February 2016 - Applique Pictures - Liliane Taylor

On another very wet day the Guild met together and assembled for the notices. There is always a busy feeling at the beginning of the day and the shop and book stall were surrounded as usual. Our Guild is very supportive of these and the money raised is useful for the running of the Guild and replenishing our stocks.
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Our dayschool today was led by Liliane Taylor, who had set out her table with some beautiful examples of her appliqué work to peruse before the meeting.  Liliane has many and varied qualifications in textiles and design, including completing a fashion and design course from Oldham Lyceum and a textiles course from Manchester Tec. She has even designed children's clothes for Marks and Spencer, so we were in very good hands.

She showed us some lovely pieces of work and explained that the theme to be used was ‘Afternoon Tea’.  She told us that she enjoyed using vintage pieces of embroidery. She felt that someone had treasured these pieces and embroidered them lovingly and when we gave them a more modern makeover they would be treasured again by future generations.

Liliane said she was not a neat person but the results she produced were inspiring. She told us our work must be personal to us and we could do anything we liked with the traycloths and embroidered pieces that she had brought and with our own materials.

​We began by backing our basic material with calico and then the edges were sewn first. After this we started to sew from the middle.

Plenty of paints and dyes were also available to use. Liliane suggested that we cut out our tea pots and appliqué them onto the backing; she thought strawberries were a colourful addition.
Everyone set to work and various colourful and beautiful pieces began to appear.  Some people dyed or painted their cloth and others used different textiles to create their sample. It was amazing to see all the different techniques used including stitched words, cut out letters and appliquéd motifs like birds, beach huts and tea sets.

Liliane went around everyone helping and suggesting ideas, until our time was up for the day and we showed our work on the front table.

Liliane had brought some frames and it was great to see how these enhanced our work. 

While the dayschool was going on, the back room was a hive of industry with members stitching their own work. One or two were working on pieces from previous workshops and were glad to receive help from more experienced members. It is always good to stitch and chat.
​Some members had brought their finished ‘Trapunto’ and ‘Vintage Lace’ projects to show. It is always inspiring to see completed work.
 

Thank you to Liliane for the dayschool and Dee and the committee for their background work too.
​Irene Pugmire.