Embroiderers’ Guild Conference and my recent stitching

April 22, 2009September 9, 2010 stitchesoftime1 Comment

I was lucky enough to go for a day to the recent EG conference in Sheffield. My lovely children paid for this as a Mothers’ Day present and I had a wonderful day out listening to talks about embroidery and having a visit to a Sheffield branch of the EG and to the Sheffield Cathedral. Sadly I forgot to take my camera but took a few pics using my phone which Ellie was kind enough to transfer for me.

The first talk was an illustrated lecture by Anthea Godfrey on embroidery as used in haute couture and had the most beautiful images of all sorts of techniques used on the catwalk. She teaches embroidery at the London College of Fashion Arts – I would love to be able to study there but will have to content myself at the moment with my local guild meetings and some day workshops!

After lunch we went to one of the local Sheffield Guilds for a talk by Diane Grant about ecclesiastical embroidery and the work of Beryl Dean. I have read a couple of Beryl’s books before and it was a very good talk illustrated with Beryl’s work throughout her lifetime. Below is an example from the 1950s, this piece is in the V and A museum and features a stylised disciple or maybe Jesus with a fish and net.

The guild members had also put on a small display of their work which was brilliant – one particular member called Marjorie Holford had done some Elizabethan sweetbags which I really liked – she had larger display of those at the main conference hall.

After that we went to Sheffield Cathedral which was treat in itself as I love visiting any church and had a special display of their ecclesiastical textiles which were very lovely. Most of the priest’s robes were quite modern but there were also some older pieces which I really love and I have put some pics of these below.

Image from an altar frontal at Sheffield Cathdral

A banner which had been restored by the church embroiderers

I must go back with my camera one day and get some shots of the cathedral.

I have been busy stitching a few gifts recently and have a couple of finishes to show. The first one is a blackwork scissor keep that I have been working on for a friend – I am making five of these in total.

The design is a motif from one of my Lesley Wilkins blackwork books.

I have the rest of the scissor keeps to finish but need to get on with sewing up a new nun’s outfit that I have cut out as we have our first re-enactment event this weekend. It is at Bolsover Castle in Derbyshire on Sunday from 10 – 4pm so if you are in the area do come along and say hello. I will be easy to spot being the only nun in the place! I am very excited that the season is starting again – nights under canvas and sitting round a real fire – bliss! Hopefully the weather will be as nice as it has been this past week.

Parisian antique textiles

April 20, 2009November 24, 2009 stitchesoftime1 Comment

While we were in Paris last week we made a trip to the flea market at St Ouen. This was always on Ellie’s to do list and due to the Versailles Palace being unfortunately shut on the Monday we made it and it was a little piece of textile heaven!

It was a very interesting experience generally- it is a huge market with lots of modern stalls and a big second hand market with everything from very expensive antique furniture to people sitting by the road with what looks like piles of the most random junk.

The textiles are wonderful! There were lots of costume dealers and three or four who specialised in antique textiles which were amazing. The first stall had the most amazing collection of whitework and lace goods including loads of baby clothes obviously late Victorian and early 20th century.

She did have some pieces of cross stitch as you can see in the red pile of stitching near the middle of the pic but most was work like the two pics below.

There were a couple of other stalls which made me want to win the lottery immediately – this one below had literally stacks of goldwork and huge embroideries everywhere – lots of Ottoman garments and ecclesiastical vestments.

I really wanted to rescue all these poor things and give them a loving home but sadly did not have the funds!

These were some more pices outside one of the other stalls – just sitting there. The thing that makes me sad is that I know just how long it takes to make pieces like this and is is tragic to see them being unloved and unwanted. At least the people reading this will appreciate them!

If you ever want to go the nearest Metro stop is Porte de Clignancourt and there is a map at the Metro stop and signs once you get outside – look for Marche aux Puces.

A textileicious talk

March 10, 2009September 11, 2015 stitchesoftime1 Comment

A few weeks ago I had a textileicious day and this week I have had another one at my Embroiderers’ Guild meeting. The morning was a sewing workshop though as usual it was more talking about stitching than doing any!

In the afternoon we had a speaker, a wonderful woman called Linda Rudkin who does a talk called ‘Colour from Nature’ about using natural plant dyes. She does the most amazing work with her dyed fabric and thread and the colour boards to show the different effects of each dye were textile works of art in themselves let alone all of the beautiful cushions, bowls etc she brought with her. My favourite was the large box pictured below embellished with a wealth of three dimensional leaves that were all dyed from one source.

