Embroidered letters - a fund raising effort for the Embroiderers' Guild NSW Building Fund

Stitchers Plus have been involved in a major fund raising effort for the Guild building fund -  it is a member wide effort -   we are stitching letters to go on a notice board that is actually a tree form.   The work is has been commissioned by the City of Canada Bay and will stand in the Concord Library

You are invited to join us and stitch as many letters or numbers as you wish - here is the information that is going out to members:

Call to arms ... we need you...

Yes another fund raiser!  But this time we all get to help doing something we enjoy!  We get to stitch.   Fancy that, a fund raiser that actually involves stitching.   The Guild has been commissioned to create 4 installations at the Concord Library … with the commission comes the opportunity to raise a significant sum for the building fund.  We can say more once the documentation is finalised.

What are we doing?  Many, many embroidered letters and numbers.

Letters and numbers - embroidered and embellished fabric tiles.  The tiles will be used by the Concord Library staff to create messages on a 3D tree form that is over a metre tall.   

 

What is needed?

First, we need lower case letters.    

What letters will I do?

How about the letters in your name.  

What next?

Choose a wool, linen or felt fabric in any colour (but not fluorescent please)

Cut your fabric 15 cm square.   

A 10cm (4 inch hoop) is perfect for lower case letters.   ( The ‘e’ above was stitched in a 10 cm hoop).  

Lower case letters like ‘a’ ‘c’  ‘x’ should be about 8 cm high.   Letters with a tail like ‘g’, ‘j’ or those that stand tall like ‘f” and ‘t’  should be a little longer/taller.   We trust you to make the right decision.

What technique will I use?

Any stitch or technique that you choose.   As little or as much bling as you wish – beads, gold thread and small spangles are all great. 

Are you a patchworker?   No reason why you can’t create a tile and embellish it too.

Don’t crowd your work.  Remember though that we want the letters and numbers to “pop” and be readable at a distance.  Thread, colour and texture will all have a role to play.    Step back from work occasionally and check that your letter is clear.

I have other commitments.  How long will it take me?

The letter “e” above took three and a half hours whilst the stitcher watched (or half watched) television.

I have a question.  Who will I contact?

Ring Donna on 0407 820 416 

or send an email to her at textiletea@optusnet.com.au

I’ve finished my letters .  Where do I send them?     

The Embroiderers’ Guild NSW Inc.

PO Box 109 

Concord West  NSW 2138.

Australia

Or drop them off at 76 Queen Street, Concord West,

spend a little money at the Threaded Needle and

check out the most recent exhibition.

Can I see what others have done?

Yes.   Jaci, our webmistress, will put photos of all your letters 

and numbers on a gallery page on the Guild website shortly.

Let us know what you are doing.

So we can keep track on who is doing what please let us know what letters you have decided to and your technique of choice.  Ring Donna on 0407 820 416 or send an email to her at textiletea@optusnet.com.au

We also need capital letters and punctuation as well.  A further call will go out for these shortly.

  

Whats in it for me?

• A fun way to fund raise.   
• A chance to sample that stitch or technique you’ve always wanted to try. 
• An opportunity to share (exhibit) your work and be inspired by others.
• A significant donation to the building fund for little effort.

  

There are over 1200 members of the Guild – if we each do 3-4 letters the library will have an a notice board like no other in the world!

Get stitching, experiment, play, tryout 
and, most importantly, enjoy.

April 2013

This month saw eight  members attending, &  Donna reporting on the Fine Devonshire Tea & Talk. Donna's hard work in organizing the event resulted in over $700 being donated to the building fund.

Last month Robyn issued a challenge to us all to find & work "Afghanistan Reverse Stitch". The above pic is Robyn's sample showing both sides of the working.

Robyn had finished her bag for the Post Box Challenge. Crazy pieced using her own hand dyed fabrics with commercial ones, the bag features surface stitching, including fly, buttonhole, running and couching stitches.

Donna had been seduced by a bargain transfer of vintage stitchery patterns. The patterns included an apple, a mushroom, and the above pears.

Sheila had been to a course with Kirsten Ingemar, producing the above beautiful hand dyed pieces of silk.
From the top:-
1. Pinoak dyed in iron water.
2. Green silk clamped & dyed in Sydney red gum & copper.
3. Gum leaves dyed in iron water
4. Orange colour is air moss dyed in iron & water
5 & 6. Stringy gum bark calligraphic marks dyed in iron & water.

I wonder what exciting things will happen over the next month. Please come backin May to see what we have been up to.

August 2012

There were nine of us at our August meeting, all with show & tell a-plenty. This was the last meeting day before our pieces for the "Changing of the Seasons" challenge was due in. The challenge is open to all members of the Guild and will displayed at the City of Canada Bay Library, Concord Branch in October 2012.

