stuck” : how well I know what that feels like…” is this piece worth going on with? What am I doing this work for? Why can’t I seem to keep going with the same momentum I started off with? Have I any other better ideas? We all experience this doubt when we make work that is slow going, you just have to keep stitching but it helps if you have some record of the why as well as the way the work came to be made – research – for want of a better word.
a small selection of the inspirational objects
Before Caroline come to the tutorial I asked her to bring some inspirational objects or documents as well as evidence of her personal research – fabrics, photographs, books, drawings, scraps books, old work – whatever made her want to commit to actually making her ideas. She brought several telling things and as she unpacked them I started to make groups that showed how her own work connected to what she had brought along. Tilleke Schwarz ( on of my own great favourite embroiderers) had evidently been a real influence, in fact Caroline has attended on of Tilleke’s workshops in England. She had translated Tilleke’s acerbic but generally neutral stitched commentaries and slogans to make her own negative statements…
Tilleke Shwarz catalogue with an opposing down beat message
a sure reflection of how she was viewing her work ( and in complete contrast to my own rather more upbeat slogans)
She also brought in several books, by other embroiderers who use applique and patchwork, notably Janet Bolton, but also the catalogue from the London Foundling Hospital about the mementoes left by mothers with the children they had entrusted to the future to the care of the institution. There is a very strong set of images and ideas being laid out before me. I was very intrigued to see what other work she had brought in to show me. A few years ago Caroline had undertaken an arts foundation course and she also brought along some of the work that she thought was still relevant to her now.
I find that the great breadth of foundation courses are brilliant for introducing students to a wide range of ideas and media but after a few years ‘at home alone’ the personal and, let’s face it, the available will re-assert itself. This situation can lead people to feel that they are not being adventurous, or the work doesn’t count as it is made of such mundane materials. But I think that this is the real strength of textile practice, for the most part it can be made using materials that are readily available, and these materials are the stuff of everyone’s lives and so are have many and varied associations with which to connect – for both makers and viewers. One thing that good foundation courses do give students is a sure sense of self-critical analysis, and this Caroline had acquired, if anything she was too critical, getting things ” too perfect” had rendered much of her latest work a bit lifeless, and she knew this – but how to remedy this is part of why she has come to me for help.
This set of work looked very different from the first work that had been brought out – a mixture of different media about all connected to her very strong family affinity to Ireland and her grandmother’s home. I was struck by several “necklaces” and embroidered images that made me think of rosaries,
recycled ‘rosary’
so wasn’t surprised when her grandmother’s real rosary turned up stitched onto a piece of work.
grandmother’s rosary stitched into woven fabrics
and her grandmother’s image was printed onto another fabric applique
photographic print of onto fine voile
I was beginning to see the connection between the vintage embroidered verse – almost a prayer – that had come as piece of inspiration, with this almost sacred treatment of her Irish heritage. I started to ask about this connection and heard how Caroline still felt deeply connected to her Irish roots, still retained a religious faith and was now concerned with working with evidence of her family background, maybe using photographs, maps and other found objects. The most arresting piece that she showed me from this set of work was literally found – on a land fill site where she had made a necklace from shards of broken glass, pottery and stones – again a sort of secular rosary ….regarding or touching the objects made the viewer consider other lives, other places, tiles, bottle caps, lichen, glass, bark…..
shard necklace from land-fill site
I was now considering how to help develop these disparate sets of materials and concerns into a more cohesive textile context, obviously some form of collage, applique or mixed media patchwork….when, as sometimes happens at the studios, we had 2 visitors from ‘Billie Jean’ which is a lively Bristol vintage clothes and fabric shop, they had been sent to us to show some things that we might be interested in seeing; and these were….. patchworks. Asking Caroline’s permission, I invited them in to see some absolutely lovely recycled tweed and knitted cashmere patch-worked blankets, that Billie Jean herself had made from their stash of old cashmere knitwear and woolen jackets, we were soon all chatting away about recycling, the beauty of old fabrics and how much we enjoyed the experience of just handling and making with textiles.
And as several of Caroline’s inspirational books had been about patchwork and applique, this seemed to be a good omen for the way to go…..as part of the mentoring session we now had to decide the way forward. I advise people how they might develop the next stage of their work, it is entirely up to them if they choose to take that advice. I see my mentoring role to be that of a person immersed in the same materials, techniques and often similar subjects as the people asking advice, and having been through similar making (or not making) experiences many times I have developed several strategies for looking at the work, getting some perspective on it – finding connections and as any tutor will do – suggesting new things to research to take the work forward.
group of half worked embroideries and drawings
We now had to look at what was in front of us, decide what was to be developed immediately, what could be parked for working on later when there had been more time for fresh research, and what could be safely consigned to a folder or file of past experience. I had grouped several half – worked embroideries and drawings together, they seemed to relate to a celebration of the city and street life, I liked their vivacity and thought that they could be somehow ganged up together to make a larger patchwork piece. This means they have to be somehow made to work together, more of the simple line drawings can be assimilated worked as appliques or linear stitching and as made into a textile map of Caroline’s geographical space.
We will wait to see if she brings anything back to me in the month ahead. I am considering developing mentoring as part of Heart Space Studios activities…so I do hope that she has gained some benefit from this initial session.
needle felted foxes, the results of the first workshop by Jenny Barnett
Needle -felting appears to be the most popular form of model making in textiles if the success of the 2 recent classes by Jenny Barnett for Heart Space Studios is anything to go by. Jenny gave her first workshop last month – foxes, and this month, hares……
all the mad MarchHares at end of the workshop
I was amazed by the range of expressions and attitudes that the different people managed to make using the basic kit that Jenny brings along to get everyone started.
