A year at Warwickshire Stitchers

You will have noticed that i do not do much dress making these days, which is a pity because i love doing it. I dont need any more clothes, but i do need to stitch. I came across Warwickshire Stitchers at the Compton Verney Textile Fair in 2022. Each year they take over the chapel to display what they have been doing in the previous 12 months, either through the group, or individually. I joined, soon after i moved to Warwickshire, and when my stitching commitments to the National Trust were completed, late last year.

It may seem strange to say that Warwickshire Stitchers is very much for my own pleasure, but i did say that not long ago! Of course it is! I now volunteer for four organisations, some of which have been quite time consuming, and some where i have taken on responsibilities. Warwickshire Stitchers is very much for my own pleasure!

They meet either in person, or on Zoom, every month, often with a Friday night talk and a Saturday workshop. Every quarter there is a Members Day, which is part of the membership; the other months take the form of low cost workshops with a wide range of textile artists. I can take or leave the techniques. One workshop i was a bit unsure about the method, but i loved it; i was so much looking forward to machine embroidery, but concluded that i was not very good at it. And somewhere, i have lost my sample from that workshop….

I havent blogged any of this before, so here is some of what i have been making.

These little owls are a combination of fabric paint and textured embroidery. sticthed onto canvas and bondaweb (or similar) and backed with felt. I have gone on to make a number of similar objects and some small felt animals that will form a mobile for my latest great neice, who is still too young to care much. No rush!

The next sample is as a result of a Zoom workshop Fantasy Florals, with Jessica Grady, using a range of felts, fabrics, beads and other materials (in my case. a hair tie and some garden wire) to make a 3D arranagment.

I loved doing this, although it is still sitting around in the Craft Room because i am not sure about the best way to present it. Somehow, the square fabric, round lace and wooden hoop are part of the piece. I would quite like to do more if i could decide what to do with the first one!

At a face to face Members’ Day, we were encouraged to create a rural scene from fabric strips and trimmings. I have often looked at urban scenes in exhibitions and thought, “i can do that”. So i did. Except that i am not particularly keen on the first attempt, with or without the over-sized butterfly, so i did a second, based on a photograph of what some might call ‘the back of Packwood House’ (it used to be the front). Whilst the result might look rather simple and maybe a bit boring, it is s good representation of the west facade, garden represented.

This made a tiny in-road into my massive stash of leftover fabric!

Most recently we have been making Scandi themed Christmas decorations to hang at a Tree competition at a church in Leamington Spa. This Members’ Day was immediately followed by several wet days, and the WhatsApp group seems to suggest that there are many many decorations to be hung. My contribution will be four two-sided decorations.

These were quick and fun, but as i like playing with colour and texture, i found myself being very restrained to using only red and white.

These decorations will be the only examples of my work displayed this year, even though the facility to display at Compton Verney each year was one of the pursuaders for me to join. I will be stewarding at Compton Verney, and perhaps pursuading others to join in too.

And then there is the kit that i bought for the Pat Archibald workshop, and then realised that i had not booked it, and could not attend. “I’ll make it myself”, i thought, rather liking other people’s results.

I have opened the pack, about 6 months after purchasing it. I read the above, and studied some diagrams that are included. I will be ‘ready to go’, one wet day in the winter, but how far i will get is another matter!

There have been some spin-offs, which i will blog seperately, and maybe include the free motion machine stitching sample, if i can find it!