Preston Embroiderers' Guild Blog

July 2022- Strawberry Tea.

3/7/2022

The weather was kind. After a very wet morning the sun came out once again and members met for the annual social event -The Strawberry Tea. It was the first for two years due to the pandemic and it turned out to be a lovely afternoon. The committee gathered early to help Dee and Sam, our hosts, set up strawberries, cakes and the raffle.

As members began arriving we were delighted to welcome our eldest member Joan Bagot(97) who many of us hadn’t seen for such a long time. It was wonderful to know she is still well and keeping active with her craft. She explained she had been knitting teddies throughout the pandemic.

Another visitor was Jack Morton and his daughters. Jack had supported the group with his late wife for many years. He celebrated his 90th birthday this week and when he heard that he had an invite to the strawberry tea, extended his birthday celebrations to include meeting up with old friends once more.

There were plenty of strawberries and cream, cake and tea alongside the conversations and laughter. The raffle was drawn and decisions about what to choose had to be made. The beautiful garden was explored and admired.

Too soon the afternoon came to an end. It was a lovely social event. Thanks to Dee and Sam who were extremely generous in allowing us into their home once more.
There is no meeting in August but on our return in September we look forward to the day school with Nikki Parmenter- ‘Fantastic Fans’.
Several members have sent in photographs of projects they have been working on.

Tracey has been working on a mini piece of Victorian Crazy Patchwork.
Kath H. has made a fascinator to match an outfit she has made to go to a wedding.
Kath R went on to make some white sheer fabric flowers, following on from her very successful workshop last month.

Ann R is still working on her monthly piece for the ‘Inspired by…’. This month it is architecture. Here is a taster of her piece which needs to be finished (watch this space):
“I took photographs of the Harris Library and Museum in Preston and used these to print a collage of parts of the building. I have quilted along the lines of the features and will use some of the architectural shapes to fill in the spaces.”

That’s all for now. Have a very enjoyable summer. Keep safe and Keep stitching.
A.R.

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June 2022 – Workshop – Flowers made with sheer or dissolvable fabrics with Kath Roberts.

5/6/2022

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The Platinum Jubilee weekend was well underway, and Preston E & T group didn’t forget. The room was decorated with union flag bunting as well as our group bunting, delicious cakes had been made by our members and a special iced cake made by Liz our treasurer. Members had been asked to make a Jubilee gift to put into a secret dip box for later. There was also a very warm welcome for three new ladies who participated in the activities throughout the day. It is so good to know the word about our friendly, creative group is getting around. After the notices the workshop began.

Kath Roberts (one of our own members) had a lovely display of sheer and dissolvable fabric flowers and she explained the pros and cons of each method.

She showed us the different techniques using each type of fabric. Firstly, we had to create a petal template and draw around this onto our fabric stretched in a frame. Then the machining could begin. The outline was stitched over twice and a framework for the dissolvable fabric was created. Then free machined patterns could be stitched. Kath demonstrated this with ease. The flowers could be stitched by hand (as one member had chosen to do) but it obviously takes a lot longer.

The morning was spent preparing our petals as well as eating cake!
By lunchtime- Did we have a lunchtime or were we full of all the cake? – the petals were ready for applying the stems and cutting them out.

But before the afternoon session began the Jubilee secret dip took place. What a lovely selection of items had been made: from needle cases to pin cushions, notebook covers to lavender bags. Everyone was delighted with their gift. Guessing who had made what was also good fun. Did we ever find out who had made each item?

The afternoon session began, and Kath demonstrated how to use a soldering iron to cut out the sheer petals to prevent fraying and to seal the fabric. You need to be brave when doing this, although the petals could be cut out by hand if you prefer. She also showed us how to stretch the dissolvable petals and dry them. The stems (cake wires) were then zigzagged in position.

A long end at the top of the petal could be used to attach beads as decoration. Once all the petals had been prepared the wires are then twisted together to form the flower. Flower arrangement tape was wrapped around the wires to finish the flower.

There were several stitch and chatters who were stitching a wide range of pieces from cross stitch to Kogin as well as experimental pieces.

Several of the monthly challenge pieces (Inspired by a sculpture this month) were on display for everyone to see and admire as well as completed pieces from previous workshops and day schools.

Here’s my completed Carrick-ma-cross style white work heart. It’s far from perfect but it was my first attempt and, as with all new techniques, I’ve learned a lot from the process of making it. Tracey.

Mountmellick white work heart stitched by Paula

Drawn Thread Work by Mel.

It was a lovely day with lots of fun and laughter and Kath’s expertise helped the workshop ladies achieve a range of lovely flowers. Thank you, Kath.

Next month is our social gathering away from St. Andrew’s but we look forward to meeting here again in September 2022 for our Nikki Parmenter Day school.
Thanks to everyone who made the day so memorable and to Kath, once again, for her most enjoyable workshop.
A.R.

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May 2022- Dayschool- Whitework Hearts with Nicola Jarvis

15/5/2022

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A bright sunny morning as we prepared for our workshop with a widely known tutor Nicola Jarvis.
The light in the hall was especially important today as the two projects we had chosen from needed good light as the stitching was quite precise and stitched white cotton perlé on oatmeal fabric.
Nicola arrived and set up her beautiful display of cushions, booklets, cards and tea towels with her own designs, material and kits to admire or purchase.

Nicola gave a short talk on the history of her journey in embroidery.
She trained at the Royal School of Needlework and worked in the British fashion industry as a sample embroiderer and was one of the team who worked on the Duchess of Cambridge’s wedding dress.
Nicola staged an exhibition at the William Morris Gallery championing the work of May Morris his daughter whos’ work is often overshadowed by that of her famous father.

The two projects we were working on in this workshop were either a Mount Mellick work design, or a Carrick-Ma-Cross design, both these designs originated in Ireland.

The Mountmellick design was made up by an assortment of stitches on a small heart design. The stitches used certainly pushed some of us out of our comfort zone.
The Carrick-Ma-Cross design involved couching a piece of fine linen over a piece of net in a heart shape and cutting the surrounding linen away when complete. This was a scary process but looked very dainty and left a stitched heart shape in the centre surrounded by fine net.

Both designs were decorated with crystals and could be mounted in a frame or made into a small cushion filled with potpourri.
Nicola set us off on our work by instructing us in small groups of four at each table, she then proceeded to come round the tables at each new stage showing us what to do next or help if we were struggling.
Although the embroidery was a bit ‘slow going’ for some of us Nicola had provided an excellent kit and booklet covering all the process for us to carry on at home.

Members who were not taking part in the workshop were doing their own thing, which included, knitting a cardigan, crocheting blankets, experimenting with a snippet roll and making an underarm cushion for women who have undergone breast surgery.

It was a very productive and enjoyable day I am sure everyone learned new skills and it was worth the struggle for some of us to get our heads round the stitches under Nicola’s expert tuition.
Thanks to Kath H for writing the blog and to Steph for taking the photographs.

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July 2022- Strawberry Tea.

June 2022 – Workshop – Flowers made with sheer or dissolvable fabrics with Kath Roberts.

May 2022- Dayschool- Whitework Hearts with Nicola Jarvis

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