Lovely People at the day school

Well, I taught the 'V is for Vessels' day school for the Suffolk East Embroiderers Guild near Ipswich and what a lovely bunch they were!!

I taught a different class there about a year or so ago and they were lovely then too. Only two of the students were the same as last time but as a group they are very dynamic and it makes a great day for me as the tutor. I can't put my finger on what it is that makes this group so different from others but they are very experimental and happy to just try things out and see what happens. Even the beginners!!

I forgot to take photos while they were overprinting the dyed vilene - we were all so busy it didn't enter my head. I eventually remembered once they started cutting out their pieces - probably 'cos they didn't need me so much!

This piece was dyed by Clive and it is so gorgeous I wanted it for myself! I wouldn't have overprinted this one but thought some chunky machine stitched lines would look good. Isn't it great??

I managed to get photos of these two before they were cut out too.

Having done all the printing before lunch we then got on with cutting out. Some people used my templates and others adapted them to make their own vessel shape.
Once cut out, each piece had to have zigzag stitch all the way round. The last stitching has to be done by hand and if the zigzag stitching isn't there the vilene can tear.

So after the zigzag stitching the base can be attached with a nice wide zigzag stitch.

That's the only bit of construction you can do with the machine though.

Once it is at this stage you can do a bit of machine work if you want - too much and the vilene starts to degrade if you stitch over and over in the same place.

Alternatively you can put beads on like Liz did on this one . . . . . .

She did this SOOOooooo fast!! My beading is pitifully slow in comparison - sad really.

Nobody got completely finished by the time 4pm rolled round but a good few of them were well on the way.I had a lovely time and they said they did too.

I haven't been looking for teaching work but will probably start doing so - I'm open to invitations locally but do need to let groups know that I'm back in circulation again.

Give me a shout if you are interested in a course.

xx