Dear Emma Designs

 Some of us had a fabulous day with Cathy from Dear Emma Designs today. We were making fabric bowls. Cathy brought in some of her stunning work as inspiration:

We had a bit of a practise at free machining first - fiddling with tension and speed!

I have to say the tables in the hall weren't great - bit too bouncy which made accuracy a challenge. Once we'd got our eye in we then cut our pieces for the main outer and lining of the bowl and then set to work with our designs:

Then it was bond-a-web to anchor our shapes followed by machining. We didn't manage to complete our bowls in the session but left with instructions and we all thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. 

Photos of our efforts in various stages of completion.

Members not participating in the workshop were busy with their own projects:

Craven Museum visit

Thanks to Dee for her guest post about this month's meeting!

We were welcomed to Craven Museum by staff members Jenny and Megan, who started with a brief tour of the museum, pointing out items of particular interest in relation to textiles – ranging from a costume worn by a mill owner’s daughter and wedding outfits to a piece of cloth dating back 5,000 years.

We were then taken to the Education Room where we were given an interesting Powerpoint presentation about the textile related items stored in the museum and the resources they have access to.  The staff had also laid out several items of clothing from their stores which included a range of fashion through the ages, one of which was a beautiful silk wedding dress from the 1940s, owned by a titled lady, which had later been embellished with paints and beading by a maid.  Other items included shoes, baby clothes and table covers made in beautiful hand-made lace.  We spent some time inspecting the detail of these items before we were taken in small groups to the upstairs store room to see things not currently on display, such as samplers etc.

We thoroughly enjoyed our visit and are grateful to the museum staff for organising this bespoke  visit for us.

The afternoon was spent stitching back at the hall and some of the Skipton Castle squares appeared - sneaky peek below.

And hardanger from Gail's group...

Collage Boxes with Anne Brooke

We've had a great day today making collage boxes with Anne Brooke!               Anne brought loads of examples to inspire us and her stash of wallpaper and bit and pieces.

First job was laying out our collages and then stitching the sides together to make the box net. Then some free machine embroidery; Carolyn did a brilliant job at her first attempt - her darning foot was still in the plastic bag! I think we have a convert.

Then Some had stitch and finally turning it into a box with a handmade cord. We didn't all get finished but everyone thoroughly enjoyed themselves. 

Here's todays efforts in various stages of completeness. Thanks Anne.