SEW Regional Day - Bobby Brittnell

Bobby Brittnell

Bobby has a background in tailoring and in making theatrical costumes for such shows as the Black and White Minstrels Talk of the Town and several West-end musicals. She later qualified as a teacher and ran the textile department in a large comprehensive school in Guildford and during her full time teaching also completed her City and Guilds in Embroidery.

Themes and ideas for her own work often stem from her immediate surroundings. She prefers to draw and play on paper or in a sketchbook to help generate thoughts and ideas, although at times can work intuitively and directly develop with the fabric and techniques. Music and dance also plays an important role in her life and these are often used as springboards in her work. Alternatively, venues and new challenges that group exhibitions may bring can inspire new directions and ways of working.

Most of the techniques that she employs include dyeing cotton fabric to which surface decoration is added through painting, printing and bonded appliqué. The work is then heavily machine-stitching to create a textured surface and then worked back into with drawing and stitching to create greater impact and definition. Newer work using still-life as inspiration is simpler in content and execution, but hopefully still has impact.

Bobby is a professional teacher and textile artist of standing in the UK and with an increasing international reputation. She teaches a variety of creative courses from her home in South Shropshire, England as well as all over the United Kingdom and abroad. In Sept 2008 she began tutoring on the BA (Hons) Embroidered Textiles Course for the Julia Caprara School of Textile Arts. She is a member of ‘The Textile Study Group’ a high profile national exhibiting and teaching group. She is a recommended tutor of the Embroiderers Guild and is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts. She has work in private collections in Great Britain, including the offices of KPMG, USA, Canada, Austria, Germany, and Portugal. Her work regularly appears in publications and books.

"Tulips on Tiptoes 1, 2008", courtesy of Bobby Brittnell

"Honesty 1, 2008", courtesy of Bobby Brittnell

Details can be found on Bobby's website.

9 June - Linda Rudkin, “Colours from Nature”

In June, Linda Rudkin gave a fascinating talk on dyeing natural fibres with natural products. After a brief introduction of how Linda got into dyeing after retiring from Teaching English at a comprehensive school in Leicestershire, she moved swiftly on to her fast paced, fact packed guide to dyeing.

Starting with a list of necessary equipment, the talk covered every aspect of dyeing. Linda told us about the various mordants that are used to fix the dye to the fibre, how and when they are added, and amused us with a couple of tales relating to the only mordant that she has never used - urine.

A good part of the talk covered the different materials that can be used and how various types of material should be treated. For each group (flowers and leaves, wood, vegetables, etc) Linda showed us sample boards that she made to record how different fibres (wool, silk, cotton, rayon, etc) absorb the dye and the effect of the various mordants. It was surprising to see that the colour obtained rarely bore any resemblance to the original plant stock and how a mordant can alter the hue or brightness.

Onion Sample Board, courtesy of Linda Rudkin

Logwood Sample Board, courtesy of Linda Rudkin

Velvet Cushion, courtesy of Linda Rudkin

It was a visit to the Bayeux Tapestry that started Linda on her exploration of colours from nature. The beautiful, soft shades of the wool and how well they have stood up to the test of time sparked an interest that has grown into an comprehensive knowledge and understanding of natural dyes.

At the end of the talk, Linda spoke briefly about Flower Pounding and showed us samples of her work using this method: the results are strikingly different from those obtained using a dye bath.

Flower Pounding Sample Board, courtesy of Linda Rudkin

On 18 September 2010 Linda will teaching a workshop on flower pounding. Judging by the oh’s and arh’s her samples produced, and the crowd around Fiona following the talk, the class is filling up fast. For further information or to book your place, contact Fiona.

South East West Regional Day

Sunday 27 June 2010

10.00am – 4.00pm

Wolfson College
Linton Road
Oxford OX2 6UD

Tickets £23.00

Includes two lectures, tea/coffee and lunch
Tickets must be order in advance (not available for purchase at the door)
(Tickets ordered after 20 June must be collected at the door on arrival)
Email creativethread@tiscali.co.uk

Speakers

Bobby Britnell (11.00am)

Bobby has always loved making things and needlework was the subject that she enjoyed most at school. Doing something creative with her hands was the obvious career path to follow. After working in theatrical costume and high class tailoring she trained to become a teacher and, whilst teaching, studied for C&G Embroidery I and II. As a member of high profile groups, including the Practical Study Group and “Six”, Bobby has exhibited widely and her work is in both public and private collections. Although she works from a number of different themes and sources, what remains consistent is the need to draw. Being wholly passionate about what she does enables her to become totally absorbed in the entire process, from idea through to execution.

