Our morning workshop, led by Pam, was inspired by the Gawthorpe Textiles collection, following the September presentation by Rachel Midgley, curator. The Gawthorpe collection ranges from an embroidered herb pillow circa 1580’s with spangles and metallic lace on linen, to canvas work, silk work, and lavishly embroidered skirts and tablecloths from 1900’s.
Pam had prepared fabrics, templates, examples, ideas for stitches to use and embroidery resource books. Sue’s example was a paisley pattern on finer dress material.
Burden, Brick, Couching, Darning, Detached buttonhole stitch
Forbidden stitch, French knots, Outline stitch, Pekinese stitch
Running, Satin, Stem, Silk shading and Tent stitch.
The Anchor book of Crewel Stitches was very helpful. Crewelwork developed in the 1600’s. Wall hangings, clothes and household items were decorated with exotic plants, animals and fruits, using brightly coloured wools and a range of stitches on linen or wool fabrics. Now cotton and silk threads are often used, with a Crewel needle. Shapes are outlined first in chain, stem stitch or couching and follow the design outline, ignoring the material’s weave. Then the design area is filled with different laid stitches. Very exciting and colourful. And it's also possible to add previously-made motifs, such as Petra's Suffolk puff.
In the afternoon Lynda gave a presentation - The Alchemy of Design - on her journey to becoming a textile artist. Winding down to retirement, having started work at 16, she found courage to enrol in a Stockport college foundation year and she did a taster week with each discipline. Week 4 was an instruction to play, with white cartridge paper – for her a light bulb moment that fired her creativity. She thought about Sense of Place, made a plan, a mind map, played with photos, gelli plate prints (Lynda says you can never have too many of these!), rubbings, collages, and experimented with how to produce ideas on fabric.
Fuelled by a continuing desire to learn and develop her practice, Lynda attended at a wide range of workshops, including some on-line, made a hexagon meander book, added words, layers, and lattices - all leading led to the making of more complex pieces.
Thank you Pam & Lynda for an inspirational day, and to Clare for the words and pictures.
