Friday 1 July 2016

June 2016

Our small group of five met at the Powerhouse Museum this month. After coffee, our group headed the the Collette Dinnigan exhibition where we spent several hours oohing and aahing over the displays.

We had lively discussions about construction techniques, luscious fabrics and accessories as we wound our way through the exhibition. The ensembles ranged from the beautifully simple to the outrageous over-the-top. A constantly changing montage of models in different outfits was playing on one huge wall space to compliment the static displays.

Sheila especially liked looking at the story board displays. Three sides in a "U" shaped room were filled ceiling to floor with inspiration ephemera, fabric samples, buttons, ribbons, laces and such.




The museum presented paper dolls and paper ephemera at the end so that visitors could make their own designs. These were cleverly mounted on a mini catwalk for all to see.

Then it was off to lunch and show and tell.


Susan's scarf is made from a silk/merino mix yarn, from a fair trade group from Uruguay, which she found at her local wool shop in Pennant Hills (Sydney). The pattern is one that Susan made up herself. The body of the scarf consists of two treble crochets with a one chain space, while each end has  two rows of treble crochet and a fringe. The fringe consists of two rows of double crochet, the second with an addition of long chain loops. Susan found it easy to crochet a nice scarf with a lovely yarn and a simple pattern. Her treble crochet may be unconventional, but when she is making up her own pattern, she can make up her own stitch.


Sheila had made a number of bookmarks using off cuts from fabric samples. The stitch used is one that she learned at the recent Convenor's meeting  held at Newcastle. The stitch was taught by the  Newcastle Group. The flowers are stitched by running the thread through a small piece of knitting ribbon, and taking the stitch down in the same spot. Three pieces of ribbon create a simple flower. The ribbon was hand dyed by Sheila.

Lunch afforded some photographic opportunities for inspiration purposes.



There was also time to look at a selection of ceramics from the museum's collection. This work caught Sheila's eye, but in her excitement, failed to take note of the artist.


The day ended with afternoon tea. We are all looking forward to our July meeting with the intention of meeting in the Southern Highlands for a touch of winter and a large fire to keep us warm.

Note:- This blog post was produced with great help by our member Sheila.

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