July Meeting

 Karen Lane said how she had started crafting when she went to some craft classes to support a young girl she was working with.  The girl enjoyed the class and this lead to more classes.  Karen was hooked on crafting for herself as well.

She started with felt making and tried a range of techniques and then moved on to mixed media as well.  She had a beautiful display of all her different crafts and went through them explaining the different techniques she used and how they were the individual items were made.  This included the techniques which would be used in the workshop on the following day.

Jan Gamble and Gina Cooke's pictures from the workshop which was thoroughly enjoyed.

Workshops for September

Please note that there are spaces on the following workshops. 

On the 8th September Kate Findlay's workshop is entitled "Waterlilies" at the Community Church

On the 24th September Viv Denscombe's workshop is "Tiny Books"

July Speaker

 Karen Lane is our speaker for July.  Her talk is entitled "My F Plan Diet.

Karen Lane is a Mixed Media Textile Artist with a passion for Feltmaking.  She discovered the art of Feltmaking in 2014 and immediately fell in love with the very physical and tactile process of transforming loose soft fibres into a unique piece of seamless felt.  She was keen to learn more and since then has been privileged to attend workshops with some of the best International feltmakers including Dagmar Binder, Gladys Paulus, Marjolein Dallinga and Annemie Keonen.

She has always found herself drawn to texture and often works with a limited colour palette to allow the texture to be the key element.  Working with mixed media means she can combine hard and soft, smooth and rough, whether she is creating a pendant, a wall hanging or a wearable.  For her the tactile element plays a huge role in the design process.

Nature provides a never ending source of inspiration for her work, from trees and leaves to fossils and found objects, some of which are used as “inclusions” in her work.

She is a member of the International Feltmakers Association and runs workshops, one to one or group sessions, in Feltmaking and Textile Art both here in the UK and in France. 

Examples of her Work

 

June Meeting

Two successful events to report for June.  Our speaker Gail Lawther not only addressed our Wednesday evening audience but she also held a workshop the previous day.  The title was Doodle Birds and Doodle Bugs and was enjoyed by those who attended.  They picked up valuable tips as well as producing their bonded applique designs.

On Wednesday Gail explained the development of her style of applique including her method of stained glass patchwork.  She brought lots of examples of her designs which we were able to examine closely at the end of the talk.  It was interesting to hear how she developed her techniques and designs.

June Speaker and Workshop

Our June Speaker is Gail Lawther.  Her talk is entitled Birds of a Feather.

She began working full-time in fabric and thread about 20 years ago and can't imagine a better way to earn her living. She designs and stitches quilts for books and patterns and also creates larger pieces on commission.

She travels all round the UK and further afield, giving talks about her quilts and teaching workshops and several times each year she does residential workshops in different places.

Her workshop is entitled Doodle Birds and Doodle Bugs and is on the 31st May 2022 at Ashby Village Hall.

May Meeting

Indian Kantha embroidery was the topic for our May meeting with local guest textile artist Gill Greany.

Gill had collected many varied samples to show us and explain their origins and traditional patterns almost exclusively using straight stitches.

Some of us who had previously tried this technique were intrigued to see how fine and small the stitches were even on large areas of fabric.  Often two old saris were stitched back to back in an over-all pattern.  If contrasting colours were colours were used for each sari and thread the two sides of the finished piece could result in surprisingly different effects.

Many members then enjoyed a mini practical session in which they tried their hands at a chosen design using these tiny stitches which led at least to the beginning of some lovely pictures.

Fabrics brought by Julie Chapman were also a delight and temptation for many!

Kathy Francis

East Bengali Kantha

West Bengali Kantha

Bottom Left Gold Work Kantha

Old Saris joined together with overall patterns

Julie Chapman's fabrics

  

May Speaker

 

We look forward to welcoming Gill Greaney a local textile artist, who you may know as the lady with the yurt. After a short talk on kantha stitching, Gill will be running a mini workshop on Indian embroidery, which we hope you will join in with. Materials for the workshop will be provided for those who book beforehand (charged at £2) so please reserve your place. You will need the following sewing equipment - fabric marker, ruler, embroidery thread, scissors, needle if you wish to take part.

There will be a chance for you to replenish your stash as Julie Chapman will be here selling fat quarters and yardage of fabrics including batiks, all at reasonable prices.