Embroiderers' Guild - the UK's leading crafts association
sharing opportunities for discovery and creativity
1 Kings Road, Walton on Thames, Surrey KT12 2RA
T: 01932 260738 - E: administrator@embroiderersguild.com
Embroiderers' Guild - the UK's leading crafts association
sharing opportunities for discovery and creativity
1 Kings Road, Walton on Thames, Surrey KT12 2RA
T: 01932 260738 - E: administrator@embroiderersguild.com
On Wednesday 23rd June members of the Wrekin Branch of the Embroiderers Guild were taken on a world tour by Liz Welch, who has moved house nine times in ten years, hence the title of her talk ?from Here to There and Back again?.
She began her career in embroidery by doing cross stitch kits, but didn?t enjoy counting so she improvised and produced some unique results! Then she moved to Omaha where she took up machine embroidery. Her next move was to New Orleans and here she developed an interest in jewellery which she started making and selling.
A year later she moved back to the U K and decided to combine jewellery making and free machine embroidery. The only medium possible for doing this was plastic and Mrs Welch discovered how to contour and stitch into it.
Another year on she moved to Australia where she joined the Lateral Stitchers and was asked to exhibit her work for which she made a large three dimensional based on phrenology which was bought by the chief of Neurosciences.
Another competition winner for Liz Welch was a Japanese costume. Her prize was £3000 of supplies and a top of the range sewing machine. She now uses a computer to scan designs and transfer them across to her sewing machine.
This is just a small snapshot of the highlights of her lengthy and fascinating talk.
She also gave a demonstration of her plastic moulding techniques and brought supplies for members to purchase if they wished to take up this art form.
The next meeting of the Wrekin Branch of the Embroiderers Guild will be on Wednesday 28th July at 7.30 for 8.00pm, in St John?s Church and Community Centre, Saltwells Drive, Muxton, TF2 8RJ, when Rita Todd will be demonstrating how to make a booklet so please bring sewing kit and double sided tape. Additional Charge £1.50.
Contact Sylvie Milton Tel: 01952 551123 for further details..
Visitors very welcome ? entry £4.50
The West Midlands Regional Day held by the Wrekin Branch of the Embroiderers Guild on Saturday June 26th at Harper Adams University was a great success with over one hundred people from across the region attending.
After the business meeting in the morning Janet Blake gave a very entertaining talk on the ?History of Knickers? ? apparently ladies didn?t used to wear any!. Knickers as we know them are a comparatively modern invention. She brought with her her large collection of knickers, everything from original examples to modern ones, which the audience were free to examine after the lecture.
Post lunch there was an interval of an hour for people to visit the stalls and much merchandise and books were bought. Also many cup cakes and raffle and tombola tickets were sold. Then at 2,30pm people again congregated in the lecture hall this time to hear Euryl Stevens talk ?Raising the Bottom Line?. She also was very witty and amusing.
Her lecture concentrated on the vagaries of women?s fashions through the ages, from the flimsy Empire Line dresses of Jane Austen?s time (when many women died of pneumonia in unheated houses) to the multiple layers of Victorian women?s garb,
the S shape of Edwardian ladies and back to the unstructured dresses of the flappers and so on to the present day. Euryl Stevens brought with her several large examples of her embroidered pieces, some of which were reminiscent of the paintings of Beryl Cook, the artist.
At the conclusion of the day, the raffle was drawn. A stocking embroidered by Wrekin Member Julie Edwards was the competition winner.
Everyone said as they were leaving how much they had enjoyed the day.
At the May meeting members of the Wrekin Branch of the Embroiderers Guild were entranced by the skills of the speaker Verina Warren.
She is a talented artist and needlewoman who uses her painting skills to enhance her embroideries. Indeed so fine is her needlework that it required close examination of the examples that she brought to distinguish the stitching from the painting. Her canvases are in effect, a mount which extends the needlework pictures.
She explained how she obtained the difficult effect of water by using light and shade and how she used the same technique to achieve depth in her work. Mrs Warren said that she prefers to paint directly on to fabric, machine stitch over it, then embellish with hand stitching and perhaps do a little more painting on top to achieve the effect she desires. Members were pleased that she had brought some of her work to sell including greetings cards.
The next meeting of the Wrekin Branch of the Embroiderers Guild will be
on Wednesday 23rd June, at 7.30 for 8.00pm
in St John?s Church and Community Centre, Saltwells Drive, Muxton, TF2 8RJ
Liz Welch will give a talk ?From Here to There and Back Again?.
Visitors welcome - entry fee £4.50
Contact Sylvie Milton Tel: 01952 551123 for further details..
As chairman Sylvie Milton was away, the March meeting of the Wrekin Branch of the Embroiderers Guild was taken by committee member Elizabeth Green who urged members to promote ?Regional Day? on Saturday 24th June, as widely as possible.