Madeira Lecture by
Michael Brennand-Wood (2.00pm)

Visual artist, curator, lecturer, and arts consultant Michael is internationally regarded as one of the most innovative and inspiring artists working in textiles. He believes that the most innovative contemporary textiles emanate from an assured understanding of both textile technique and history. This has led him to explore and develop his own techniques, inventing many new and imaginative ways of integrating textiles with other media. Work inspired by traditions of floral imagery have utilised computerised machine embroidery, acrylic paint, wood, glass and collage. Exploring the illusionary space between two and three dimensions, these works are colourful, dramatic, rhythmic and holographic in feel, with intense detail that merges at the distance into strongly optical configurations.

Coats Competition
Rags or Riches

Open to all members and YEG
Exhibited in the Main Hall
Maximum size A2
Please bring ready to hang or display on table and ensure that your work is clearly labelled with your name and branch (and age if you are a YEG entry)

Traders

In Main Hall from 10.00am throughout the day, including:

21st Centry Yarns
Amanda Hislop
Artbooks
Art van Go
Gillsew
Mace & Nairn
Margaret Beal
Oxford Beadshop
Sue Rangeley
Threshing Barn
Vikki Lafford Accessories
Winifred Cottage

Exclusive – be one of the first to purchase Sue Rangeley’s new book and your name will be entered into a draw to win one of her exquisite bags or corsages. Draw takes place 1 July, 2010.

For further information and tickets please contact creativethread@tiscali.co.uk

Art Weeks at Appleton

I was not able to make the Fabrications Exhibition at Bampton, so I was delighted to get a second chance at least to see Amanda’s colourful combinations. This time Amanda was joined by Alex who displayed a selection of her delicate textiles. Hopefully, Alex and Karen will be giving their postponed talk "Our life with Cherrilyn" in the near future, so I will leave it to Alex to describe her work but she did allow me to take some pictures to share with you.

"Leaves on the Canal" courtesy of Alex Messenger

"Midnight Garden" courtesy of Alex Messenger

"Fragile" courtesy of Alex Messenger

No excuse was needed to attend this exhibition of several talented artists work, although the sunshine no doubt helped to encourage visitors out of their homes, and the delicious cakes on sale where a bonus. Textiles were well represented with a display of Japanese embroidery as well as Amanda and Alex beautiful work. Pottery, photography, painting, jewellery making and mosaics were also exhibited.

12 May - Judith Lovatt, “ What if ...?”

In May, Judith Lovatt gave a talk about her work and how to explore and develop your design ideas.

Since she was little, Judith stitched, knitted, printed and painted before becoming an art teacher. Judith enjoyed her work for 20 years but had to retire her post of head of an art department in secondary education due to arthritis. Judith continues to explore the possibilities of mixed media and loves to work with free hand and machine embroidery and has a particular passion for French knots which, she says, is the best stitch for texture and accent.

"Monet's Garden" courtesy of Judith Lovatt

"Monet's Garden - detail" courtesy of Judith Lovatt

"Blue Doodlebird" courtesy of Judith Lovatt

Judith brought with her countless examples of painting, printing and layering with fabric and thread. Her talk ended with a demonstration of blown spray painting.

1 May - Maggie Grey Workshop

Places on this workshop were filled as quickly as it was organised. Following her talk last year, Maggie very kindly agreed to squeeze us into her already very full schedule. Everyone knew of Maggie, either through her books, her blog or Workshop on the Web so the class was eagerly anticipated.

Entitled "Slip, Slap, Stitch", the idea is to make a slip and a background, slap the slip on the background and stitch them together. It was a fast paced class and we covered a lot of techniques. To begin with we foiled velvet and painted lutradur, which we set aside to dry. These were the basis of our background and later in the day we would sandwich them onto felt and machine stitch the layers together before burning away some of the lutradur with a hot air gun.


In the mean time we made our slip by machine embroidering an outline onto black felt, cutting out the shape, attaching it to another piece of felt and machine embroidering into the void spaces.


Finally, these were cut out again and stitched to the background.




Maggie is an engaging and enthusiastic tutor. A wealth of information and advice, she encouraged everyone to develop their own designs and ideas. I think that everyone who was lucky enough to secure a place on this workshop would agree that it was a thoroughly enjoyable and informative day.

14 April - Joanna O’Neill, "Books, Batting and Beeswax"

Have you ever wondered what it takes to be a judge at a major textile show? In April, Joanna O’Neill gave us an interesting insight to her adventures on the Quilter’s Guild judging course, and experience as judge at the Festival of Quilts.

The correspondence course is divided into six modules that cover a diverse range of subjects that encourage a wide appreciation of Art and Craft. Joanna brought along her extensive course notes and a huge pile of samples made during the design and construction techniques modules. The accredited course culminates in a Judging practical.

