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February 2022 - Dayschool - Transfer and Stitch with Maria Livesey.

6/2/2022

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Everyone was pleased to be back together after a 2-month gap and looking forward to an interesting and instructive day.
 
 Steph opened the meeting and reminded everyone of the covid safety measures in place and that hand gel was available.  The tables were well-spaced out and wiped down ready to use.
 
The lady arrived to complete any PAT testing required on the guild's equipment, and any sewing machines brought in by the group . The cost for this was £2.50 a machine and allows the tested equipment to be used on site for 12 months.
 
Ann discussed the pricing for workshops and advised the group that prices will be dependent on the number of people who signed up to participate. There was a guide to the probable cost of the next 3 months workshops dependent on numbers available on the table along with course details. These workshops looked very interesting and obviously the more participants, the more economical it will be.
 
The shop was set up in the smaller room and extra tables were available at the back of the main hall for those not participating in the workshop, which was on Image transfer techniques.

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Steph then introduced the speaker, Maria Livesey, who gave a brief summary of her work discussing various methods of transferring images.
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 An array of finished pieces was available to inspire our creativity.

​The morning session began with Maria demonstrating how to place and transfer images using Acetone.  We then transferred small images onto calico fabric ready to enhance with our own embroidery ideas. These when completed were made into pin brooches. Ideas for the type of stitch we could apply were available via the handouts.
After lunch Maria demonstrated the use of image transfer mediums, such as Scola by Dylon.
​ Images to be used had to be photocopied onto transfer paper as shown.
Before the workshop Maria had asked people to send her an image that they wished to work on. Alternatively, there was a selection of images supplied by Maria that could be used. 
Images were black and white for transferring but coloured copies were available to help us choose colours and designs.
 The images used in the workshop were pre-prepared on transfer papers for us to choose. We each ironed on our image to sheeting fabric backed with interfacing with a dry iron (steam would damage the process). The paper backing was peeled off when cool and the embroidery could then begin.  Our images were enhanced by adding stitch, appliqué and various trimmings with lovely creative results.


At the end of the session Maria was thanked for a great workshop full of ideas and inspiration, a technique many of us will try again.

There was a small display of pieces stitched for the monthly challenge 2022 ‘Inspired by…’. This month the Inspiration was a favourite poem. There was such a variety. Watch the slide show below to see the wonderful pieces.
The February challenge is ‘Inspired by an Artist’. I’m sure you can’t wait to see the results.

Thanks to all the committee who made the day a great success, Janet for writing the blog and Sylvia and Barbara who spent the day sorting the contents of the shop cupboard. What a task that was!
J.P. and A.R.

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January 2022- Happy New Year- No meeting but a group update of projects.

4/1/2022

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Happy New Year to everyone. As our meeting date was scheduled for the 1st Of January – New Year’s Day and a Bank Holiday our monthly meeting was cancelled. However, members have been busy stitching festive pieces and finishing their Monthly Challenges for 2021.
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Here are some of their projects. Let us start with brooches from the Maria Livesey talk in December when several of us had a go at using silicone to entrap a pressed flower- yes clear silicone, the stuff you use around the bath and shower tray to seal it. Once dry the silicon disc, which was already on a fine organza fabric, was applied to a background fabric and some embroidery detail was added before putting the finished circle into a tiny embroidery frame.

Next several festive makes.
Kath H knitted Guinea pigs in a bed with cushions and a bowl of salad, made as replicas of her pets, for her granddaughter Lydia, as well as a small embroidery for her sister from a book by Angela Daymond.
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Irene stitched a Christmas quilt and two cushions for the church sale.
Mel has been making Christmas decorations. Here is a bauble made from felt with sequins, beads and stitch.


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Kath R has been busy making her beautiful flowers, this time using dissolvable fabric and sheer fabrics. Each flower was machines stitched on the sewing machine.
Finally, the Monthly Challenge pieces. It has been a success this year keeping many of us challenged, although with lots of other things to contend with throughout 2021 there are only two pieces to show here.
‘My December piece is a gift tag with a machine stitched background, which I beaded and added stump work and stitch embellishments.’ Mel. C
 
‘Snowflakes falling’ – ‘I used Tyvek and stitched into this before adding some heat to see what would happen to the shapes. I then stitched beads onto them to attach them to the glitter felt. Finally, I added some simple snowflake shapes and beads in the background. ‘Ann R

We all hope 2022 is a much better year for everyone and we can continue to meet in a safe environment. We look forward to our February meeting with a day school led by Maria Livesey – Transfer and Stitch. The requirements list is on the 'Notices' tab
Don’t forget to have a go at our new monthly challenges ‘Inspired by…’ for 2022. Again information is available on the ‘Notices’ tab.
In the meantime, keep safe and keep stitching.
A.R.

