Surface, Structure, Stitch at City Lit: Week 2

 It's several weeks ago now , but the second  class with Louise Baldwin  at City Lit was just as  exciting as the first .  The focus was on machine quilting/stitching  and as predicted , my major challenge was getting used to the  machines ( Bernina 1008 )  and  how they worked.  The dedicated  textile studio is very well equiped - I was looking around for where the power sockets were , they descend from the ceiling on pulleys ! 

 The session started with a review seated around a table of what we'd done the previous week  and  any  images or samples  we'd done for homework, a very useful  process. 

 We  then started off drawing shapes  and creating    designs for quilting 

 Louise had a variety of samples  showing the effect of  different  thicknesses  of waddings/ felt, slashing ( faux chenille) ; layering and making holes;  different fabrics.  

In a Powerpoint she showed work by Michael James, Penny Beres, Diana Harrison , Ester Bornemisza , Judith Denito Brown. Tim Harding, Vashali Oak

My first sample I used orange felt as the  wadding  and raided the scrap basket  for pieces of fabric  with colours and textures of shells,  using free motion quilting foot  to stitch lines

 For the 2nd sample  I used both the felt and  a very thick polyester wadding,  with scrim  and  upholstery samples, doing ' twiddles'  in different areas   leaving long threads  between them   

 She  demonstrated for me other properties of scrim - stretching it in a hoop then free machining  causing fabric to distort  like drawn thread work - definately one to try!  Other people were using a cording foot  to make corded lines and  a tailor tacking foot to make interesting large stitches and loops.  Definately  ones to add to my list  (  I've  checked and they  do them for my Bernina Activa 125) 

 I like to combine machine and hand stitching  so prepared a  more traditional sandwich of thin cotton wadding  with a calico backing and   applied some scrap fabric 'limpets'    and did some machine quilting  to secure them .   As I knew  I would miss the class the following week  , I had a chat with  Louise about  how I might  add hand stitching  ( basically try lots and cover the whole thing! )   

Wind Me In The Sea: moving in the breeze

I've been having a photoshoot in the garden of 'Wind Me In the Sea'  before  completing labels etc and posting it off to Heidelberg for the 7th European Quilt Triennial.  It's been a joy to watch it moving in the breeze ( like it did in Weymouth at an earlier stage)  before it's  constrained in the confines of a gallery, saying goodbye to it ( I won't see it again until Festival of Quilts 2019). 

Most of my quilts are about the process: this more than most as it represents a years stitching , mostly on trains using treasured scraps  but I hadn't bargained on it meaning so much to me in its finished state. 

 'A year of stitching in the form of a winding cloth: double-sided, semi-translucent in a continuous loop. Mainly sewn on train journeys with scraps of cloth with meaning to me and patterns inspired by the north Kent coast. My stitching, like my journeys will continue and repeat, even evolve with new routes but ultimately are 'looping' back to well known journeys to familiar and treasured places." 

Transient: Prism at Hoxton Arches

Mary Gray ' River Ripples' 

After sketching  at the Museum of London , Margaret, Jo and I  continued by bus to Hoxton Arches to see the latest 'Prism' exhibition 'Transient'. I last saw an exhibition of their work in 2014  at the Mall Galleries and then at Knit and Stitch  and before that in 2011   and  in comparison to the excitement I've felt before about their work I was  a bit underwhelmed.   The  combination of the exhibiting space which felt a bit gloomy and being away from the centre  of town  and therefore   few people  didn't help  but it was  probably more to do with my own tastes having changed and developed. 

Having said that there were some pieces of work I really liked, no surprise that these were mainly ones that  chimed with my own work and interests.  

I loved  how Mary Gray had captured the watery qualities in her piece ( and the  shibori gathering added an extra dimension, definitely something to  experiment with ) 

Ali Brown 'Amulet' 

Ali Brown has recently graduated from an MA in ceramics ( having switched from a textile course)  and her work was stunning, the textures imprinted from fabrics, the use of unusual materials. Amulets are  something that interests me a lot and  having done ceramics in the past ( I have a box full of tiny thumb pots in the garage beside those that Ian has chosen to put in the lounge) so these pieces really resonated with me.  I look forward to seeing what she does next. 

Julianne Long 'Erosion'

 I had a chat with Julianne about her work based on long term observations of weathering of a large piece of timber on a beach. I can relate to that  with my work on breakwaters! Her sister had sent her small shards of  timber as they disintegrated  and she'd  displayed them with embroidered rubbings of the larger timber.   Having  been reminded of the joys of 'frottage'  when at Lund Studios , it makes me want to rush back to Birchington armed with crayons and colour catchers ! 

