Next Meeting: April 16th. "Upcycling" with Chris Mitchell

 Our speaker at the last meeting, fabric weaver Richard Smith, described how Richard's family company, E&S Smith Ltd, manufactured and traded in the heart of the Yorkshire weaving industry in Bradford between 1935 and 2005. The mill acted as a contract weaver of Jacquard furnishing fabrics for decorative furnishing companies, hotel groups and cruise liners. Over the years, Richard collected an extensive archive of woven textile patterns which were translated by craftsmen onto special graph paper called point papers. Richard’s  Point Paper Art Company has selected designs from these collections to breathe new life into this historical textile craft. A fabulous and interesting afternoon with so many samples to look at and admire. A big thank you to Richard and we do appreciate how many heavy boxes you had to bring!

Our next meeting on April 16th, will be led by Chris Mitchell and is themed "Upcycling".

Recycling is a hot topic at the moment, and many people are very keen to stop buying new clothes only to throw away old ones. So we are going to have a look at some ideas to upcycle things to give them a new look. Lots of fashion magazines are promoting the same idea, so let us be fashion setters too! Here are a few ideas for starters, but please do bring along any thing that you have to share with others, from re-used fabrics to altered clothes and accessories.

Stitching in the Dales, May 7th - 9th, £175,  a three day stitching event in Grassington.

 With our tutor Laura Edgar, we will be creating a coastal scene focussing on colour, texture, movement, and light. We will be manipulating vintage and recycled fabrics with hand embroidery techniques, using fabric and stitch as paint and pencil. There is still one place available and it can be secured by using the contact form on the Blog.