"It takes ages to finish a quilt you're not working on!"

Tuesday, January 11, 2011

EGV Summer School.

The Embroiderers Guild of Vic. closes down over January, but runs a Summer School for the members, who sign up for it early in December. I decided to enrol in one of this year's workshops, and now wish I'd joined up for more! I thoroughly enjoyed my two days at the Guild with tutor Wanda, and a dozen other ladies. Our class was called "Embroidered Gardens or Landscapes", in which we learnt how to apply paint to fabric, then embroider details of a scene on to it. I have messed around with painting calico, and stitching random patterns on it, but this was a chance to learn to do it properly.
Wanda supplied the fabric (Clydella) and the paints, and we had to bring a photo or picture, our threads and sewing necessities. I couldn't find a photo of a garden or landscape that appealed to me, so I took this picture from a Japanese calendar. Which I folded in half to use this side of the picture.
The first step was to draw a sketch of how we wanted our picture to look, defining the background, midground and foreground. Then we wet our piece of fabric, and applied paint in the colours and areas we'd chosen to match our pictures. This was then dried with a hairdrier, and ironed to set the colour. This took about an hour, with much laughter as we moved around the table with tubes of paint and checked each other's fabrics. This is what mine looked like: The next step was choosing the threads to match the painted fabric, as well as extra colours needed to embroider our pictures.
Wanda showed us how to start stitching the background, and most of us completed that by the end of the first day. Mine shows the mountains in the background and the outlines of the ravine and trees on the right.
The next day, Wanda looked over our work and made suggestions for added stitching where she thought it would enhance the picture. By midmorning, I had filled the trees at the top with French knots, and couched threads down for the tree trunks at the foot of the picture.
We moved onto stitching the midground area, and by the end of the day, most of us were finishing off the foreground and highlights of our pictures. During the afternoon, Wanda also gave us a demonstration of how to frame our work, from stretching the fabric over board and lacing it, to selecting a frame. All in all, a very useful and enjoyable workshop.
By 3 pm, this is where I was at. All this needs to finish it is the foliage on the trees at the bottom, plus a few more seed stitches and lines on the ravine to fill in the blank spaces.
Our class room. Wanda has done many of these embroidered pictures over the years, and had about twenty on display to inspire us. These are just two of them.

10 comments:

Jane said...

What a fascinating workshop, and a brilliant first attempt. It's very effective

Doreen G said...

This sounds like an excellent workshop Gina and well done.

Lyndel said...

Looks like you had a great time, and what a beautiful scene you made. I visited the EGV just before Christmas and must say the ladies I met were lovely, particularly as they were 'closed' but let me in to make a purchase as a present for my son's partner.

Cathy said...

That looks like it was a fun class! I love the idea of combining mediums. The pictures of your project developing were great and it is absolutely gorgeous! You will share a finished picture with us, won’t you? Hugs, Cathy

Linens and Royals said...

So much finished in one day! I am very impressed, It's something I would never attempt.

Sharon said...

Very impressive G - that is something I would like to do at some stage... I wish I had more time...

Joy V said...

What a fun worshop Gina and beautiful looking work also. Well done.

Liz in Kansas said...

Sounds like a wonderful workshop. I've also messed around with the idea of combining paint and stitch so I'm glad you shared your experience with us.

Julia said...

Wow Gina...that is amazing. I love what you did...just beautiful!
Julia ♥

Cindy said...

Wow, that is really cool and I bet it was tons of fun.