A fascinating talk by Sarah based on the clothing itemised in a 1624(?) will of a spinster of means, comfortable off, but not noble or excessively wealthy. She showed us slides picking out the development of outfits from the late sixteenth century into the early seventeenth century. Wrought linens were the underclothes that had been embroidered or “wrought “.
Natural Collections 8th March 10-4
Workshops are held at the United Reformed Church Hall, Brookhouse Road, Alsager, ST7 2PA.
The cost for members is £40
Taking observations from nature Liz will explore and experiment with an eclectic mix of media, materials and techniques. Using wrapping and binding with fine hand dyed threads and fabrics, hand stitching for embellishment along with fragments of paper and print she will show you how to combine with wire to give structure, form and shape.
Liz provides a kit with threads , fabrics, prepared wire stems and a print out.
You need to bring small sharp scissors, any thread or fabric you might like to include (only tiny snippets) and your lunch.
The next meeting is a talk by Sarah Thursfield entitled Wrought Linens.
Sarah studies and teaches the cut and construction of clothing from wrapped cloth to fitted pattern and from bone needle to sewing machine.
Her research field is late prehistoric and medieval dress, also the development of linen garments into the nineteenth century.
She is the author of ‘The Medieval Tailor’s Assistant, Common Garments 1100 - 1480’
Sarah has been supplying clothing for re-enactment for many years. A professional craftsman and an amateur historian she uses archaeological and historical sources to reconstruct clothing technology from prehistory onwards. She regularly teaches lecturers, heritage professionals and re-enactors, and contributes to costume publications.
We meet regularly on the first Tuesday of the month upstairs in Alsager Library.
We try to arrive at 1.45 so we are ready for a prompt 2pm start. We generally have a sales table and details of the next workshop. Workshops are held on a Saturday in the United Reformed Church Hall, Alsager, 10am to 4pm.
Really good workshop with lots of fantastic fabric to choose from. Nikki’s instructions were great and her work a real inspiration. We nearly all managed to have our creatures almost finished and on a wire frame by the end of the session.
Work in progress
Ready to take
Fascinating talk about fantastic animals made with an incredible mixture of fabrics and plastics. As well as the talk and accompanying slide show Nikki brought many examples of her work. We were truly inspired ready for the workshop on Saturday.
Nikki Parmenter will be holding a workshop entitled Small Worlds on Saturday 8th February.
Workshops are held in the United Reformed Church Hall, Brookhouse Road, Alsager, ST7 2AP from 10am to 4pm and cost for members is £40.
Details of Nikki’s work can be seen on nikkiparmenterartworks.com
List of requirements:
Wool to wrap around the wire rings which Nikki will bring
Padding/wadding
Sewing machine with free embroidery foot
Sewing kit and a range of threads
Strips of 2cm wide patterned fabrics to wrap around the wire rings
12 inch square piece of fabric to back the piece
Embellishments such as beads, sequins, etc
Our next meeting will be on Tuesday 4th February with a talk by Nikki Parmenter entitled “Travels with Textiles”