I was particularly interested in the use of dyes as it fits in very well with the medieval period and she also does something called Flower Pounding which as it sounds involves hitting flowers leaves etc with a hammer to extract the dyes straight onto fabric. She had the most beautiful examples of these flower pictures with her.

Go and have a look at her web site for inspiration – we are all hoping she will come back and do a workshop for us next year.

I bought her book, called Natural Dyes and also some fabric which has been pre-treated with mordant and some dye stuff. Our branch of the Guild has its bi-annual exhibition in September and we are making a rainbow of individual panels to display – each person has chosen a colour. Mine is indigo which of course is a natural dye in itself so I am going to do some experimenting for that piece. Watch this space!

An abundance of embroidery!

February 19, 2009September 11, 2015 stitchesoftimeLeave a comment

Have you noticed how in fashion embroidery is at the moment? I have been doing a little bit of trend spotting recently and there are some fab garments out there. These pics were taken in Asda yesterday – we were out for the day in Doncaster visiting an exhibition (of dinosaur models not stitching!) and popped in to get some lunch and I was amazed by the amount of beautiful stitchery on garments.

At the risk of embaressing Jake (hey what are parents for!) I took these of just a few of the clothes on display.

Unfortunately I did not buy any of these as none of them were really what I wanted in terms of the garment style – lots of short puffy sleeves and loose tunics which do not suit me- but loved the fact that there was so much stitching around. Obviously this is all machine stitched but still very pretty and may inspire more people to take up the needle and create for themselves!

I have recently made this card for a friend. The design comes from the sampler ‘ I still do’ by Inkcircles and I attached a little heart charm as well. It is stitched on sparkly white Aida with Silk Mill dark blue thread.

Wonderful daughter Ellie has just come back from a short trip to Bruges with two friends for the friend’s 18th birthday. She had a great time and was very impressed by the lace work there and as a present bought me this very cute little wine waiter outfit for my wine bottles made of Brussels lace.

I think that it just so cute and hopefully we can all go to Bruges one day and admire more lace (there is also beer and lots of chocolate so sounds like a fun place!).

A lovely day

February 8, 2009November 24, 2009 stitchesoftimeLeave a comment

Today Ellie and I have been to the Stitch and Creative Crafts Show in Manchester. I have not been before to this one but missed my usual Harrogate Knitting and Stitching show fix in Nov as I was in Nepal.

It is much smaller than the Harrogate show with much more emphasis on card making and supplies for that but there were lots of lovely stalls and some of my favourite suppliers were there so we had a lovely time.

One of my all time must go and see stalls at any show is Golden Hinde – Sue does the most amazing goldwork and she was there stitching today and she showed me how to make chrysanthemums out of wire thread.

She has really taken modern goldwork to the next level and her work is wonderful as well as her stall selling some very practical (and very cheap!) goldwork supplies. The thing that I like about Golden Hinde is that you can buy little bags of all sorts of gold thread really cheaply – the things I got today were 8Op or £1.50 which means you can soon build up a great stash.

Go and visit their web site or better still see if you can get along to a show and meet them in person – well worth it!

Here are a few pics from the show – one of the quilting displays, a cross stitch stall and one of the crewel work pieces on display.

I have bought two new publications recently which I thought I would share with you – they are in the pic below.

Of course I know I don’t really need any new books, patterns etc as I have enough stitching to keep me going till 2087 as it is but I am going to start doing some quilting and patchwork. Some friends from Embroiderers’ Guild are also members of the Quilters’ Guild so am going to join them. Therefore I thought the book on quilting patterns would be useful. It is called The Essential Quilter by Barbara Chainey and was a huge bargain at nearly a third of the new price on Amazon.

The other purchase I bought last week from my local WH Smith. It is a stitching mag called Inspirations published in Australia by Country Bumpkin and has the most amazing work in it.One piece that I really want to make from it is this goldwork pomegranate below.

Pomegranate illustration from Inspirations magazine

A couple of years ago I did this Tudor Rose piece below from a magazine and thought that the pomegranate would be a good companion on the mantel shelf.

Have not set myself a timescale for completion as have loads of other projects on the go but would be lovely. Will post again soon – meanwhile happy stitching!