She also requested members to donate craft items for the Tombola Stall.
After the business part of the evening Elizabeth introduced Sumi Morgan who had come to talk to members about Javanese craft and culture. The greater part of her lecture consisted of the history and geography of Java. After this she summarised the history of her own family which dates back to the eighth century. All her ancestors were artists too in differing fields of the arts.,
Sumi [whose name means springtime] remembers tigers in Jakarta although the greater part of her childhood was spent in Europe as her Father was a diplomat. It was during this time that Sumi?s mother held Batik demonstrations and workshops, which is when Sumi learned the craft. As an adult though, Sumi uses Batik in pictures, rather than clothing. She has won many prizes for her work, and one design was chosen to feature on a Christmas card for Staffordshire NHS Trust.
Sumi then went on to explain Batik methods and techniques. She also brought along some stunning examples of her work for members to admire.
The next meeting of the Wrekin Branch of the Embroiderers Guild will be
on Wednesday 26th April
7.30 for 8.00pm
St John?s Church and Community Centre, Saltwells Drive, Muxton, TF2 8RJ
Jane Davies will give a talk on ?Treasures of the Silk Road? ? giving a glimpse into the delights of the bazaars of Samarkand and Bukhara.
Visitors welcome - entry fee £4
Contact Sylvie Milton Tel: 001952 551123 for further details.
The Wrekin Branch of the Embroiderers Guild had great fun twirling, plaiting, and braiding at their February meeting, courtesy of Jenny Thompson ? who also demonstrated a novel use for hand held mixers, namely for making braid.
Yarn was tied to the beaters of the mixer which was held by one guild member.
A second member held the other end of the yarn. Much laughter ensued as members got tangled up but Ms Thompson soon came to the rescue and proved herself to be an entertaining instructor. In spite of the apparent chaos though, several yards of braid and many bright tassels were produced.
The next meeting of the Wrekin Branch of the Embroiderers Guild takes place on
Wednesday 24th March, when there will be a talk by Sunni Morgan on ?Japanese Craft and Culture?
.Meetings take place at St John?s Church and Community Centre,
Saltwells Drive, Muxton, TF2 8RJ
Please arrive no earlier than 7.30pm for an 8.00pm start.
Visitors welcome - entry fee £4
Contact Sylvie Milton Tel: 001952 551123 for further details.
At their January meeting, members of the Wrekin Branch of the Embroiderers Guild were entertained by Rachael Billington talking about her felted bag making and knitted yarn dyeing.
Ms Billington has always loved making things but her mother was too busy to teach her so she taught herself the basics.
After downsizing and moving to Church Eaton she completed a City and Guilds in textile decorating and machine embroidery. Eventually, though, she had so many pieces and nowhere to put them so she took up knitting using her own dyed yarns.
For her felted bags she buys cashmere jackets and wool coats from charity shops utilising their linings to line her bags.
Any natural fabric she can?t make use of goes in the compost heap.
A selection of bags and yarns, brought by Rachael Billington, gave members some idea of the breadth of her talent and industry.
The next meeting of the Wrekin Branch of the Embroiderers Guild will be on
Wednesday 24th February at 7.30pm in St John?s Church and Community Centre,
Saltwells Drive, Muxton.
Contact Sylvie Milton Tel: 001952 551123 for further details.
Ann Dyer gave Wrekin Branch of the Embroiderers' Guild an entertaining talk on using fine metals. Amongst the many pieces she showed us were ornaments, braid, lace and jewellery.
Fine wire is clearly fun stuff to play with but can be expensive, so if you see a man down a hole mending telegraph wires, Ann's advice is to offer to tidy up his off cuts!
Our meeting on Wednesday October 28th will include a mini 'Question Time' for you to put your embroidery related questions to the committee, so get your thinking caps or bonnets on.
Our speaker will be Jenny Alden with a talk on Dressing the Actor.
Meetings take place at St John's Church and Community Centre, Muxton, with doors opening at 7.30pm for an 8.00pm start. For further information contact Sylvie Milton on 01952 551123.
When our chairman, Sylvie Milton, arrived at our August meeting in full floral array we knew that members and visitors alike were in for an enjoyable evening. After tackling a Floral Quiz we set about mastering three-dimensional stitches suitable for embroidering flowers. Everyone found stitches previously unknown to them and went home pleased to have had the opportunity to master new skills. We all agreed that instructions in books make much better sense when you have been shown how to do it first.
Finished squares for our 'Around the Wrekin' challenge are coming in but we know there are a lot more out there, so we hope that the Floral evening will have inspired you to get them out and start stitching.
Our next meeting will be on Wednesday 23rd September when Ann Dyer will give a talk on 'Malleable Metal' and show us how to be creative with wire and sheet metal. We meet at St John?s Church and Community Centre, Muxton, TF2 8RJ. Doors open at 7.30pm and visitors are always welcome to join us.
