Distant Stitch Summer School

Finally sorting myself out after summer school (my excuse for being so tardy is running up two more of these dresses for our youngest dancers, and taking orders for more).  It was lovely to see everyone and meet new friends, but so sad to be leaving Urchfont Manor for the last time

We were in two groups this year, and I was with Dawn Thorne who introduced us to working with transparent layers and using acrylic sheet.  By the end of the course, we had each made a sample piece based on an image of landscape.

Mine was inspired by this photo (in keeping with my theme of industrial landscape).

During the course, we made drawings and monoprints on paper and fabric, then played with a small piece of acrylic to learn how to handle it, before starting on the final piece.  Techniques covered included etching, screenprinting, bending and cutting the acrylic and drilling holes.  Then we planned how to interpret our ideas into a dimensional, layered design.

Some of my drawings, picking out lines and shapes from the photo

and the trial piece of acrylic, etched, bent, shaped and stitched

The final sample – impossible to photograph clearly of course – which has five layers in total. At the back is acrylic, then  monoprinted fabric, stitching on acetate, 3d pieces of stitched acetate and in front another sheet of accrylic, painted and etched.  All joined with wire which keeps the layers separated so the stitching appears to float.  The size is about 300mm wide x 125mm high and 50mm deep.

Summer School 2011

I' m having one of my periodic catch up days so this will be the first of several posts - hopefully in the right order!

Going back to Urchfont Manor, it is as if we have never been away, it is such a wonderful few days.  This year we split into two groups, some working with Jan Evans and I was with Mary Sleigh, learning about textiles from Africa.  Mary shared her knowledge of the materials, the stitches and the people who make them and then we each spent time closely studying an item chosen from her collection.  This led on to stitching samples using aspects of the style but making it relevant to us as individuals.

A strong feature of the cloth I looked at were the hems turned to the right side and the piece was made from joined squares of raffia so I reflected this in the samples and used the stitches Mary had shown us for joining and hemming. I also incorporated the idea of using what is to hand - in this case the random items that live in my sewing box - so you can see a hook and eye as decoration and cut up fragments of bobbin lace (samples I made years ago) and paper.

Sections for the final strip before assembling

The final strip on the left and small samples on the right.

Distant Stitch Summer School

I can't believe it is over a week since the Summer School at Urchfont, I have been hard at it since I came back sorting out all my bits.  I have been very good this time and spent an afternoon at home making up my sketchbook with notes and samples.   Ruth Issett was an excellent tutor and worked us very hard, and it was wonderful to meet up with old friends and some I only knew online.  As an icebreaker, we had a mystery ATC swop - here's the one I made from a photo of the London Eye with a little floral graffiti added.

We had a group discussion about the etiquette of photographing other people's work and how much it is fair to write about workshops on our blogs, so the pictures only show my own samples of printed fabrics.  To see more, try following the links on the right as some of my fellow students have published their own pictures.

From these bits and pieces, I made up this design

I have also (definitely this time) finished the hanging after taking some advice from Sian, and sorted out a way to hang it so that it is freestanding and the pole doesn't show - looks a bit like an Indian rope trick. Plan A was to take some pics in the garden to show you, 'cos it's a bit big in the house, but after weeks of fine weather the wind and the rain have set in, so we will have to wait.  It may take some time...

Summer School

Finally sorted out the pictures from Urchfont. As usual, my head is spinning from all the ideas. We had a two day workshop with Janet Edmonds working in 3d and a morning with Sian using solubles. I spent a lot of time experimenting with samples so I have ideas I can use later but no finished piece to show you. Here are some fancy close-up shots of the paper design based on -guess what - cogs.

Off to Summer School

I don't seem to have made much progress on the module in the last few weeks, but my excuse is the sun is shining and we have to take advantage while we can - who knows how long the glorious weather will last. I have got as far as fitting the clock movements to the sheet of copper, but am being hopelessly indecisive about what to do next.

Never mind, I am all packed and ready for the Distant Stitch summer school at Urchfont Manor College starting on Sunday evening - two 1/2 days and evenings focusing on textiles hurrah! - and expect to come back fully enthused. I am going to get there about lunchtime on Suday to have a look around the Open Day and exhibition which I can recommend as a day out to anyone in the area. The college is in an old manor house set in its own grounds in a pretty village near Devizes, Wiltshire, and is a lovely place to visit on a summer's day. The Open Day is from 10am to 3pm.

If anyone is going and wants to meet up, drop me an email.

Summer School (3)

Last batch of photos - these are the friendship ribbons we made on the last day. Each person took a length of sheer fabric and stitched our name on it. We went around the room taking rubbings of everyone else's names and gave each one a fragment from our scraps to attach next to our name on their ribbon. As we went to lunch for together for the last time, we hung all the ribbons over a banister and then each took our own home. Mine is now happily hanging from a beam in the store room so I see it every time I go to ferret around in the boxes.

Summer School 2008 (2)

Second installment - some pictures of the work we did with Cas Holmes. Cas has described the workshop on her blog (see sidebar). From top - works in progress by Julie, WIP Daniela, various WIP laid out at the end of the day.

Next three pictures are my WIP.


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Summer School Pictures - People

Just about sorted myself out after Summer School. More notes will follow about what we were doing but first of all some pictures. A couple of group shots taken while we were reviewing what we had done - I am not quite sure what was going on in the third one but there is an interesting mix of expressions.



Below - Daniela hard at work, Julie shows off her rosette, Sian admiring it.

Summer School 2007

I really am going to try and get in the habit of updating this blog weekly (even if it is to confess no work done) so here goes. Came back yesterday from the Distant Stitch summer school at Urchfont Manor - what a wonderful experience. Once again working from dawn to dusk apart from regular breaks for huge amounts of food and fresh air when the rain stopped. This year we worked with metal with Maggie Grey and Kantha with Sian.


Maggie (centre) with Kaye and Avis.












Margaret hard at work.

Summer School Pictures - Work

Some pictures of the silk papers drying outside and finished pieces.

Summer School Pictures - People

As promised, pictures from the Distant Stitch summer school.