I am offering workshops with Alexandra Waylett in her Elm Farm studios in Marks Tey in 2022.
All details and bookings on her website
(workshop 1 in April is sold out)
‘The hare and the moon’
In this workshop you will produce a unique piece of textile art.
Inspired by the array of examples of different approaches to hand stitch and fabric manipulation that you will be shown, this workshop will allow you to gain the confidence to assemble your own collage of fabrics and bring them to a cohesive surface through stitch. It will also include the development of charming hand stitched motifs to apply onto a ground.
You will have the opportunity to select from a number of digitally printed motifs from Nigel’s drawings or for those who are confident with drawing you will be shown how to use your imagery. For this collage fabrics will be provided but these can be expanded with your own collection of your favourite fabrics to make something very personal. These can be offcuts from old clothes, damaged pieces of pre-embroidered vintage table cloths, handkerchiefs or fragment.s left over from previous projects.
Myths and folklore surrounding the relationship of the Hare and the Moon abound through many different cultures. From Mexican Creation myths to English folklore of witch’s familiars, they are a constant source of fascination for Nigel. Key elements of his practice are using cloth and image to tell stories. He begins with beautifully observed animals and birds that are digitally printed onto cloth and meticulously hand stitched. These motifs are combined with grounds of fabric collage that are manipulated with the quilting technique of differential shrinkage. These form layers of materials with different qualities where the stitch acts as a resist when the piece is washed. This allows the more densely woven fabrics to wrinkle and crinkle as the other layers shrink more, producing a unique surface.
In this intensive 2 day workshop we will spend the first day creating fabric collages as grounds to be worked in the differential shrinkage technique. This will develop into the second day where you will explore slow hand stitching as mark making to describe both form and texture of your own hare. Other digitally printed elements such as moons and birds will be provided for you to work with.
Day1
We are all familiar with quilting as a technique to layer fabrics together and through stitching to create a new material with different properties.
Differential Shrinkage is a form of quilting where the ‘sandwich’ of top and bottom fabric exploits a lighter weight cotton scrim as a filling rather than wadding. The ‘quilted ‘ effect only becomes apparent after washing. Using the nature of the materials the cotton scrim will shrink in the wash with the open weave becoming denser. The stitches secure the other fabrics at specific points and as the top fabric is more densely woven this will puff up between the lines of stitching. Inspired by traditional ‘Kantha’ embroidery the rhythms of the stitches and how close they are together can produce some startling results. The process has a unique charm and an organic feel.The final fabrics often have far more drape,‘bounce’ and movement than traditional quilting techniques. This works well when different fabric types are patched and pieced together with the shrink effect unifying them as a new material.
The techniques shown are inspired by other cultural and ethnic textile philosophies such as Kantha, Pojagi and Boro, where the life story of the cloth is inextricably linked with its new purpose. Hopefully this workshop will help us all to consider using existing fabrics in our practice as well as our constant love of buying new !
In this session we will :
work with hand and/or machine embroidery (free and set pattern stitches) with different fabrics and different patterns to sample a number of effects.
Understand the principles of the technique through hands on experimentation.
Generate stitch patterns and structure (image and pattern)
Working with existing printed imagery either as motif or texture.
Day 2
Using either the provided digitally printed hand drawn motifs, or working directly from your own wildlife sketches we will look at how to layer hand stitched to create texture and form before applying them to your ground.
In this session we will :
work with simple hand embroidery to create the hare and moon motifs.
These can be expanded to work with other hand drawn images provided by Nigel or indeed to develop your own drawings into stitch.
What you need to bring:
The essential materials will be provided.
In order for your work to be personal and unique it is advisable that you bring along a bundle of fabrics that you are passionately interested in working with. Colours and surface qualities that you love are important. These can have personal significance to you or be finds from ebay/charity shops. They can be scraps from alterations, old clothes that are beyond repair, charity shop finds etc.
A variety of hand embroidery threads in a colour palette that you feel compliments your fabric selection.
Basic sewing kit including hand needles, pins, and fabric scissors. If you want to work from your own drawings please bring these along.