For further information please contact Sylvie Milton on 01902 551123.
Wrekin Embroiderers' Guild enjoyed an entertaining evening with Julie Sylvester for their July meeting. Julie first gave us an insight into the history of the sewing machine from the first one in 1755, produced to replicate the work of tailors but proving to be slower than them. Made from wood, these early machines had no feed dogs and double pointed needles with the eye in the middle. The first feed dogs were patented in 1852 and so the way was open for the household sewing machines we know today. 1861 saw the introduction of the reverse stitch and by 1884 Singers had a factory in Glasgow which from 1930 to 1961 produced their most popular machine ever, the Singer Lightweight. In 1972 the first computerised machines were available from Janome leading to the array of machines available in the shops today.
The second part of Julie's talk was about her use of the sewing machine, but this was no ordinary patchwork and quilting coming out in front of us, there was a bag in the shape of a chicken, Santa's long johns and many other highly individual pieces amongst the quilts and hangings. Competition between Julie and her mother keeps their standards of design and execution high and we were full of admiration.
On Wednesday 26th August we are holding a Floral Evening for members and visitors. There will be mini-workshops where you can learn 3 dimensional stitches to use for flowers such as asters, daffodils, hollyhocks, pansies and sunflowers. There will also be a display of embroidered pieces all of which will have a floral theme. Come along and join us at 7.30pm in St John's Church and Community Centre, Muxton, you'll be made most welcome.
For further information contact Sylvie Milton on 01952 551123
At our June meeting we were entertained and informed by Angela Thompson talking on Moroccan Embroidery. Angela has visited Morocco several times, including an Embroiderers' Guild Tour in 2000, and she is amassing an impressive collection of Moroccan embroidery. We learnt that there are five distinct styles of embroidery in Morocco, a witness to its geographical situation and social history. We were shown examples of household items such as cushion covers, curtain fabrics and a rug but most intriguing of all was the mirror cloth. These are popular wedding presents as after a marriage a bride is not supposed to see her image in a mirror for forty days for fear of invoking bad luck. There were styles and stitches we are familiar with such as needle weaving, counted thread work and Assisi work but there were other stitches which Angela needed to explain to us. Her instruction of in and out and then out and in said it all! Angela is very knowledgeable about her topic and advised us to visit Morocco soon as some of the museums she visited in the nineties are now closing and their collections being dispersed .
Our next meeting will be on Wednesday 22nd July when Julie Sylvester will talk on 'Me and my sewing machine'. Her talk will cover the history of the sewing machine and her own work.
We meet at St John's Church and Community Centre in Muxton and doors open at 7.30pm. For further details contact Sylvie Milton on 01952 551123.
At the end of a lovely sunny day members of the Wrekin Branch of the Embroiderers'Guild were entertained by a talk from Linda Rudkin on Natural Dyes. City and Guilds courses taken in retirement have been the route to a new career for many embroiderers and so it was with Linda. Early retirement in 2000 led initially to a flurry of activity in the garden and redecoration of the house but a visit to the Bayeux Tapestry in 2002 was to bring about a life change. Captivated not just by the narrative but also by the colours, Linda was intrigued by the fact that these wools were dyed so long ago from natural dyes and yet were still so vibrant and rich today. Onion skins are known to most of us as a way of dyeing, some of us remember that as children we dyed Pace Eggs for Easter, but Linda has explored far beyond this and now has 58 beautifully mounted sample boards and is working on still more.
Linda addressed the following three questions: Why bother? How do you do it? Which sources are particularly worthwhile and interesting? By the end we were all feeling that this is something we could have a go at and then Linda capped everything by showing us her beautiful work achieved by pounding flowers.
Our next meeting will be on 24th June when Angela Thompson will talk to us on Moroccan Mosaics, discussing embroidery and texture and the similarities between Moroccan tiles and architecture. We meet at St John's Church and Community Centre, Muxton and doors open at 7.30pm. For further details contact Sylvie Milton on 01952 551123.
Colour's of the Earth was the subject of our talk this month. Jim and Dianne Gaffney have travelled the world in search of handmade textiles, particularly Asia and China, which they sell from their shop in Bishops Castle. We were shown examples of hand woven kilms, a grain bag, salt bag and a cradle made by semi nomads in Turkey. Jim pointed out the different designs used by each village and explained the different weaving and yarn dying techniques. We were shown slides from a visit to Turkey were the textiles were made. We were told that traditional skills are declining as they are not being passed on to the younger generations. Most of the weaving is done by the women while men do mostly mending of old textiles, which are now very valuable. After the talk members were able to purchase beads, scarves and bags.
