The Radclyffe bed at Ordsall Hall

In 2015 Ordsall Hall in Salford raised funds by offering the opportunity for supporters to have their name embroidered on a bedspread to be displayed on the Radclyffe bed.  The bed, heavily carved with many animals, was made in the 16th century and can now be seen proudly wearing its embroidered bedspread.

As part of a project by the Guild's North West Region some of our members contributed towards the embroidery on the bedspread  - the photo isn't easy to read as the Hall is quite dark - but the members are Christine Bardsley, Ann Cornes, Chris Harris, Pat Manchee.

The bedspread is a beautiful achievement in a very historic setting, and well worth the effort of a visit. 

 

2016 Annual General Meeting

The Embroiderers' Guild AGM was held on Saturday, 7 May at the Manchester Conference Centre.  It was attended by 180 members, including a group from Glossop branch.  In addition to the formal business agenda we were treated to two fascinating speakers:

Susie Vickery - who has enjoyed a successful career as a costumier for theatre and film. She also has extensive experience of rural and refugee development projects for women in countries such as Nepal, Tibet and India.

Sian Martin - director / tutor Distant Stitch.  In addition to the online teaching of creative textile courses, Sian is a member of two highly respected textile groups: the 62 Group and the Textile Study Group.

We were able to look at an extensive exhibition of works submitted for the 2015-16 Members' Challenge: 'Looking Through'.  Of particular interest to our group were the works submitted by our Secretary, Liz Smith:

For this work Liz won the Margaret Nicholson award for Composition.  Apologies for the reflections in the glass, which were unavoidable!

And the work submitted by our Chair, Ann Cornes:

Ann's work was specially selected to appear in a travelling exhibition, and was returned especially for the AGM.

Here are a few examples of the other work on show, all of it was excellent:-

 

All who attended agreed that the day had been really useful and informative, and helped us to maintain contacts with other branches.  Next year's AGM is to be held in Edinburgh - make sure you join us!

Fabric Sketchbooks - Dionne Swift

I have just attended a fabulous two-day workshop run by Dionne Swift at the Janome Centre in Stockport.  Only a 20 minute drive from home.

The workshop is based on the existing Developing Sketchbooks Online but is based in a fabulous studio working on cloth and stitch exploration.  Each stitcher had a sewing machine and embellisher.

Dionne taught us all so much and at the end of the workshop we each had a fabric book full of stitch and needle punch exercises and techniques.  Dionne showed us how to look at ways of gathering inspiration and playing with imagery and cloth, she is an excellent tutor and gently pushed all of us beyond our existing boundaries!

There are lots more photographs on Dionne's Facebook page: www.facebook.com/DionneSwiftTextileArtist/ or why not look on her website:
http://dionneswift.co.uk

Thoroughly recommended!

Silk paper workshop - 13 April

A group of members met to learn about silk paper, how to make it and how to embellish it. We spread all our equipment over the work tables which made it easy to share - both equipment and ideas.

Once the silk tops had been laid down a number of boxes were set out containing items which could be incorporated in the silk paper: dried leaves and flowers, feathers, threads, net ... anything, really.  

We spent some time experimenting with different ideas and techniques and then took our work over to the drying area.

It was a warm sunny day so the paper dried quite quickly but in the meantime Belinda demonstrated how gummy silk fibres could be ironed onto a wooden printing block, resulting in silk just crying out for further embellishment.

The work was excellent and everyone had some silk paper to take home - we look forward to seeing it at our next meeting!

March meeting

March meeting

Members brought along the embroideries they are creating to celebrate the work of Capability Brown, which will be exhibited at Macclesfield Silk Museum in September.  Here is some of the beautiful work:

by Chris Harris

by Christine Bardsley

by Sue Taylor

by Ann Cornes

by Bea Burchill

Members also inspected and discussed the Hand Stitch folio pieces, moving on to learn new stitches for incorporation in their own work.  We enjoyed a very friendly and supportive atmosphere, helped by having several talented visitors who we very much hope to see again.

Sewing for Pleasure, Fashion & Embroidery

This ICHF event, held last weekend at the NEC in Birmingham, was attended by Ann, Christine and Judi who all had a stimulating, interesting and expensive (!) day.  The show was very busy and we went on Sunday which sadly meant that some of the stallholders had sold out of their products.

One of the stands was filled with work by Grasby Embroiderers, a textile group from South Humberside, who very kindly allowed us to photograph their beautifully produced and imaginative art.

 

There was also a large knitted installation: Yarnia - based on The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, the first of the Chronicles of Narnia.  Here are the Pevensie children:

And here is the White Witch, and Mr Tumnus, all wearing their knitted outfits.

Meeting - February 2016

Ashanti Inspirations

Our first talk of 2016 was very well attended, including a number of visitors.  Magie Relph came to talk to us about Ashanti Inspirations, bringing with her lots of inspirational and colourful pieces of work.

She told us about her numerous visits to different parts of Africa, learning about and studying the wealth of textiles available.  Some of the pieces were so large that Ann and Liz were called upon to assist in displaying them to the members.

The photographs don't really do justice to this work - take a look at Magie's website: The African Fabric Shop  (just click on this link)

Magie explained about the role of the - always male - African weaver and how hard they worked every day.  She showed us one of the simple looms and explained its operation.  As the cloth is always woven in narrow strips, the planning of a complicated pattern takes a huge amount of expertise - and time.

Magie was very generous with her knowledge and answered a range of questions at the end of her talk.  Then it was time to browse the beautiful threads, textiles and beads she had brought along on her sales table.

Also on display were pieces of embroidery from the Guild's Folio of African stitch.  All in all, it was an excellent meeting which provided lots of ideas for members to use in their work for September's Rosebowl competition.