Preston Embroiderers' Guild
  • Who we are
  • Notices
  • Blog
  • Forthcoming Events
  • Gallery
  • Other News
  • Links
  • Location
  • Contact Us
  • Join Us

October Dayschool 'Journey in Stitch' by Janet Browne

10/10/2013

1 Comment

 
The tables were set out ready for sewing machines and an optimistic air of industry as Janet explained her ‘Journey in Stitch’. She has a background in fine arts and after a papermaking course decided to complete a HNC with maps as her focus. 

Picture



She lives in the Yorkshire Dales and having walked the same routes on many occasions, interpreted these in black and white using textures, stitch and text. Eventually she added colour and stylised sheep, cars and houses among other things and still uses these ideas in her work today. 





She sketches little drawings on her routes now and uses photographs for important buildings. She utilises an interest in folk art too- important buildings are bigger than less important ones in her work.
Picture
Picture
Picture
Janet has moved her work forward from the large maps, which she still has commissions for, to smaller embroideries using birds, hares and plants.

After showing us her designs and embroideries she explained the task for the day. We had to draw a house, shed or beach hut with trees in the background and a foreground and colour it in. Her main tip was to keep it simple with stylised trees and shrubs.






Once this had been completed we traced the outline onto dressmakers’ tracing paper. Next we made a sandwich- the tracing paper (reversed so the design was the same as our original), a layer of wadding, a layer of calico and then scraps of fabric layered on top, one at a time, for the details of our design.


Picture
Starting with the background, then the foreground we stitched around the shapes from the back using the traced design to outline them. We used a machine embroidery foot if we had one and with the dog feed teeth down the fabric was easily manoeuvred.

Once the foreground and trees had been stitched the shed, house or beach hut was added. To create windows and doors two layers were used and once stitched the first layer was cut away to reveal the colour underneath. Now extras like plant pots, and shrubs were added.

Picture
Picture
Eventually the final finishes could be stitched like flowers and leaves, some shapes could be cut and padded from the back with kapok to give a 3D effect; and to finish the whole piece a second piece of calico is stitched on the back in cream thread following the outline of the whole design and then trimmed . With several of the shapes a whole street could be made.

Janet gave us all time to discuss future ideas and many of us took this opportunity. 



Yet more ideas for the September Exhibition 2014? I wonder.

Thanks to Janet who has obviously developed her techniques over the years to achieve such beautiful, intricate and fascinating pieces.


Picture
The girls in the back room .....
Picture
Picture
The annual competition for the Gertrude Goodenough trophy was awarded to Ann Reading for her canvas flower garden - 'Holehurd Gardens' near Ambleside.
Picture
Picture
1 Comment

    Archives

    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013

    Posts prior to Feb 2013

    For posts prior to February 2013 please click here.

    Categories

    All
    Local News
    Workshops

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.