Made & Making Creative Workshop

 

You never quite know what is going to happen in a full-on, creative Stitchscape workshop. There is no set theme, I just frisbee out my own Stitchscapes, lay out my sketchbooks and pop a couple of baskets of fabrics on the table and let the ladies (still no men!) work their own creative magic!

It's so lovely to watch the process of it all happening - they troop in, slightly nervous and unsure about whether they're in the right place, or what is going to happen. In this case I also had two ladies turn up out of the blue expecting to join in without pre-booking and with a major case of crossed wires. It was quite awkward for me actually because I don't have any control over the booking system, for Made & Making I am brought in as an external tutor and on this day I was also on my own running the studio.

I receive the list of names from the lovely Louise a couple of weeks to a week in advance so I have a register and can make sure I have enough for everyone on the day, so if you would like to come to a class at Made & Making, you do need to book and pre-pay online, we can't accept anyone just turning up. Unfortunately the two ladies were rather upset but it would not have been fair to me, or those in the class, especially as the two ladies had got all kinds of details wrong about the day. I have no idea where the wires, crossed or not, came from. 

Anyway, once the coffees, teas and pleasantries have been sorted, my usual routine is to introduce myself and go over the expectations of the day and how to start off a hoop. I don't take packs as such to these workshops, you literally choose the fabrics you like because you could end up with anything. In this particular workshop we ended up with woodlands, cliffs, a lighthouse, a fringed sunset...well, you'll see if you scroll down. 

Throughout the session I'm constantly moving around, checking in with everyone, helping them put together colours and fabric layers at the start, demonstrating stitches and rummaging through the trimmings to explain ways of creating extra texture and just throwing ideas out into the ether. I can't physically stitch the hoops for everyone so most of my job involves saying things like; "why don't you try adding this together with that, ooh and then you could layer that over the top" or, "maybe we try using a bit of red down here to bring the colour down and balance your hoop as you have that reddish tone on the top". 

If asked whether I think something is good enough, I try always to counter with "well, what do you think?" Usually someone's instincts are right first time with their own work, or I can see where they are going with it but can make suggestions through experience of alternatives to get what they're trying to achieve. 

(How cute is that lighthouse? All beautifully satin stitched!)

People really need to have more belief in themselves. I quite often talk about visiting the Tate Modern and other 'fine art' exhibitions and just being totally baffled by what is displayed as 'art'. One of the rooms in the Tate Modern (the last and only time I visited it) was a toilet. A white, unplumbed-in toilet in the centre of a white room. As far as I can tell, the art was all in the little lofty description in the corner, rambling about the meaning behind it. That is the art of fiction and making up a story. It's also the art of confidence in b***sh**ing (excuse my french). 

Everyone, in every workshop I've held, has created pieces of art with acres more meaning, talent, skill, time, energy, learning....than that toilet. It haunts me. 

So if it's your first time, or your life's passion, anything you stitch in my workshops is beautiful. If you aren't sure about it, that's absolutely fine. You're learning and it doesn't have to be perfect. 

 

The lady who created the above hoop made a fantastic example of people seeing different things in the same image. Her inspiration was the Seven Sisters (sort of where the coastguard cottages are but without the cottages themselves), but when we got the hoops together at the end so everyone could see their progress, several of them thought she had gone for a wonderful Tuscan/Italianate seascape. What do you see?

I think these hoops are absolutely stunning, everyone did a brilliant job and I'm hopeful that I'll be sent some finished photos! (Hint, hint, nudge, nudge.)

It was a lovely friendly day - participants often end up sitting outside together at lunchtime and sharing their stories and backgrounds. I love the sense of community creative crafting and the arts can bring, and there is a lot of it at Made & Making - it's definitely one of my favourite places!