Jenny’s needle felting kit
It comprises just a few simple things – wool tops in assorted colours, the special barbed needles for felting, a sponge to work on and some written instructions. Jenny also packed some love-heart sweets into the bags for her first visit to Heart Space Studios.
models waiting to inspire the makers
But most importantly to my mind, she also brings everyone an individual model to use as a personal reference – they look like sentinels or guardian angels watching over their allotted maker…the small perfectly formed creatures look on while the rolls and swatches of felt are poked and prodded into a brand new being.
a model looking on while another being is formed
Jenny makes the most realistic looking creatures of all the needle – felted wild life I have seen, her naturalistic animals come from real observation – she lives on a canal in Gloucestershire, but she also she brings a lot of different reference materials to the workshops
research material for the Hare workshop
Needle felting is very different to wet felting, this is quick, really quick…the small scale animals take shape in rough form within an hour, the basic characters just seem to be conjured from each maker by alchemy. One minute you are looking at a table full of basic animal shapes, then the heads and ears are modelled separately ready to be applied
and with small adjustment of the angle when placing of the head, or an ear, the tiny being looks different – it has attitude……
alert and ready
thoughtful hare with Jenny in the background
and suddenly all the animals took on their own characters….
not at all sure
and after making one successful hare the class had a chance to make more – testing their new – found knowledge.
obviously twins
where are we?
I was very amused though to find this group guarding the necessary packet of sticking plasters – needle felting is not for the inattentive maker.
guarding Jenny’s packet of plasters
looking on from a smart wicker basket were several other creatures
box of clothed creatures waiting for their chance to appear
I had asked Jenny to bring them again as I remembered them from her first visit to us last year. I thought that now, having seen her work so successfully with the groups, she should conduct a 2 day Master Class for Heart Space – I had this idea when she brought out a simple winged horse that had broken a dream I have had recently…I wanted to try to make my dream creature ( more of this later, possibly – I often embroider my dreams)
little winged horse
I thought that it would be an opportunity to get different types of makers to develop their own characters. starting with the felted heads and bodies then dressing them in patch- worked clothes….so Jenny is developing a new Master Class for mid September at Heart Space.
But now it was time for all the new animals to go to good homes; they traveled in style – in the pretty bags that Jenny had provided each person’s kit in.
When I think of African cloth, block printed or woven strip cloth is what I imagine; bold colour in figurative prints or geometric woven designs…
So it was with real delight that I saw and met with Magie Relph the owner of the African Fabric Shop recently. Initially I met her at a quilt show last year and was introduced to her by a colleague, Liz Hewitt, who thought we should connect; then about a month ago she came and visited us at Heart Space Studios to talk about selling some of her magical fabrics and beads through the shop.
selection of African glass beads
I remembered her stall at the show so clearly, lovely fabric prints of all descriptions,
subtle batik resist dyed cotton lengths
as well as baskets and beads made from all types of recycled materials….
hand-woven baskets on the African Fabric Stall
I really like sea glass – broken glass that has been dulled by time spent in the sea – nature’s perfect re-cycling system; the milky colours and softened shapes are really appealing and looking at this selection below I am wondering why I didn’t buy any if not all of them?
sea glass bracelets
Then just after Magie’s visit, another piece of Africa found its way to Heart Space Studios; Marina Harvey, a South African designer and pattern cutter, came and talked to the Thursday Evening Knit and Stitch Club about her printed fabrics that she made several years ago on the ‘MA in Print’ course, at UWE, Bristol.
Heart Space Knit and Stitch Club, Show and Tell with Marina Harvey
Marina has written a course for Heart Space Studios to make and decorate a skirt in a series of evening classes, using some of the techniques she developed on her MA, (this will run later in the year) but I asked her to take part in the ongoing programme of “Show and Tell’s” we hold occasionaly at the weekly Club sessions, as it is a chance for local makers to bring their work and talk about it to us.
Marina printed and patched fabric swatches, based on African batik fabric scraps
Marina talked to us about the idea behind her MA collection: when she came to England to teach and study she was fascinated by the archetypal British fabrics notably woolen tweeds and in particular the cloths worn in traditional sporting pursuits, hunting, shooting and fishing but for dressage in particular …… we were all very surprised by this choice, but of course woollen tweeds in South Africa would be a novelty. Marina set about blending the differences between the cultures by using fabric as her medium, the Queen and her Majesty’s interests as her subjects!
sketch book with paper print featuring brollies, herringbone tweed and Queen Elizabeth 2nd
Marina used African printing systems, block prints, batiks and discharge screen printing to pattern the tweeds, and she patterned them with tea cups and saucers, she was very generous in bringing all her research materials, work books and fabric samples for us to study closely.
printed tea-cup tweeds with African batik samples
Designing her textiles to make into clothes for her degree exhibition, she chose to work in the 3 colours only, indigo blue, red and dark brown, predominantly found in sishweshwe or shwe shwe – the traditional South African fabrics of the Zulu and Lesotho nations.
colour strike-off sample print in brown and blue
The combination of British imagery,’ Pheasants Flying for Cover’ which is printed in the traditional shwe shwe colours is a perfect combination very successfully in keeping with both cultural traditions.
red block printed design for tweed jacket
the resulting fabrics are subtle blends of African colours and British icons, T.pots look like African flags are printed on traditional gamekeeper’s woollen drab,
red T pot print on tweed
and the ultimate indigo shwe shwe inspired print of miniature T.pots for elegant court shoes