A visit to Bess of Hardwick

January 28, 2009November 2, 2011 stitchesoftime4 Comments

One of my personal heroines (if you can have one who has been dead for just over 400 years) is Bess of Hardwick. Regular readers of this blog will know that I have been to her house, Hardwick Hall, many times to look at the embroidery there and have two fabulous books about the embroidery collection. My lovely children bought me another biography of her life for Xmas .

I admire Bess not only for her embroidery but also for being a powerful and successful woman in the Elizabethan era when that was not easy. I have just been watching the Tudors second series on DVD and it really brings it home to you how little say in their lives most women had.

So I was really pleased a couple of weeks ago to be able to visit Bess’s tomb , which is in Derby Cathedral. It was very special for me to be able to go and pay my respects to such a wonderful embroiderer.

The pictures below are of her tomb with close ups of the crown and dress.

For an overview of Bess’s life click here and the Hall itself is well worth a visit – there is a a link to the National Trust page giving details about opening times etc in the first part of this post.

I will leave you with a few pictures of the embroidery you can see on a visit to the hall – just a few of many wonderful things!

One of the marvellous heraldic pieces — One of the marvelous heraldic pieces

Off to sunny Spain!

December 19, 2008January 12, 2010 stitchesoftimeLeave a comment

We are off in a couple of days so this will be the last post for a week or so. Mum says it is very warm there (hurrah!!) so we will hopefully be having our now traditional picnic on the beach on Xmas Day and barbecue. We are also having a big family meal on Christmas Eve at the local Chinese buffet which the children love. You chose your uncooked food and the chef cooks it for you and you can watch. The children are always most impressed at how he remembers which order belongs to them.

They have been doing quite a bit of cooking this week using the new raclette and the fajita grill. It is excellent for me as saves loads of time. I just prepare the meat and veg and we cook it at the table. Below is a pic of the raclette so that you can see it in action.

The small pan handles can be seen sticking out from under the grill and there is one on top warming oil ready to be filled with meat and veg. Jake is now very happy and plans to have raclette and fajitas once a week each at least! Note that is my plate there – healthy salad (the kids don’t do that sort of stuff!).

Have also been busy finishing off Xmas stitching – up till 1 am this morning but cannot post pics till have given the gift. This project was a bit of an experiment but I am very pleased with the result and will post pics when I return.

Will leave you with another pic of glamorous daughter – this was taken on a night out recently for a friend’s 18th birthday. Poor Ellen is not 18 till March and can’t wait. Neither can we – she is taking me and Uncle Ben for a drink!

Ellen, Charlotte and Maxine - Happy 18th Charlotte! — Ellen, Maxine and Charlotte - Happy 18th Charlotte!

Optimism

June 26, 2008January 12, 2010 stitchesoftime1 Comment

Well apologies for the lack of recent posts – two and a half weeks later and the builders are still here – I am still cleaning every night (after work, start at 8.30 finish about 10 eat at 10.30 and fall asleep on computer after 3 glasses of wine at 11.30!). However (and she is probably tempting fate by saying this!) it really all should be done soon.

Last bits of electrical work are to be done tomorrow and then two last bits of plastering and it is all done bar the decorating ,fitting the bathroom, building the new furniture, restoring the garden and working out where we put all the boxes of stuff we moved out during the build!
Not been the best time to do this what with the work situation and all but today is a very significant day in the career of. I have just taught my last evening class. Next week I have one group doing presentations so I have no preparation to do for that and that is it – after 17 years! It will be so good (and very weird) to not have to rush around in the morning sorting out tea and remember all the things that need to be got ready. I will be here at home most of the week and even when I do have to go to work will return while there is still daylight!
In light of this I have just got some new business cards done and am going to be fitting out the new study/workroom over the next few weeks with storage for all of the fabric that currently resides all over the house.Am getting very excited now – seems a long long time since I made the decision in Feb and we are now nearly there.
Do not have any pics from build ready to upload but will leave you with another nice piece from my historical embroidery collection.

This is the most wonderful reproduction of Elizabethan blackwork – I have forgotten who the embroider is whose site I got it from but I think it was a member of the Society for Creative Anachronism (SCA) based in the USA as I have visited a lot of their wonderful sites. They have some very talented embroiderers in their groups.If you are the clever person who did this, or know them please leave me a comment so that I can credit you properly.

Hopefully normal blogging service will be resumed soon!

Another exciting acquisition, some religious art and some Tudor textiles!

