July Speaker

On Wednesday 5th July we Katie Chaplin from Japan Crafts located in Yorkshire.  Her Talk is "Traditional Japanese Textiles".  She will also be bringing some items for sale from her Japan Craft shop.  There will be a workshop on Thursday morning details in the post on the 6th June.

Katie is a textile artist specialising in Japanese arts, crafts and culture. Her paintings on silk are in the style of Japanese woodblock prints, but with a unique, modern twist. She also produces jewellery using vintage and modern kimono fabrics to a traditional Japanese design, and her hand dyed silk scarves are always popular.

Her business, Japan Crafts, is a source of authentic papers, fabrics, glues etc and she has also produced a range of craft kits with easy to follow instructions in English.

She regularly give talks and workshops throughout the UK to groups such as WIs, Embroiderers' Guilds, Luncheon Clubs and art groups; these are a perfect opportunity to learn something new about another culture.

June Meeting

The speaker at our June meeting struck a chord with the audience with her talk entitled "How I got Here".

Carolyn Forster used many of her quilts to illustrate her "quilting journey".  Like many of us, her love of sewing developed from childhood stitching.  She explained the development of her own methods with the help of humerously described examples on her early quilts. 

Carolyn was approachable, practical and entertaining.

She moved on to her textile training, teaching and writing books and was particularly enthusiastic about Utility/Big Stitch quilting - her books are well worth a look.

It was good to hear that she makes what she enjoys, not producing work for sale or competition.  Surely this rings true with many of us as well!

Kathy Frances

Rice Bag Workshop 6th July 2017

Make a square-bottomed Rice Bag from gorgeous, pre-cut Japanese charm squares. Rice Bags, or komebukuro, were traditionally used in Japan to hold offerings of uncooked rice at temples and shrines.

This reversible, drawstring bag is hand-sewn, using just a simple running stitch (please bring a thimble if you need one). Perfect for holding your threads, fabric scraps etc.

A kit can be bought from Katie Chaplin on the day so there is no need to hunt round for fabrics.