In addition, a selection of Joanna’s own quilts where on display.

"Golden Apples, Silver Apples" courtesy of Joanna O'Neill

"Breakout" courtesy of Joanna O'Neill

"Pearls and the Spider" courtesy of Joanna O'Neill

A new course is being planned to start in the autumn of 2011, details can be found on the Quilter’s Guild web site.

Fabrications Exhibition at Bampton

One doesn't need an excuse to meet up with friends, and if one did - this is it.

The whole experience was a good one. The Fabrications were both physical and imaginative. I loved them...everyone seems to have moved on from previous work shown. I am filled with admiration for their sheer courage, because I know how difficult that step into a new phase is. Amanda [Smith] hold on colour combinations, Jane's mastery of the most delicate machine stitching, Jane O'Brian's combinations of stitch and colour, and Denise going into the snow, and finding inspiration where I fear to tread! My beloved friend Margaret keeping true to her core thoughts, but the drawings getting better and better each time, and her choice of colour thoughtful and deliberate, she knows how I feel so I won't embarrass her by going on. I think you can tell I enjoyed it greatly.

I would end by saying that I should have liked to share here some photographs - but the decision was taken not to allow photography.

by Joy Abrahams

(but Amanda kindly gave permision for me to include these pictures)

"Flowers in a Red Pot" courtesy of Amanda Smith

"Flowers in a Red Pot" courtesy of Amanda Smith

March 13-14 - Ruth Isset, Weekend Workshop

Those of us who did Ruth’s workshop a while ago on colouring papers were once again excited at the prospect of spending another weekend playing with colour. Admittedly, those of us who tend to work in monochrome and sludgy colours were wary of magenta and turquoise but this was our risk-free chance to try them out. Practiced workshop attendees know that, although we are given a materials list, you don’t have to bring everything listed and the kitchen sink (everyone does that at least the first time) as the tutor always has supplies and others are always willing to share.

First, Ruth took us through the technical bit about which fibres would react with the procion dyes which she had bought for us to use, how the weave of the fabric could affect the way in which the colour was taken up and may (or may not) spread. She talked about the relationships of colour, how a golden yellow will look different when next to a scarlet or emerald green, and how the colours change again when mixed. We weren’t expected to faithfully remember all this but it does help to have an introduction and if you wanted to know more, Ruth had bought copies of her books with her. If you just wanted a reminder of what can be achieved then her postcards were there too.

Looking at the wonderful range of coloured fabrics she had bought for us to see and handle helped you decide which colours you wanted to try out, but the fun of these workshops is to also try something which you probably wouldn’t do at home. Ruth kept us supplied throughout with ready-mixed colours and was happy to mix more when they ran out. She charged only a nominal amount for supplying everything (including brushes and pipettes) and it’s a much more economical way of experimenting than buying everything yourself.

Starting with a restricted range of colours, we chose 3 and painted first onto papers – taking one colour and adding just a hint of another to watch the gradual and subtle movement down the page – and, yes, there is a difference if you add the yellow to the green or add the green to the yellow. Then we did the same sort of exercise on fabrics some first prepared with the chemical solution (forget your chemistry lab and pungent odours, this is a very gentle solution which just helps to “loosen up” the fabrics) and we saw the difference when exactly the same colours were painted onto dry fabrics. Those with the chemical solution allowed the colours to blend much more, and what you first painted was not always what you ended up with as, if you allowed time for the paints to move around in their own way, they created soft fuzzy edges and halos of colour. We quickly found out who were the “bully boys” - the colours that make themselves known and shout louder than the others (magenta was a definite contender for this title).


Those who wanted to create an exercise book of colours, tones and mixes to refer back to went happily down that path, whilst others of us just played with the colours, putting this one next to that one. Using the same colours on different fabrics and threads gave us more ideas as they each delivered a different end result. We also tried toning down the colours to softer shades although they never quite ended up as pastels.

In between using the colours, Ruth would show us other ways of adding it to the fabric. If you had persuaded your cat to let go of his litter tray, then use it for space dying (a technique where you drop the paint onto the scrumpled up fabrics then dribble the solution on top so they run and blend together). Fold and tie your fabrics into tight little bundles and dip the edges into paint and watch it soak up, then when dry and unfolded you had a kaleidoscope of both pattern and colour (there were lots of oohhs and aaahs as we did this after lunch on Sunday).