After an introduction in Japanese and courteous bows by herself and her partner, Susan fortunately repeated herself, but in English this time. As an assistant language teacher in Japan, Susan joined the local tea ceremony club in order to become familiar with some of the local culture. This led to learning Japanese stitching in order to make her own kimono but little did Susan realise that this would eventually lead to a valuable collection of Japanese country textiles, exhibitions and becoming an author. We saw items ranging from farmers? work clothes to wrapping cloths. Nineteenth century pieces are a real find as at the beginning of the twentieth century older pieces were being recycled into new items and used until they were worn out. Antique fabric pieces such as futon covers are now being hung as wall hangings with the back showing as the patching is viewed as abstract art. Pieces of furniture are often covered with fabric and we saw several large quilts which would have been used to cover low tables.
This was an entertaining and informative talk giving us glimpses of ordinary working and home life rather than just a view of museum pieces.
Our next meeting will be held on Wednesday 22nd April when Diane and Jim Gaffney will make a return visit to talk about Turkish Flatweave using ?Colours of the Earth? as their title. We meet at St John?s Church and Community Centre, Muxton and doors open at 7.30pm.
For further details please contact Sylvie Milton on 01952 551123.
Ineka Berlyn February meeting 2009
When does she find the time? Was the question many of us were asking ourselves by the time our speaker Ineka Berlyn had emptied her large suitcase of beautiful quilts, bags & cushions. Ineka was born in Holland and lived with her family in a flat above their furniture shop, where from an early age she was surrounded by textiles. Much of her later work is inspired by the landscape, traditions and culture of Holland although she has lived in the UK for many years. Her quilts are multi coloured and made up of hand dyed cotton, velvet and linen, which take up the dye differently giving texture and richness to the work. Ineka also showed us some traditional clothing that women still wear in a village in Holland. I had never her heard of Ineka before but she is obviously a bit of a celebrity in the quilting world as some members brought along her book to be signed which she very kindly did.
Voluptuous ladies in vibrating colours are the subject of Euryl Stevens paintings and textiles. Euryl entertained us at the Wrekin Branch Embroiderer's Guild on 28th January with her untraditional or as she says 'anti' approach to embroidery. Euryl is a local artist who began doing textiles because she 'fancied a change from painting'. She has never had an embroidery lesson in her life so is able to bring 'different ideas' to textiles; such as using 'hideous dresses' from charity shops cut into ribbons, pipe cleaners and glass eyes in her work. She is inspired by the experiences of women; her work is full of humour and real life. We could all relate to something (or somebody!) so there was lots of laughter. For example Euryl's crinoline ladies don't nurture their gardens, they slab over them so they can park their car! My personal favourite was 'Slaves to fashion'. It was definitely worth venturing out on a cold misty evening to be cheered by Euryl's work. She often exhibits locally so I'm sure we'll all look out for opportunities to see her work again.
Wrekin Branch of The Embroiderers' Guild met on 22nd October 2008.
Sylvie introduced the topic 'Be Brave' and encouraged us all to consider exhibiting our work and entering competitions.
Ann Armes from Fivefold and Barbara Deason from 4 Plus 2 Textile Artists shared their experiences of exhibiting and competing whilst passing examples of their work around for us to enjoy. A few of us are planning to enter the Guilds Competition 'Trees', watch this space for news of our progress...
It was a fantastic evening - very informative!
For further details contact Sylvie Milton on 01952 551123.
If you thought all we talk about is embroidery, this talk was the one to convince you otherwise. A humorous talk on Pearl Buttons? Yes, if George Hook is the speaker! Coming from several generations of pearl button makers, George has a wealth of knowledge to draw on for his talk on the history of the pearl button making industry. We handled heavy Australian oyster shells the size of dinner plates and showing 30 to 40 years of growth; these were first imported as collectors' pieces and often painted with the local flora and fauna. Tea plate sized shells of 5 years' growth are used for buckles, knife handles, buttons and jewellery. Inlaid work uses Mother of Pearl and abalone shells including an amazing green one from New Zealand called the paua shell. African snail shells with a 4 inch diameter were beautiful to handle and look at, but imagining them each filled with a slug was a different matter. The sample cards of Mother of Pearl spoons showed a range of sizes from condiment spoons to the newly named Mother of Pearl yoghurt spoon, strictly for the connoisseur, or maybe you would prefer a Mother of Pearl caviar spoon for that special occasion?
Jewellery made by hand offers customers the chance to take their ideas or designs to George for him to create something unique.
Luckily for us, when George retires, he plans to set the machines up as museum pieces to preserve a little bit of the history of Birmingham. If he is there to give guided tours, an entertaining and informative visit would be guaranteed.
Our next meeting will be in 2009 on Wednesday 28th January when Euryl Stevens will give a talk entitled Living in Two Worlds.
Please arrive no earlier than 7.45pm for an 8.0pm start at St John's Church and Community Centre, Muxton.
For further details contact Sylvie Milton on 01952 555123.