Jenny had finished her "Changing of the Seasons" Challenge piece, titled "Seasons of Sneezes". Above is only a small snippet of the full piece which features Reticella & creative modern black-work. The full piece can be viewed at the Exhibition in October.

Susan had also finished her entry '"Memory of Trees- Autumn". A 3 part stitched canvas hanging, expressing her delight in the ephemeral beauty of autumn.

Annette was also getting ready for an exhibition, "Embroidery - Beyond Fancywork", to be held at the Mittagong RSL, Friday 24th & Sat 25th Aug 10am - 4pm. Her piece, the fillet lace lace above, was started in a class with Margaret Morgan through the Australian lace Guild.The piece is worked on 14 count purchased net in perle 12 thread.

b

The book page above is also by Annette. "Ghosts of Past Embroidery" has evolved from a class with Kath Wilkinson during Summer School which  included converting unfinished embroidery into book pages. The above book page features withdrawn & pulled thread work, as well as a small piece of Brazillian embroidery. The background to all the pages is a French fabric from mid 1800's old undergarments, threadbare & patched.

Robyn had finished her Thracian embroidery roll. Started in a workshop with Allison Snepp, the piece will be on display at the "Coral Calypso" exhibition. This exhibition is showcasing works of the Panania Group & will be held at the Padstow Babtist Community Church, Friday 24th & Saturday 25th August, 2012.

Robyn had also finished the beading on her leather, ready to be made into a phone case.

Donna had been inspired to make this journal cover after attending a weekend workshop with Judith Langdon. It features her practiced blanket stitch variations.

Gerri had been having fun with twirls & swirls, knitting with bright coloured yarns with friends in mind. these scarves were introduced to her by her sister & will be presents ready for Christmas.

Cathy had to been to Context Art Forum with Kim Tittichai & produced this waterfall. It features painted lutradur, stitched, burnt & manipulated to form the waterfall.

While she was at the Forum, it was raining, inspiring this piece of painted vlysafix with the addition of hydrangea flowers, foils & metallic leaf.

So much to see & do. Come back next month for some more inspiration

June 2011

There were only five members present this month, and as the leader of our proposed exercise for the day was MIA, Wendy & Donna led an impromptu stitching exercise using a piece by Karma Victoria Baines as inspiration. A great day of stitching was had by all who were present.

Below are the pieces the girls came up with.

Sheila

Robyn

Donna

Cathy

Wendy

A collaboration of all the pieces for the day

Show & tell brought the following

Donna's Canvas doll with shells

Donna's applique from the Cook Islands

Cathy's piece from a workshop at Orange with Janet De Boer.

June '09

There were only five of us attending on Saturday but we still had fun. Our design exercise this month was on wordplay, taken from "Design Synetics" by Nicolas Roukes. Sheila had prepared two groups of words & we each picked one word from each group which were then used as inspiration.

Robyn's designs from the words "Illuminated - keys" & "Twisted target"

Jenny's "Mechanized -map".

For show & tell, Libby had been working on "A Garden for Clarice" featuring lots of tiny appliques.

Jenny had been practicing bobbin lace,

as well as working some crazy patchwork.

Robyn had been having fun with a computerized sewing machine & had made this bag featuring a digitized design in a metalic gold thread.

Sheila had finished this small quilt from her class at Fiber Forum,

stitched a small piece for a special project she is working on,

and made baskets from fabric strips following the directions in Cloth Paper Scissors Studio Issue.

Check us out again in a month's time to see what else we will get up to.

January Catch-Up

Our little group normally has a break between November & February because of Summer School courses being held at Guild HQ ( our meeting place), Christmas, New Year, and members being away due to schools & workplaces taking breaks. Some of us feel that this break is too long & try to get together for a catch-up. This year there were four of us with show & tell.

Robyn had been playing with applique & FME to produce this vibrant design from her own original sketches. It will eventually be made into a skirt.

Then there was the ethnic designed crewel work on linen, inspired by the central mother of pearl bead on a vintage skirt.

Sheila had attended the "Remembering Kathleen & Constance" workshop with Dr Susan Wood at Summer School. There were design exercises, with a theme of choice, in paper. In Sheila's words, "Fun, fun, fun."

I had been playing with some drawn thread designs for larger open areas & corners. All were worked using my own hand dyed threads.

There was also this book mark made from my own created fabric, using surface stiching & a tassel to decorate.

Susan had used a quote from Julia Cameron's book "Walking In This World" to stitch on this self desighned sampler. Started as part of the Australian Quaker Tapestry Project in 2006, it is finally finished. Each leaf has used a different stich. The leaves can be seen in more detail here.

There was also this piece of canvas work by Susan. Titled "Life's Journey", it is a reflection on all areas of life, and the fact that most things in life are not black & white.

Our official first meeting for the year will happen in February, when we look foreward to welcoming a new member.