Click here to download a printable copy of our 2025 programme
Spaces at workshops are limited, so it's important that you book in advance. Details, including the price, will be circulated well before the event, giving you plenty of time to book, by contacting Kathryn.
An opportunity to explore the design potential of landscape photographs to create stitched and embellished textiles.
The design techniques can also be used to develop ideas for our group project,
the Festival of Quilts coat, if you are taking part.
Click here for requirements list
I will provide images but if you would like to bring your own that’s fine.
If you have them, please bring the following, but there will be spare materials provided.
• HB or softer, pencil
• Black ink pens in a variety of thicknesses
• Coloured media of your preference – pencils, pastels paints etc.
• Scissors
• An old magazine for cutting up
• Glue stick
• Masking tape
Amanda’s talk will take us on a journey from her early days as a textile artist and designer through to the events that sparked her interest
in free-machine embroidery and her love of forest found treasures – moss, lichen, bark and fungi, in particular.
She recreates these natural wonders using thread,
paper and silk and through her accuracy and precision she hopes to ensure that we have a record of these specimens for the future
Another of our popular ‘play days’, which are a great opportunity to get to know other members while working on your UFOs, and current projects.
Kathryn can demonstrate how to make a simple coiled basket, or you can try our embellisher - great fun for machine felting - share your skills,
get advice and just see what everyone else is up to.
Click here for requirements list
Bring projects you would like to work on and your sewing kits.
Fabric scraps, thread and wool for the embellisher.
If you want to make a coiled pot you will need strips of soft fabric like old t-shirts and a fairly large sharp needle and strong thread.
When you sign up Kathryn will email simple instructions for a quick way to cut fabric strips.
In her presentation Iranian born artist Batool Showghi will show how she transforms materials into artists books and mixed media wall pieces.
Using different techniques and processes to narrate stories, explore issues of identity, struggle and rise of women and displacement.
Bridget will talk about her creative journey, her background in textiles and millinery and how these have influenced her current work,
which is inspired by encounters with plants and insects on her allotment. From textiles to fly-tying, and cat whiskers to millinery,
Bridget will talk about how techniques and materials transform when they combine and cross-pollinate.
This is our first workshop in the textile room at St Anne's Catholic School for Girls. You can use the sewing machines for free machine embroidery,
linen presses for heat transfer dyes
and Justine will demonstrate other equipment that can be used for more innovative textile techniques.
Click here for venue details and requirements list
Bring your sewing kits, plain fabric and scrap fabric. Directions and more information will be provided when you sign up.
Clare is a traditional wet felt maker with over 20 years' experience in the textile arts.
She is passionate about the art of felt, especially nuno felting which combines wool and a
loose weave fabric, making a stronger cloth that is suitable for clothing. In this talk Clare
will talk about her creative journey and inspiration.
Join Jill Kipnis, member and owner of Inspirational Embroidery, for an illustrated talk
about her bespoke textile tour of India in February. Travelling through Gujarat and Rajasthan ending in Mumbai,
Jill visited artisan's workshops, museums, markets and palaces gathering inspiration
from the exquisite textiles and traditional techniques like block printing.
Now is your chance to make a goldwork bug with Georgina using classic stumpwork techniques and hand embroidery.
Don’t be put off if you have never tried goldwork before, as the class is suitable for embroiderers of all levels,
with more advanced students catered for as well. You should be able to complete the piece in a day.
Click here for requirements list
Bring your sewing kits. Georgina will provide complete bug kits at a small additional charge.
Kantha is a hand stitching technique originating in India, with a running stitch used to create representational pictures and abstract patterns. Angela will talk about the history of Kantha and you will learn how Angela stitches, and the tools and threads she loves to use. She will talk about the many beautiful variations of running stitch that can be used in a Kantha design.
Angela will run a mini Kantha workshop of a paisley design as part of the presentation so we can stitch and listen, so bring your sewing kits.
Our annual summer get together for tea and cake. Members are encouraged to bring completed pieces of work for the display.
An opportunity to pass on our stitching skills to members of the public who sign up for one of the
two half-day sessions in this beautiful venue. The project will be a simple hand stitched felt
strawberry that can be made into a brooch or key ring for people to take away.
Emily Jo Gibbs has established an international reputation for her hand stitched textiles,
observing the quiet beauty of the overlooked. She specialises in layered appliqué,
creating portraits and still-lives with a pared back aesthetic. This talk is about her career in making,
from high-end handbags to portraits. With lots of illustrations and descriptions and stories of how her
work has evolved.
An opportunity to find out about the textile art produced by four members of the group,
where they find their inspiration, and what materials and processes they use in their creative practice.
Passementerie is defined as ‘the art of making elaborate trimmings such as tassels, braids, gold or silver cord,
fringing or edgings for clothing or furnishings’, by the Heritage Crafts Association.
Elizabeth Ashdown is one of only a few hand passementerie artists working in the UK today.
Elizabeth combines traditional and endangered craft skills with a contemporary aesthetic in order
to create brilliantly colourful and innovative passementerie as artworks. She will tell us about her
creative journey and the craft itself.
Elizabeth will bring lots of samples and materials, and we can try our hand at cord winding after the talk.
Chris will give a brief introduction to the tradition of Sashiko, the types of patterns,
grids, and templates used. She will demonstrate how to mark out a grid, marking stitches,
order of working and stitching a pattern. Then using templates and grid patterns, we will
draw our own design and fill in with different Sashiko stitch patterns. Chris will give us
ideas for using finished Sashiko pieces.
The requirements list will be provided later!
Enter the requirements here!
Quiz, Christmas ‘make’ and card swap
Rachel Midgley will delve into Gawthorpe’s collection of bags, purses, reticules and even pockets,
covering four centuries of stylish accessories. Using high-resolution photographs we can take a
close-up look at the design and decoration of each item, the techniques and skills
involved in creating them and how the fashions of the day influenced these accessories.
11 January, Saturday 2.30pm Practical afternoon Helen Brown - Design from imagery Sales table |
23 January, Thursday 6pm ZOOM TALK Amanda Cobbett - Embroidered nature |
1 February, Saturday 9.30am Workshop at Chace Community School Play day and coiled basketry demonstration |
8 February, Saturday 2.30pm Talk Batool Showghi - Talking threads |
8 March, Saturday 2.30pm Talk Bridget Bailey - A making safari, from millinery to textile art |
5 April, Saturday 9.30am Workshop At St Anne's School, Enfield Justine Stracy - Experiments with textiles |
12 April, Saturday 2.30pm Talk Clare Bullock - Sharing her creative journey |
10 May, Saturday 2.30pm AGM with guest speaker Jill Kipnis - Textiles of India Sales table |
17 May, Saturday 9.30am Workshop Georgina Bellamy - Goldwork bug |
11 June, Wednesday 6.30pm ZOOM TALK Rachel Midgeley - Bags and Purses The Gawthorpe Textile Collection |
14 June, Saturday 2.30pm Talk and practical session Angela Daymond - Kantha: 500 years of stitch |
12 July, Saturday 2.30pm Summer gathering Exhibition of work |
August No meeting |
9 August, Saturday 11am Stitch day Forty Hall stitch day |
13 September, Saturday 2.30pm Talk Emily Jo Gibbs: A career in making – from high-end handbags to portraits |
18 October, Saturday 2.30pm An exploration 'Through the keyhole' |
8 November, Saturday 2.30pm Talk Elizabeth Ashdown - Passementerie |
15 November, Saturday 9.30am Workshop Chris Fraser - Sashiko |
13 December, Saturday 2.30pm Christmas Party Quiz, Christmas ‘make’ and card swap Refreshments provided |
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