Between us all we had a great range of fabrics – cottons, velvets, linens, organdies, muslins, silks – and likewise with threads. At the end of the weekend we had an even greater range of coloured fabrics and Ruth showed us some ways of then using them – starting with small blocks of colour and adding other next to it so the piece grows almost organically (and because you’ve dyed them with similar colours at the same time they blend very well together); or sewing them in patches one on top of another and using the dyed threads to add rows of running stitch; sewing them in tiny strips with frayed edges to see the graduation of colour; laying one on another and cutting back so the colour underneath is exposed.


With tea and coffee provided (help yourself style, with biscuits too) and a bring and share lunch this was a very relaxing but stimulating weekend. I’m not the only one looking forward to having Ruth back for more.

10 February - Vikki Lafford, "Enchanting Embroidery"

After reading an article in the Oxford Times Magazine, Alex wasted no time inviting designer Vikki Lafford to talk to the branch about her work. With the programme for the current year already fixed it was a year before we got to hear her story and see her enchanting work.

Vikki’s early interest in drawing and painting was greatly inspired by the abundance of nature surrounding her childhood home and by the fairies and woodland creatures she imagined inhabits the murky undergrowth of the Cotswold countryside. This love of folklore combined with a passion for art and textile led Vikki to achieve a degree in Embroidery in 2002 that led to employment as an embroidery designer. Finding digitizing corporate logos less than fulfilling, in 2006 Vikki returned to education and gained an MA in Textile Design at the Chelsea College of Art and Design. For her graduation collect of dresses Vikki once again drew inspiration from fairy tales but this time from the darker, more sinister, older tales. Elements of her designs reveal the underlying themes of brutality and awakening sexuality found in the many of the older versions, while outwardly depicting the femininity, romance and enchantment of her childhood favourites.

Talia, incorporates three layers of fabric, an outer white layer representing the innocence of childhood that is lifted to reveal the lower layers of pale green and deep green that represent growing sexual awareness. The dress is entwined with flowers and leaves just where the Princess slept was surrounded by forest. The creepy crawlies that inhabit the forest floor are embroidered on lower layers. But the flowers hide the hands of the King who raped and impregnated the sleeping Princess Talia. Only when her second child sucked on her finger and drew out the flax fibre that had caused her long sleep, did the Princess awake.

"Tallia" courtesy of Vikki Lafford

"Tallia, detail" courtesy of Vikki Lafford

The Cinderalla dress is of course a ball gown. The bottom of the dress is stained red. In the version of Cinderella told by the brothers grim, the stepsisters cut of parts of their feet in an attempt to fit the glass slipper when the Prince searches for its true owner. Like Talia, Cinderella is embroidered and embellished with motifs from the many variants of this popular tale.

"Cinderella" courtesy of Vikki Lafford

The third dress Vikki brought to show us was made for, and won second place, in The Spellbinding Textile Competition with the theme of Magic. The Enchanted Woodland Gown is adorned with hand painted silk flowers and delicate, embroidered butterflies while spiders and centipedes crawl onto its dirt stained hem.

"Enchanted Woodland" courtesy of Vikki Lafford

"Enchanted Woodland, detail" courtesy of Vikki Lafford

I found it fascinating to her from the designer/maker the thought processes behind her creations.

Vikki has now started her own business, Liliia, creating feminine, elegantly detailed, hand crafted clothing and accessories in luxury fabrics.

Artistically Based DVD Available Now

A DVD of the 2009 textile exhibition by members of the Oxford Embroiderers’ Guild, Artititically Based, is now available for the nominal price of £3.00.

To order your copy, please contact Alex.

Maharaja Exhibition at the V&A

I went to the Maharaja exhibition at the V & A on Monday, and it is fantastic. There are huge amounts of textiles - costume, animal regalia, parasols, hangings etc. Also a lot of amazing jewellery (some of it with obscenely huge stones), items such as howdahs, fans, and other ceremonial items made in gold and silver, some with peacock feathers. Some items had beautiful tassels on them. There were a couple of flintlock guns with the most delicate enamel inlays. There were beautiful paintings with incredible detail, some of palaces or forts, opened out to show inside, with some very odd perspective!

The exhibition is laid out in a succession of rooms, covering different periods of time. The final area covers the 1920s and 1930s, where there is a beautiful convertible Rolls Royce, couture dresses and 'state of the art' furniture.

The exhibition is on until 17th January, and costs £11 for adults, £9 for concessions, but if you have a Waterstones card you can get a 2 for 1 deal on the adult entry (you show the card as you pay to enter actually at the V & A). It really is well worth a visit. My friend and I met at 1130, had a coffee and then went in. When we had finished we were rather hungry - no wonder, as by this time it was 1530!

There is a book with beautiful pictures to go with it - normal price £35, special price £30 for the duration of the exhibition. However, you can get the same book with a different colour cover (black instead of gold) for £19.75 from The Book Depository.

by Pam Blackley-Goble