Jeryl Church 

With more of an interest in 'artists books' and book structures , I was intrigued  by this 'Tunnel' in dyed and burnt organdie ( reminding me of the telescopic  paper mode of the Thames Tunnel  in the Museum of London (Docklands )

This sculptural 'hat'  made of electric cables combined  with  a much larger drawing of the sculpture was interesting, the  change of scale  and medium making you look more  closely  

Katherine Paton- King 

Anita Bruce 'Loss' 

My favourite and the exhibit with most meaning for me was 'Loss' by Anita Bruce. Based on the IUCN Red list of extinct  and Critically Endangered birds, she had embroidered the names of these on varying weights of  black and grey  fabrics ( including organza). What made it for me is that ,for once, the 'unconscious side' of the back of the stitching was integral to  the work, text  losing meaning, turning into marks. 

 During my botanical career I worked mainly on threatened species and was  a member  of several specialist groups of the IUCN  so this work carries even more significance for me.  

The Sleep Quilt: Fine Cell Work and Tracy Chevalier

 The Sleep Quilt , published by Pallas Athene  books  on 31 October 2017  is a collaboration between author Tracy Chevalier and charity 'Fine Cell Work' .    All royalties from the book will go to Fine Cell Work.    Until 16 November 2017, it is being crowdfunded through Kickstarter,  with additional benefits available 

One of my favourite quilts at the Festival of Quilts this year was 'Two Man Cell'  by HMP Bullingdon Boys. An amazing structure, all hand stitched with attention to detail and interesting perspective, it was  incredibly moving being a collaboration between Fine Cell Work tutors  and prisoners,  making an accurate , life size depiction of a 2 man cell in a modern British prison.

Fine Cell Work enables prisoners to build fulfilling and crime-free lives by training them to do high quality , skilled , creative needlework  undertaken in the long hours spent in their cells to foster hope, discipline and self esteem. The aim is to allow them to finish their sentences with work skills, money earned and saved, and the self-belief to not re-offend.

Currently working in 32 British prisons, and engaging with over 500 prisoners each year, Fine Cell Work addresses key issues affecting prisoners’ offending behaviours: establishment and reinforcement of work skills, building relationships, and mental resilience.
Prisoners are taught by experienced volunteers and staff to work in their cells and in prison workshops. Having the opportunity to work independently helps them to regain control of their lives and allows them to maintain dignity. It also helps them establish a work ethic, and allows them to send money to their families or save for their release.


In 2010 inmates at HMP Wandsworth  made a  moving quilt about life inside for 'Quilts 1700- 2010 Hidden Histories, Untold Stories"  at the  V&A acquired for their collections with support  from Friends of V&A 

The  Sleep Quilt was commissioned by Tracy Chevalier  for exhibition 'Things we do in bed'   at Danson House  in 2014. 
It consists of 63 panels, each one designed and made by a prisoner and expressing feelings and emotions about sleep – a difficult issue in prison. The panels were then sewn together and hand quilted, also by prisoners. It was not only a rare chance for inmates to express something of their lives, but also a chance for them to work collectively.

In the book each panel is featured full-page, and there are also many close-ups of the wonderful stitching  and details. Some of the prisoners have added written explanations of their designs.
The introduction is by Tracy Chevalier  and explains how the quilt came about and the feelings it arouses. Katy Emck, the director of Fine Cell Work contributes an essay on the charity and what it does, and there are quotations from prisoners explaining what Fine Cell Work has meant to them and how their lives have been turned around by learning the skills of stitching and quilting.  

I've been carrying around  an advance copy for several weeks now  (it's a nice size  to fit in the sewing bag I take on the train)  and have found reading it a very moving experience. Sleep  is   a universal need  but it  was a real eye-opener realising   how difficult it was for  most of them, the contrast between those who could escape through dreams  and those  couldn't sleep and who succumbed to  despair, feelings of shame . Their interpretations in stitch  were varied but expressive. 

Tracy in her introduction talks  of the unseen layers of  a quilt : the physical and emotional layers of the quilt , the history of the maker absorbed in the making, particularly with hand-made quilts which may take a long time to complete. 
I do a lot of hand stitching myself  ,I find the process calming and therapeutic  as I'm sure many of the prisoners involved do too .  In repurposing old quilts,  I  respect and try to work with the marks of  the original  , unknown, sewer. In many of the squares beautifully illustrated in this book, I get  a strong sense of the  maker, not just   the subject  but the decisions about  colour choices, techniques, how it was stitched, the time involved. A collaborative  project but very much  about individual stories.

Fine Cell Work’s mission is to train prisoners in creative, commercial craftwork so they re-enter society with the self-belief and independence to lead fulfilling and crime-free lives. I encourage you to buy this book ( and for your friends)   to help support the running of the  Fine Cell Work Hub , the charity’s London-based crafts training studio for ex-offenders, to meet workers’ needs for post-prison support in order to translate their textile skills into real employment.