End of Another Era

For the past three years I have been tutor and mentor to a group of embroiderers called "Zigzag". They were formed originally from my first class of City & Guilds students and over the years the group has lost some members, gained some others and gradually changed and evolved.

As a result the aims and objectives of the group have also evolved and changed and as happens this has not always been the same for all the members. And so sadly we all agreed that we have come to the end of an era and today was the last meeting of Zigzag.

Over the past year the ladies have been working to a theme based on the Arts and Crafts movement, following a study day at the V & A.

Their most recent challenge has been to produce a mixed media "tile" incorporating some embroidery, inspired by the work of the Arts and Craft artists.

What you see here is the finished results from five of the members. I'm sure you will agree this is stunning work.

It is always sad when something comes to an end but it has been an amicable parting and we were all agreed that it was time to move on. However, it has been an enriching and enjoyable three years for me... and I hope for the others too. We have had some good times, a lot of laughs and some amazing lunches (today was no exception)... not to mention the stunning work that has been produced.

So ladies of Zigzag, I would like to thank you all, wish you well and hope that I continue to see examples of your wonderful work in the future.

Jazz it Up

A little while ago I gave a sneaky peak of some work done by Zigzag, the group that I mentor. The exhibition of their work was on Saturday as part of a larger quilt exhibition at Haberdasher's School in Elstree and now I can show you the pieces in full. This was a group exercise based on a painting by Canadian artist Eric Waugh called Jazz it Up. A copy of the painting was cut into six pieces and each member of the group was given a piece. They were then given free rein to use this as inspiration in any way they wished the only restraint being they all had to be the same size. They've worked in sketchbooks, made samples and developed themes and as you can see they've come up with six very different interpretations.

The first one is by Ann and I think this is called Drum Beat and is incredibly effective... you can feel the drum beat!

The one below is by Lynda and involves lots of stitched metal so has a wonderful rich, sumptious feel.

This is by Joan and has a fabulous embellished background.

This is Bernice's picture which has lovely 3D spirals and a very delicate feeling about it.

Sandy's has gorgeous layers of sheer fabric cut back to reveal glowing colours

And last but not least is Lynne's which was based on the devestating effects of hurricane Katrina on the city of New Orleans and is full of amazing detail and wonderful stitching.

I think they all did really well in interpreting the theme in six such different ways, the work looked fabulous hung together and I look forward to them exhibiting together again. Well done ladies.

Class catch up

This Tuesday was the last class this term for my weekly machine embroidery group. Over the past couple of weeks they have been stitching on Lutradur, a man made material that can be painted and distressed with heat. They made landscape type images which they then stiched into book covers and these are some of the results:

And Pat brought in a cushion that she'd finished using a technique of stitching onto tapestry canvas that we did in the autumn.

I've not posted much recently from the Zigzag group, mostly because we haven't had a meeting since before Christmas and also because they have been working over several months on a piece for an exhibition. These are now virtually all finished ready for the exhibition at the Haberdasher's Aske School in Elstree, Herts on May 9th. They started with this picture which was cut into pieces and each member had a piece as inspiration. The only rule was to produce a 2-D textile approx A4 size.

I can't show you their finished pieces before the exhibition but this is a taster of some of the work... some were inspired by colour or shape and others by the subject matter but each one is very different but also very beautiful. Super work ladies... well done!

I'll show the full pictures after the exhibition.

Another Zigzag

A wonderful day today spent with my Zigzag group after a summer break of a couple of months. Our challenge for the summer was to produce a postcard sized piece of textile art based on either something we experienced or somewhere we visited over the summer. I decided to use my painting of grapes made in Tuscany as inspiration.

And as our our theme today was transfer dyes, I dyed some fabrics and stitched these to make my postcard which I'm not that happy with. Rushed it at the last minute unfortunately.

However the postcards from everyone else are fabulous and so varied in style and technique. This is Sandy's based on the tulip staircase at the Queen's house in Greenwich.

Lynne's is inspired by a statue by a French motorway.

Lynda went to Latvia.

Joan stayed at home but was inspired by an image in a book.

Bernice went on a course with Ruth Issett and made some printed and dyed fabrics which she used.

But she also went to Japan!

And Ann was inspired by French Sunflowers.

Joan also completed a stunning piece of work which she has been planning and working on for most of last year. She started with some extensive research on celtic designs, did lots of samples, tried different techniques and all her hard work has paid off with this beautiful piece of embroidery. The photograph does not do it justice.

The day was spent painting papers with transfer dyes and ironing them onto different fabrics . The collage below is just a small sample of the beautiful work done during the day.

I always enjoy working with this group... especially as we had cake today for Bernice's birthday!

Mad mad week

I've had a crazy week full of workshops. It started on Monday in a school in Ely where I was running a series of bunting workshops with classes of year 3 children. The theme was "Summer" and there were some fabulous flags. In the short breaks between the individual classes I was frantically sewing the flags together to make the bunting which was hung in the hall for a final celebration of dance and poetry. This is part of a project in Cambridgeshire called Vital Communities. If you follow the link you can read more about this exciting project.

I love the dragonfly above

And this beautiful beach.

There were lots more but my camera battery ran out!

On Wednesday I was back with my ZigZag group. The following is a collage of some of the work done since last time, some ideas for a logo for our forthcoming website (watch this space!) and some cards and boxes made for sale for an Open Gardens Day that we are supporting.

I thought you might like to see a close up of this wonderful wall hanging by Bernice, beautiful spirals stitched on layers of sheer fabrics and cut out with a soldering iron.


The final workshop was yesterday afternoon where I spent a manic four hours in a Cambridge school back with Vital Communities running family workshops. Again it was a summer theme and we were making tissue and fabric flowers.

The idea was to wind them all around this trellis to make an indoor wall of flowers to stay in school.

But most of the children had other ideas and only about eight ended up on the trellis - the other forty odd that were made were taken home. And one even ended up as a hair decoration!

I finally got home about 8pm to find Ben had made dinner and Stewart had a bottle of fizz chilling to celebrate our anniversary. Thank you all for your wonderful kind wishes.

Now... I really must come off this computer and attempt to tidy up my house!!!

Another Zigzag

As always, a fun filled productive day at Zigzag. There wasn't much new work to show as all the ladies had been working on individual projects over the holidays, developing design work which I think is going to result in some exciting new work during the year. However Joan and Sandy were rather taken with the Tyvek flowers we made at the December meeting and as a result went into mass production! And these are the results - Tyvek bouquets!

They were stunning. Here's a couple of close ups, first of Joan's flowers and then Sandy's.

Lesley also brought in her book to show us which was beautiful and very delicately stitched. It is going to be one of a series of small books. You can read more of what she is planning to do on her blog.

We spent the morning looking at different cutwork techniques and some of the ladies worked on some samples. Ann and Lynne favoured a more traditional approach working with white on white.

While Judith, Lynda and Lesley tried a more contemporary approach using colour and less traditional designs. I think they all work really well.

I sometimes think there is a danger of being swept away by all the latest products and gimmicks on the market and lose sight of the fact that good technique and control of the machine are all important so it was good to focus on some traditional stitching today.

Next month we'll be looking at image transfer... and all the latest products and gimmicks! ; )