October meeting

It was a dark and stormy day, the rain came down in torrents ....... 

There was no old man to tell us a tale but our morning was brighten by a visiting tutor, Angela Oswald, an amazing stitcher and teacher.  We enjoyed Angela's last visit to us for a Boro talk and workshop, but this time her theme was 'circles'. These were some of her samples and works in progress.

For additional inspiration, Angela also showed us photos of circle-based work from artists using a variety of different media.

After brief discussions about backgrounds and stitches, we all started on our individual pieces, whether they were small patches, woven backgrounds or larger pieces. As usual, Angela was generous with her time and supportive comments and ideas. We all made a good start but were nowhere near completing anything before our two hours were over.

Thank you, Angela, for a lovely workshop that will keep us stitching well into the winter!

Our afternoon speaker was Kirsteen McGregor, whose work as a pattern cutter in the children's clothing sector led her to a commitment to UK manufacturing and natural fibres. She spoke about 'Homegrown Homespun', a regenerative fashion project which aimed to re-introduce flax-growing and linen production, from its start in 2021 to this year. Kirsty told about the whole process from clearing the waste land in the centre of Blackburn (300 bags of rubbish!) to the processing of the final harvest in 2024, which had to be done in Poland as there are no commercial processors in the UK.

We watched a very informative video of the project and Kirsty gave us brief demos of how flax could be processed by hand (lots of time and good arm muscles), although the resulting fibres are too coarse for garments.  

Thank you, Kirsty, was a really interesting talk. There's lots of info and photos online. In particular:

https://northwestenglandfibreshed.org/homegrown-homespun/

https://superslowway.org.uk/projects/homegrown-homespun/

September meeting

After our summer break it was good to catch up at our September meeting.

The morning workshop for this meeting was a Screen Print Taster led by our member Lynda. Members thoroughly enjoyed the opportunity to have a go at screen printing using a small homemade screen and fabric paint on different fabrics. Participants enthusiastically embraced the chance to play and experiment with different temporary stencils and masks, and to try layering prints and mixing colours.

Programme 2025/26

The new programme from September 2025 is now available. Just click on the link in the right-hand column.

July meeting

Last Saturday saw us diving into another traditional technique with a canvaswork session led by our member, Elizabeth.  She provided some basic patterns for us to use, and had brought her spare canvas and wools should we have needed them. It was a very relaxed session to finish the year and most members carried on stitching into the afternoon session. Thank you, Elizabeth.

Here are some of the samples in progress.

During the afternoon we also had a photo session for pieces completed over the last 12 months or so.

Thank you to everyone who taught, spoke at or participated in our workshops over the year. Have a super, stitching summer break.

June meeting

A busy day at Megastitchers with a member-led morning workshop then a great talk in the afternoon.

We started with a simple ribbonwork session led by member, Chris. This is a technique we'd not covered before and attendance was good. Here are a couple of Chris's samples:

With help from Chris, and Joy, members were soon choosing their design from three options and transferring it to fabric.  The challenge was then to secure the ribbons, either in a straight line or as petal and fish shapes. Not always easy, and there were some large needles being used! No finished pieces, as usual, but here is some work in progress:

In the afternoon, we had a talk 'Inspired by the Garden' from Maureen Sawyer, an artist who makes contemporary, three-dimensional artworks in mixed media and textiles. Maureen started by telling us about 'Southlands' in Stretford where she and her partner have gardened organically for 25 years. Lots of amazing, colourful photos from the different areas in the (very!) long, narrow garden.

Maureen then went on to talk about the development of her artworks, which include boxed pieces, those in clear cubes (which can be viewed from all angles and free-standing work. Her work is definitely not representational, but aims to capture the essential nature of the inspiration - soil, flowers, ferns, tree bank, water, seeds. The materials Maureen uses include wires, metal, threads and found objects, all manipulated into intriguing shapes. 

Just a few photos from a fantastic range of work. Thank you, Maureen.

If you want to visit Southlands, Maureen's garden, it's open for the National Garden Scheme on Sunday, 20th July 2025 from 12pm to 5.30pm. Entrance fee is £5, and address is 12 Sandy Lane, Stretford, M32 9DA.

More information, and lots of photos, about the garden and artworks can be found at https://www.southlands12.com/

 

Manchester Antique Textile Fair

It's not long to go now until the 32nd Manchester Antique Textile Fair. Megastitchers will be there, upstairs, with a display of old embroidery threads and samples from our workshops over the last few months. We'll also be selling old books, Needlewoman & Needlecraft magazines from the 1940s to 1970s and editions of Embroidery magazine from the 1960s and 1970s.

The Fair opens to the general public at 10 am, admission fee is £8 on the door or through Eventbrite.

May meeting

 Waxing lyrical ............

about a full day workshop led by textile artist Christine Stanford. Here are some of the wonderful finished articles that Christine brought to show us.

Christine, in addition to her exhibition pieces, makes a wide range of small items including panels, notebook covers, needle cases, cards, scissor cases. For our workshop, we had a choice of a panel or a cover for a notebook and, in preparation for the day, Christine had printed off personal images that each member had provided.

After a quick initial demo, we were soon applying printed papers and our images to a fabric or a card base.  As it often is in workshops, making these decisions about arrangement was one of the most difficult parts of the day!

Christine had brought a wide range of printed papers, and other resources, we were welcome to use.

After a quick lunch, we approached the more 'technical' element of the day, painting melted paraffin wax onto teabag paper, then ironing it off to create the correct level of transparancy. After the wax paper was laid over our base we could then start to machine sew to secure everything together and enhance the design.

Lots to finish off at home and lots of ideas to develop in our own way. Thank you Christine for an interesting and inspiring day.

Look out for Christine's work at exhibitions, whether as an individual or as part of the Decorum group and her courses.

https://christinestanford.uk/ , on facebook and instagram https://www.instagram.com/christinejstanford/?hl=en