Rag Books are not just for Babies

This was a workshop originally planned for March 2020 and it was a joy to finally welcome Judith and makes some rag books. 

It was a lovely relaxed day and everyone went away with a book they had made, and several of us with ideas for other ones. 

Judith was a great tutor, explaining everything well, so we all understood the processes and helping out with any technical challenges during the making, 

Two of the people attending hadn’t done many workshops before and had been hesitant about attending however their friends had convinced them that they’d be ok. 

They were both more than “ok”, thoroughly enjoying their day and realising that workshops are nothing to be scared of. So hopefully we’ll see both of them at other workshops soon. 

Margaret has already completed her book with small stitched pieces, while Diane and myself are using ours for stitch samples from an on-line course we are both doing. 

Enjoy looking at the photos of the books made on the day, and hopefully we’ll see you at a workshop soon. 

All of the books
Close Up of some of the books
Close up of the rest of the books

June meeting and Workshop

Hi everyone

At our June meeting on 13th June we are welcoming the textile artist Sarah Harper, who will be talking about her work and recent commission with Birmingham Royal Ballet. If you would like to find out more about Sarah and her work, her website is here: http://www.sjharperart.com/

The next workshop is with Judith Rowley on Saturday 25th of June. Judith will be demonstrating how to make beautiful fabric books from cotton. Make your own fabric book out of Indian cotton supplied by Judith. Tickets are £30.

The raffle bag for June is turquoise so bring any stitch-related turquoise items for prizes.

And from the archives… some of your beautiful lilac embroidery:

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Embroidery – a general appreciation

A great embroidery overview form the Fishink design blog today. 😍😍

Fishink's avatar

Hi everyone. Before I present my post today, I feel like I would like to say a few words. The past few years for all of us have been difficult indeed. Having to deal with things that we could not have envisioned makes life both unexpected and traumatic. I am someone who tries to create a ‘safe space’ around me and also here on my blog, a place where people can visit and hopefully just loose themselves in the joys of art and creativity.

I don’t wish to discuss politics or news here, this isn’t the place for it and as it pervades every other aspect in my online and physical world, I strive hard to keep this place largely ‘news free’ and concentrate purely on the discovery of art and artists. The sharing of their skills and imagination is what drives me forward.

I am also a designer and…

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A Tale of Two Members 2022

Always a highlight of the year, the presentations for 2022 from Brenda and Betty last night were highly informative and entertaining. Thank you to both.

Betty deserves special thanks for introducing the Tale of Two members all those years ago. It’s been a success ever since.

Thank you also to Anne for introducing Lily Waldron’s archive of beautiful embroidery and dressmaking. The samples were available for us to take away as inspiration for the summer competition and will be there again at the March meeting if you missed them last night. One of Lily’s perfect examples of dressmaking was modelled wonderfully by Bernadette, as shown in the photo below.

Teacup Trees Workshop-27th November

Here’s the requirements list for Jane Fairweather’s Workshop on Saturday 27th November. Don’t these photos look wonderful? If you’d like to attend but haven’t yet booked your place, please contact Margaret Richards.


Teacup Trees – 

3D Oak Trees with hand and machine embroidery

Tutor – Jane Fairweather

n.b. There will be a charge of £5 per person payable to the tutor to cover specialist items such as dissolvable film, pre-felt, merino wools, wire, Oasis etc which she will provide.  Some cups will be available to purchase approx. £4 – £7.50 if required.

REQUIREMENTS LIST:

Sewing machine with the ability to do free motion embroidery & extension table if you have one.   Machine instruction book.   Extension lead.

Darning/embroidery foot to fit the machine + at least 4 bobbins. 

An embroidery hoop preferably 8”. 

Machine embroidery threads –  ordinary Sylko type threads or Madeira Viscose/Rayon 40 or similar.  In various shades of green and brown – think tree colours.   If you want to do an Autumn tree, bring threads in those shades/tones. 

A few hand threads in plant & flower colours – green, pink, blue etc.    Perle is good but you can use stranded cotton.  Thicker threads such as wool also can be used in small areas.

A few small pieces of soft fabric in colours to match your cup – scrim, merino wool if you have any – I will provide some. 

Basic sewing kit – small, sharp scissors, spare machine needles, hand embroidery needles including large eyed ones for wool, small screwdriver for tightening hoop. 

Fine Felt tip pen in a dark colour.   

Teacup or similar vessel.   Size 7 – 9cms diameter.   It does not have to a picture on it.   Milk jugs not usually suitable due to their shape.

Felting needle and foam or brush mat.   A Clover Needle felting tool is useful.   We can share these items so don’t buy specially for this workshop.

Notebook and pen if you wish to take notes.  

November meeting

On Monday 8th November we welcome Judy Preston as our speaker. Judy’s speciality is eco-dyeing and the talk will explain the fascinating business of creating beautiful fabrics with plants.

Judy cultivates her own dye garden at her home in Sutton Coldfield and will be bringing a full range of samples for us to see, together with eco-dyed upcycled clothing and upcycled cotton for quilting. There will also be eco-dyed scarves and bags for sale.

Eco-dyed fabrics can be a wonderful base for stitch or embellishments of all kinds, as are ecodyed papers, so there will definitely be something of interest for us stitchers.

What’s On

Take a look at our What’s On page for information about next week’s Weavers Spinners and Dyers Open Day. The Textile Fair at Compton Verney is also taking place next weekend. If you have time, you can do them both!

Bye for now