Fashion Embroidery and Stitch 2012

It's that time of year again, and I spent two days at the NEC this week, trying to get round all the exhibitions and stalls. I think I saw most of what I wanted to , but it is so big that when I look at other peoples' blogs, there'll  surely be some things I missed. I have a new camera; I practised with it before I went, so, lots of photos, hopefully, to be posted over the next few days.

This year, I was fascinated by the Lace displays...........................

                                     ...and loved the 'Night at the Opera' creations.........

              To see the pictures in more detail. click on them individually. More, later..................

March Meeting and Newsletter

We held our  March meeting in Threlkeld Village Hall, because we planned to experiment with dyes, and paints, and felt very worried about the potential for messy accidents at the Friends meeting House! Also, it offered us space to spread out. Which we did..............

The idea was that we would bring the paints and dyes that we had at home, often bought in an excess of zeal at shows, and then put away. Members could try out techniques and materials we might not have seen or used. Several of the group had not been able to be at the meeting when Jackie Cardy showed us teabag dyeing, so this was an opportunity to use up the dyes and papers she left with us that day. Great fun was had, making up lovely, individual papers.

Transfer paints and crayons were successful, too, and there was time for members to recall what they'd done in other workshops, and try variations of what they knew.

Lots of interesting fabrics/papers were taken home at the end of the day.........what will they be used for? watch this space!  

No pictures; my camera is not working. Someone did take photos, which I'll post as and when I get them.

Also, Zena's Newsletter...............................

Keg Newsletter

 March 2012

Next meeting will be Vivienne Brown’s talk and mini workshop “Let’s Get Knotting” on Thursday 19^th April.

Requirements are: Tatting Shuttle (Pat is getting some shuttles), cotton perle thread, scissors, needles, strong thread, beads, feathers or other frippery.

Bring something to do in the morning and lunch or buy some at Booths.

Committee members there will be a committee meeting at some point on 19^th April

On May 3^rd we will be going on our outing to Dumfries to see the Textile Exhibition.

There will be a list circulating on 19^th April for this.

May 17^th ‘s meeting will be do your own work or make cards for our exhibition on 6th July at the Moot Hall in Keswick.

June 21^st will be a Make a box workshop with Lesley Rutherford.

And lastly, do you have any ideas for next year’s programme 2012/13?

Any queries Zena Smedley 016973 71023

February Meeting.....Playtime!

Good old Bondaweb!


For our meeting this month, we had  planned to experiment briefly with some backgrounds for stitch, and to develop our free- machine embroidery skills to stitch into them. However, Lyn, who was to teach the machine part of the workshop was laid low with flu at the last minute.


Instead, we spent the day 'playing' with painted Bondaweb  (discovering en-route that Heat and Bond does not work in the same way), ironing this on to a variety of different fabrics, and layering  with sheers, metallics, tiny sequins, gold powders, threads, and small scraps of fabric, to produce what turned out to be exciting new backgrounds for machine embroidery, either free-motion, or using the automatic patterns most of us have on our machines.


Some of the effects are quite stunning, and will make lovely bases for brooches, cards, books and boxes once stitched into.   Sadly, the fabrics have not photographed well, and I suspect this is because of the high 'glitz' factor! Either that , or my camera is not functioning properly.  Hopefully, the results will be shown as part of our exhibition in July.

Some of our members chose instead to continue with their Wessex Stitch work from our last meeting, which they have found fascinating.  There has been a resurgence of interest in this technique recently, as I can tell by the number of 'hits' on this blog which have come from a search for Wessex Stitch Embroidery.  I found this link    

http://maryjoanstitching.blogspot.com/2011/08/wessex-wonders.html    Nearly all the links about this subject show the same examples of work, because they are from the same book, but this stitcher has gone a bit further with her own designs.  She also includes a link to another site, with even more information and pictures.  Well worth a look!


Lyn, I'm sure, will lead her machine embroidery workshop sometime in the future

February Informal... a day out!

We met at Rheged for our informal meeting this month, to look at their current exhibition, WOW! Wonder of Wool.
It's a fascinating collection of work, some traditional, but mostly innovative, clever, witty pieces using this versatile material in all kinds of ways. Knitted benches, sculptural pieces, and my favourites, the knitted houses, representing the buildings where horrific poisonings took place!. The houses themselves are beautifully made, and it was quite a shock to read the details of what went on inside these addresses!

 It was one of those bright, crisp, lovely days we get in Cumbria, if we are lucky, and it was really pleasant to relax over lunch after the exhibition.

No photographs allowed, I'm afraid, but this link will take you to the Wonder of Wool site, where you can get a glimpse of what is on offer.

We planned another visit, for today. We intended to meet in Carlisle at Tullie House for the 'Little Black Dress' exhibition.  This time the weather defeated us,so maybe another time..................

January Meeting Wessex Stitchery

Sally Evans has an amazing knowledge of all kinds of embroidery, and in our January meeting she introduced us to Wessex Stitchery. A counted thread technique  'invented' in the 1920's/30's  , it is suitable to use on different weights of fabric, and with almost any threads, as long as they are bright. Once the basic stitches are mastered, the possibilities are endless.

Some of us had not heard of Wessex Stitchery until now, and it is interesting to note that the comprehensive book about this technique,not very old, is very hard to come by, now............ one copy on Amazon is for sale for £326!!!!


Below are some of our efforts , and also some of Sally's  more finished work in Wessex Stitchery.

The Sun came out!

Thursday 5th January 2012

The first meeting of 2012 was our informal in Threlkeld, and the weather was awful when everyone left home. It's been so long since we've seen the sun in these parts that we hardly recognised it when it made its appearance, late morning!

It was good to get together after the Christmas and New Year break, and catch up with all our news, enjoy a shared lunch and see what others are doing in the way of sewing projects.

              We have our  postcards ready, now;  our assigned country was Lesotho. 

Also completed; Val's Lutradur book from the November  workshop;

Next meeting, in two weeks, at The Friends' meeting House in Keswick.

First Informal of 2012!

Happy New Year!

Just a reminder that our first informal meeting of the the new year will be Thursday 5th January, at Pat's house in Threlkeld. Bring some sewing, along with either your lunch or something to share, and something for the raffle.

See you there!