Okay, Own Up...

Which one of you girls is responsible for this?

I suppose you think it was funny?

Shimmering Sheers

One week ago I was teaching machine embroidery to someone as young as 10 years old....

and yesterday I was teaching machine embroidery to someone as young as 87 years old... which is fantastic because it just goes to show, age is no barrier when it comes to machine embroidery!

I spent Saturday in Suffolk with sixteen lovely ladies from the Stitch Skills Swap Shop, teaching a class called Shimmering Sheers.

Lots of sheer fabrics combined with plenty of sequins, beads, foils and sparkle and the ladies all went home with a little sparkly bag and several twinkling flowers.

You can see Jacky's results here and I'm sure there will be lots of pictures on the 4S blog very soon. And if you fancy a "Shimmering Sheers" day I will be teaching the same workshop at Art and Stitch on May 21st.

Although if you belong to a Guild or a stitching group I could bring Shimmering Sheers directly to you... whether you are 10 or 87! Just get in touch.

A Perfect Day

Some days just don't go according to plan and you end up in the evening feeling as though nothing has been accomplished (and I have many of those, believe me). And then other days are packed full of interesting things and lovely people from dawn to dusk... and yesterday was one of those days...

It started with a train ride into London and a whole hour of uninterrupted knitting... bliss! My first stop was The Barbican so I could see Future Beauty again before it closes on Sunday. I was just as excited as the first time I saw it and came away with a notebook full of ideas and sketches. I particularly wanted to draw this rather spendid knitted underwear ensemble... which is connected to my knitting on the train. I'll reveal more about that another time!

After a delicious bowl of soup (I can recommend the foodhall at the Barbican) it was off to the V & A to meet Alice. We had a quick whizz around the Chinese Imperial Robes exhibition - a chance to see some glorious textiles - before heading off to the Foundling Museum. The current exhibition at the museum, Threads of Feeling, shows swatches of fabric that were left with foundling babies during the 18th century.

Between 1741 and 1760 over 4000 babies were left at the Foundling hospital with a small token, usually fabric, kept as a means of identification. These were either fabrics given by the mother or they were cut from the clothing of the babies and they were pinned to the billets that held the details of each child left.

They represent one of the largest collections of everyday textiles from the 18th century. Threads of Feeling shows a selection of these fabric tokens. It is a beautiful exhibition, tastefully presented and as might be expected it also presents a poignant and moving story.

But despite the sad background to these fabric tokens it is fascinating to see such a diverse collection of textiles and to consider what they reveal about fashion, women and ordinary lives. It is an amazing piece of social history.

We then went to meet Alice's daughter, the lovely Miss M, who joined us back at the Foundling museum for a talk by John Styles (the curator of the exhibition) about the relevence of these textile tokens and what they can tell us about 18th century dress. It was a thoroughly enjoyable and absorbing talk.

It was such an inspiring day that my head was buzzing full of ideas... just as well I had my knitting for the journey home.

A wonderful day, thank you Alice! Today however... not much accomplished at all so far!

Colourful Corsages

I've never been very good with Etsy. Don't get me wrong... I love Etsy, as my frequent purchases will testify but I've never done very well with my own shop. Which is entirely my own fault as I seldom put anything in it and when I do I rarely update it.

So I thought it was time for a change...

And today there are six new fabric corsages.

Made with a beautiful mixture of vintage cotton feedsack, Liberty cottons, old lace and recycled buttons all lovingly made with machine and hand embroidery by my own fair hands.

Perfect for adding a splash of colour to your favourite jacket or sweater. Which is quite convenient...

As today is the first day of Emma's Splash of Colour week for February.

So why not treat yourself to a touch of Springtime for your lapel... available from my Etsy Shop.

Super Stitchers

At Young Embroiderers today we gave the girls a chance to play on the sewing machines and try their hand at some free machine embroidery.

There were eight girls (average age 10-11), six machines, plus me and Pam.

They stitched like they'd been doing it for years, despite the fact this was the first time some of them had ever used a sewing machine.

When they felt confident we then progressed to some stitched portraits in the style of Louise Gardiner. They worked in pairs and drew portraits of each other which they then transferred in stitch onto artist's canvas. They added touches of colour with paint to the finished embroideries. I was totally blown away by the quality of both their stitching and their drawing and these are the amazing results:

These are Sophie's and Grace's

I think the one below is Heather's (although it might be Abigail's)

The next one is Jemima's portrait of Pam

and this is Tabby's portrait of Skye...

and Skye's portrait of Tabby.

Nikki decided to invent a mystery man rather than do a portrait... or so she said. I don't think my mustache is quite that thick!

And I think the one below is Abigails... although of course it might be Heather's!

In order to demonstrate the technique I did a portrait of Pam... although she thinks it looks more like Jo Brand with her red lipstick. She decided she would like green hair like Constance Howard.

And to get her own back... Pam did one of me!

I'm seriously considering cosmetic surgery!

It's been a brilliant day girls... well done!

Sunshine and Friends

This morning I met Celia and Emma

for a wonderful walk around the Winter Gardens at Anglesey Abbey.

The sun shone...

and whilst Celia and Emma spoke knowledgably about plants and gardens

I was mesmerised by the stunning array of colours and textures...

without a clue what I was looking at for most of the time!

And when we had finished there was time for tea and cake... (although I'm still resisting)

and chatting, of course. It couldn't have been a lovelier morning.

Pomegranates

I've got a bit of a thing about pomegranates at the moment.

I love their colourful leathery skin and the way inside they are divided up into neat little compartments containing jewel like seeds.

And I love those seeds - crunchy and juicy at the same time. This was part of my breakfast this morning... not a chocolate muffin in sight!

But this fascination with pomegranates is not something new and these are drawings and prints that I made a few years ago.

while I researched the myths and lore associated with this exotic fruit.

They are considered symbols of fertility and have associations with the Greek myth of the goddess Persephone.

At the time I toyed with the idea of creating a garment that could be worn by Persephone while she spent her winters in Hades waiting for the return of spring. Something bright and colourful to remind her of warmer, brighter days.

But my plans for a bodice for Persephone never really got beyond the drawing and sampling stage.

I started my degree and suddenly my focus was elsewear*. But recently I've unearthed the drawings and have started to think about Persephone's "pomegranate" bodice once more. I've moved a long way from my original ideas and I'm still a long way from finishing but I have made a start.

Which is just as well, as I need this finished by the beginning of March. I thought if I told you it might make me get a move on!

*As pointed out by chocolatefrog "elsewear" is a bit of a Freudian typo... but I liked it so have kept it in!