Wednesday, November 22, 2017

18th November 2017 Stitching life and Layered backgrounds


Our November meeting began with a very wide-ranging talk from Theresa Saxon about her stitching life, which she called “Kids, Kits and Magazines”!  Theresa brought a plethora of finished works, which she had created over the years; from beautiful children’s dresses and dungarees decorated with appliqué, to complicated kits and designs from magazines.  She talked about how she started by making clothes, then moved through phases of crocheting and  using kits for embroidery. She gave an amusing account of her initial, thwarted, intention to branch into quilting. However, she succeeded in the end and brought with her a variety of beautiful quilts made for her family. Her talk described how her stitching projects linked into her family and work life and we were all amazed that, with a husband, four children and a career, she had managed to create so much, and that so many items had survived numerous house-moves between continents!!

 Despite Theresa's saying in her talk about the importance of kits and magazine project instructions for her, she is  also very clearly a creative embroiderer designing her own projects and this came out in the workshop which followed, where Theresa explained to the group  how to create a variety of backgrounds by layering chiffon, tulle netting and scraps of fabric and thread on to a cotton base.  Theresa provided a wide variety of bonding agents for the group to experiment with and an information sheet, which will prove extremely useful. 
 The attached images illustrate just how much members got out of Theresa’s workshop and how much was produced in a short time!!
Doesn't it make your fingers itch?!