Made & Making Non-Autumn

It feels like ages since I was last at Made & Making! I think I was last here in April time working on seascapes and 'general' creative Stitchscapes where anything goes. It's such a lovely place to come to and I always feel a little thrill and sense of privilege at being trusted with all of the codes to get in and having the studio all to myself! Of course it's also a little scary too as, as was the case on Saturday, I can be the only tutor there all day so it's up to me to let myself in and get the lights and radio on, then it's also up to me to wash up, sweep the floors, turn everything off and lock up again! 

It was a nice compact class with six ladies in (come on gentlemen, where are you all? You can embroider too you know!), again with mixed skill levels and a mix of ages this time too which was fun. We were meant to be doing autumn themed Stitchscapes and I was expecting lots of trees, but actually things took a turn and we ended up with barely any trees at all - and the colours don't look overly autumnal but I suppose even at the beginning stages of autumn the colours may not have yet turned. 

I love the bold colours of the sunset in the above hoop. Her final vision is to turn that semi circle of dark grey felt into a shadowed tree silhouette and have embroidered leaves coming down over her piece, pushing those bright colours to the back which will be really bold and interesting. We chatted about using long lines of wavy fly stitches (which would have to be worked upside down in this case) and alternating between black and grey colour threads for the different fronds to give an element of light and dark - especially as the darkest felt I had with me was the charcoal grey so to have only black leaves might seem a little strange. 

She had come with her daughter who is currently studying textiles at secondary school and who created the hoop above. Both of them left a little early as they had reached a good stopping point so I didn't manage to grab a photo of what they'd achieved by the end - these images are both from the halfway, lunchtime stop. 

I can tell you that the daughter's hoop ended up with embroidered rain in it which was really cool! I'm not entirely sure that she enjoyed herself as much as she thought she was going to. It's a funny one; I also studied textiles at school, college and university and 'textiles' is not the same as hand embroidery. I think she had assumed that it would all happen for her and be amazing but then she struggled a little with some french knots worked up right near to the hoop and after that she almost lost a bit of her oomph and became slightly nonchalant. 

Actually, what she created was absolutely fab. No one has stitched raindrops into a Stitchscape before to my knowledge and it looked brilliant! Her confidence had been a bit knocked though and we couldn't bring it back to what it had been sadly. I really hope that she carries on with her hoop at home and makes it so that she is pleased with it, rather than being worried about what others think (not that that is easy to do for a teenage girl, I've been there!). 

We had lots of fun with trimmings in this workshop though. I had stocked up with some more unusual ones from the-stitchery in Lewes and there were narrow decorative ribbons, wonky ric racs, rosebud ric racs, mini pom poms, waxed cotton cords and all sorts of things. The rosebud ric rac was really popular and also exactly the right colours to fit in with the chosen fabrics so I'm pleased I grabbed some of that (I kept a little bit of the blue/green colour for myself too). Look how beautifully it goes with the blue brushed cotton in the hoop below, and the floral ditsy in the hoop beneath that, then the navy and burgundy version with the colours of the fabrics in the hoop below that!

The lovely lady who stitched the hoop above was called Liz, and she remarked to me what an amazing difference the embroidery does actually make to the fabrics. Her plain green fabric behind her trees is just that, boring and plain (but a lovely olive colour), but now that she's started to add seed stitch to it and those gorgeous little french knots, it's turned it into a whole other world! The seed stitches cast little shadows and dimples, even though they've been colour matched so they don't stand out in a shouty way. It just gives it life!

The hoop below was inspired by an offcut of a dress that Rebecca brought in with her. It looks like a hem that's been cut off so the fabric itself is folded which was good because it's a fairly thin devoré so where there isn't the velvet pattern, it's much more see through and needed that extra thickness. The colours are lovely though and we've picked out the yellow tones of the leaves with the yellow ditsy floral, but then if you move the velvet fabric, where it catches the light there are other purpley/mauve colours which have gone into the sky. Each time you move the hoop the colours slightly change which is beautiful. The cream lace helps to balance everything with the white background of the top leaf print fabric and the white in the daisies at the bottom. 

The lady who created the hoop below, Paula, was very interesting to talk to. She currently has some extra time on her hands and has been doing all sorts of different creative courses which sound wonderful; screen printing, watercolour painting, textile art in various forms. She is waiting for a legal leases and other bits to complete on a gallery space that she is opening up in Brighton, Kemp Town, which will be called Pretty Neat Gallery, selling seconds, misprints and imperfect artist prints or makes which they wouldn't otherwise sell as 'best'. Sometimes accidents make the best pieces because they can come with stories, be totally unique or be the spark of inspiration for a follow up piece.

For her Stitchscape she was using the felts to create different textures and depths, contrasting them against her cotton fabrics which is lovely. I like how she has left so much calico at the top for the sky as well. Shine out bright calico!

So, these hoops may not be the autumn hoops I'd thought we'd end up with at the end of the day, but they sure are pretty, and unique to everyone.