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December 2021 A.M. Christmas Brooches. P.M. Talk with Maria Livesey - 'The WOW factor'

7/12/2021

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​It was lovely to meet up on such a cold and wet day. We are all so used to keeping our layers on and opening windows that we hardly notice the weather anymore.
 
Steph opened the meeting with the notices and reminded everyone to be careful with regards to Covid distancing etc.
 
There was a lovely selection of mince pies and Yorkshire Rascal biscuits (made by Irene) to see us through the day. Thank you for sharing the recipe, I am sure many of us will be practising making and eating them 
The morning was spent making Christmas badges or keyrings.
Kath Roberts had prepared some earlier to give us inspiration and also provided extra fabric and fasteners to help us produce some lovely ideas 
With the crackers, cakes and festive makes the morning sped by.
The raffle went ahead with lovely prizes and the shop did a roaring trade with many items given away to good homes. It felt like Christmas had come early.
At lunchtime Steph announced the winner of the Christmas Challenge. This year we were asked to stitch ‘A Christmas Gift Tag’. Eight people took part, and the winner was voted for by the members. The winner was Eleanor for her lovely reindeer tag and Mel came second with her very intricate silver creation. 
​After a busy morning we settled down to listen to Maria Livesey give a talk about her life as a Textile Designer.
Maria had set up an intriguing table as the morning progressed and on the screen was written 'In pursuit of the WOW factor', so we were all ready to hear something amazing. We were not disappointed as Maria explained her strange way of seeing the world.

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Her first steps to following a path of art was when she attended Aberdeen College, studying Art and Design. She enjoyed the course but did not know where she fitted into the world of design and textiles, until she went to an exhibition and discovered some unusual designs by Paco Rabanne, who used all kinds of plastic and other unusual materials in his garment designs. She was totally inspired by woven steel and cut cassette tapes made into shapes. Everything she had in her head fell into place and she began to experiment with all kinds of plastics including Lithotex, silicon and Fiberette. She used these and patterns in nature to make different dress materials. She liked using fish designs and liquid plastic connecting velvet on dresses.
Her other influences were Janet Stoyel, who uses sound and light to manipulate ready-made fabrics and Luisa Cevese, who recycles industrial waste into her weaves.


​Maria advanced into making handbags, which she sold to galleries. In London she made collections of burnt-out fabrics for fashion houses. Her designs were seen in Vogue and Time Out magazines. By this time, she was 'buzzing' with ideas and did an MA in Aberdeen to look at other materials and fabrics. She began trapping pressed flowers, lace and wire in-between silicon. She won many awards for her unusual textiles.
In between all this, she brought up her children and took teaching jobs to keep going
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​She told us many other exciting things about her adventures into design and texture. Too many to write about here but suffice to say her talk was fast and furious and really exciting to hear.
Some of our members had a little practical taste of trapping pressed flowers in silicon before the end of the session.
Now we look forward to her workshop in February. 


The Monthly Challenge for 2021 is coming to an end. This month the challenge was to recycle some items in the design.
Mel C has used ring pulls and champagne tops along with sequins and sparkly threads to make a firework design.
Ann R has used a piece of denim as the background, which was a from a waist band. The idea of a bonfire is made using recycled nets from fruit and onions woven into a bottle neck protector (usually found on duty free goods- Do we remember those days?). The Catherine Wheel firework is made from a foil wine top with machine embroidery.
Margaret G. decided to do some felt work this month. She covered some notebooks, which can be given as gifts. She used the idea of November and poppies.
Irene recycled threads in her design as well as adding felt poppies on a water coloured background.

We look forward to the December pieces in the short January blog, so do send your photographs.
As requested, the committee have put together another monthly challenge for 2022 based around the theme ‘Inspired by’. The list will be posted on the Notices tab very soon, ready for you to complete the January piece.
Thanks to Janet and Irene for their reports about our Christmas meeting. It was very much appreciated by us all.
J.P., I.P & A.R.

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