March 9, 2008November 14, 2011 stitchesoftime1 Comment

As I mentioned in my last post I have been collecting textiles from EBay and had just got some beautiful crewelwork. I was on EBay earlier on this week and one of my fave sites to go and browse on had the most wonderful item ever. Normally this seller Antique Textiles and More has some wonderful bits of goldwork and embroidery but this week she had a full priest’s cope in the most wonderful purple fabric with amazing flower embroidery. Well it was on Buy It Now and I had to rescue it ! Just look at these pics and you will see why I am so excited!

It has some wear to the lilies on the back of the cape that I will try and re-stitch but otherwise it is fantastic and I am so looking forward to it arriving – hopefully it will do tomorrow. It is obviously not medieval – the seller had it listed as 19th century and French – but it is still amazing. Most of the other things she sells are only pieces but a whole cope is fantastic. Do go and view her site and have a look as there are some wonderful examples of embroidery there. I can see I will be visiting again for more birthday and Xmas ideas!

I am very into ecclesiastical textiles as befits my role as a nun (see medieval re-enactment page for pics of me in role) and love visiting churches and looking at altar frontals and preists’ garments. This is of course if the children will allow me in churches – I sometimes get limited to one a day unless I can sneak off while they are not looking! As well as the textiles I love looking at the religious art – below is a fantastic piece which is is the cathedral in Oriheula, Spain.

This following picture was taken in the cathedral in Valencia, Spain which I visited last July.

As well as the wall art the cathedral in Valencia has the most wonderful ceilings with angels playing musical instruments. This photo only gives you a tiny impression of how magnificent it is.

I bought some prints of the ceiling which I have hung in my bedroom. When we moved house a couple of years ago we decorated the room with a medieval theme so that we could display some of our wonderful textiles, boxes etc – I will post some pics of that at some point.

I have also seen some wonderful textile pieces in museums such as the famous Syon cope which is in the V and A museum in London. Below is a small picture of the cope which really does not do it justice at all.

I have spent some time this week looking for embroidery qualifications to do next year, once I am half time at work and I come back from my trip to Nepal. I have been trying for the last year to find a class that I can attend to do my City and Guilds’ embroidery but cannot find one close enough to home. So I have decided to do a distance learning course and have been doing some research on what is available. If anyone has done this and has any feedback on the course they did please leave a comment as that would be helpful – or if you know of somewhere that teaches it is West Yorkshire.I have found some Creative Textiles classes at local adult education centres that are just for leisure without exams that I will enrol on next year as I find it helps to work with others and share ideas.

I have also treated myself to a wonderful book about the textiles at Hardwick Hall in Derbyshire which I have visited many times. Hardwick was the home of Bess of Hardwick a contemporary of Elizabeth 1st and sometime stitching companion of Mary Queen of Scots and is full of the most amazing 16th century embroidery. My new book is a catalogue of the textiles – pic of the cover and link below. I have only just started reading it but it has a wealth of detail about the textiles.

The Embroideries of Hardwick Hall – Santina Levey

I also have another book by the same author called an Elizabethan Inheritance which is about the general running of the household and the costs of the textiles. The pic below is just a small sample of the wonderful work that is in the hall so do visit if you can.If not the books are a fab present!

I have been watching ‘The Tudors’ on DVD which was an Xmas present and we went today to see ‘The Other Boleyn Girl’ at the cinema. The costumes for both were so wonderful and I would love the chance to see them so if any knows of any exhibitions please leave a comment. I have just found this web site about ‘The Tudors’ series which has some wonderful images in the gallery if you are interested in this era of costume. I am thinking about doing a piece based around ideas of blackwork and Catherine of Aragon (who is credited with introducing it to England) so as soon as I get the huge pile of marking I have to do finished I will start on the research for that!

I will leave you with two final pictures – one of Maria Doyle Kennedy who I think is fantastic as Catherine of Aragon in the series –

and one of the Queen herself.

What I always find rather pleasing (being a woman!) is despite Henry divorcing Catherine in his desperation to get a male heir his second daughter Elizabeth eventually gained the throne and reigned for a very long time, only superseded by Queen Victoria (another woman) who was of course recently beaten in that record by our present Queen Elizabeth. Kind of makes you believe in divine retribution doesn’t it girls!

Stitches of Time

I have created this blog to share my interest in all forms of stitching, quilting, sewing, knitting, medieval re-enactment and costume making – particularly my love of historical embroidery. I also love travelling,especially when it also involves any of my other interests.

Category: embroidery