Our June Meeting

YES got together on the first Saturday in June and social stitchers continued working on their individual pieces.  Two very different stitch clubs got started.  Sue led a Gelli printing session and Nicky led modern blackwork.  

Getting started with Gelli printing

Gelli printing samples

 

Gelli printing was messy and participants needed to work quickly and decisively to roll out the acrylic paint and get it printed onto fabric before the paint dried.  They used a range of precut stencils, leaves, sequin waste, bubble wrap, feathers, wooden stamps and even egg box bases to create interesting textural effects.  

Nicky's blackwork sample book

In complete contrast Blackwork required concentration and attention to detail.  Stitchers used Nicky's detailed instruction sheets to make a start on some stitch patterns and we look forward to seeing how their work progresses at the next meeting. 

Hidden Histories 

In the afternoon we were privileged to be able to see and hear about a range of work that members had brought in for 'show and tell'.  Many evidenced high levels of technical skill and married the techniques to a strong visual sense of colour, design and place.  We appreciated textile pictures and samples/items made at workshops where knowledge and skills had been generously passed on and explored.  We admired blankets made from an unusual technique found in an old book and 'works in progress'.  Several members brought '52 week' pieces that evidenced their involvement with the vibrant online community that emerged during the strange time that was 'lockdown'. 

However what was particularly noticeable was that many people really valued items for the memories they held.  This was frequently an outcome of time spent with a grandchild, a mother, a friend.  Revisiting stitched items made by someone whose style of work perhaps was imperfect or had dated in an aesthetic sense although its intrinsic value remained.  Discovering unloved but interesting old textiles in sales.  Bringing unfashionable textiles and objects out of drawers and boxes into the light, re-purposed, re-imagined and giving pleasure.  When we judge stitching in a competitive sense we overlook the hidden history that many textiles hold - the pleasurable hours spent making something practical or decorative, engaging the mind, stitching companionably or alone during "me time!" Enjoying the process as well as the outcome, creating tangible things whose histories might be hidden to others but known to the maker.  

There were so many interesting and lovely things that it wasn't possible to photograph them all so a (very small) selection of those that were pre-revealed by being displayed on a table ahead of the 'show and tell' are given below.

Denise's RSN stumpwork picture

Angela's interlocking crochet blankets

Helen's Victorian quilt finds

Josie's 1986 stumpwork piece 'In the Rough'

One of several holiday inspired mixed media pieces made by Eileen

Upcoming workshops

Helen will be running two one-day workshops on Scandi Style embroidery in June.  The first is on Saturday 15th and will be in Heworth WIthout Community Centre and the second on Monday 17th will be at the Viking Loom in Wiggington.  The workshops aim to be a fun and relaxed way to learn new hand embroidery skills using the materials, threads and embellishments provided.  

Next meeting

Our next meeting in Haxby Memorial Hall is July 6th.  Dawn Ireland will be our speaker in the afternoon "My Journey as a Textile Artist".  Visitors and new members are always welcome to join our friendly group.