Bath Textile Summer School 2024

Creative

Bath Textile Summer School 2024

Organiser

When Lynne founded our Summer School over 10 years ago, her idea was to hold the kind of classes she would like to take. This is still true today and we hope that if we feel inspired, you will too!

Lynne Roche Founder & Creative Consultant

In our 2024 programme we are excited to have favourite tutors visiting again – and new faces ready to teach something that little bit different. We hope you will join us for a creative and inspiring break in our beautiful city.

Class costs

2-day class £250, 3-day class £375, 4-day class £495.

Our classrooms

All classes will be held in the light-filled rooms of the Bath Royal Literary and Scientific Institute (BRLSI) in the centre of the city in Queen’s Square, BA1 2HN. (Shown above right) Parking is a 5-minute walk away.

Summer School hours

You’ll have a 10am start each day. Classes end around 4.30-5pm each day

What to bring

Where a tutor offers a specific kit, you will find details and costs along with their class description and on our website. You will be sent a separate list of general materials to bring when you pay your balance.

Waiting lists

We keep our classes small, so places fill up fast. When a class is fully booked, we can add you to a waiting list. Please make sure you provide a daytime phone number.

Jenny Dixon

Class kit

For Jenny’s class you will need to purchase a kit, which contains all fabrics, threads and needles required, plus fully illustrated instruction manual. The cost is £225.

www.bathtextilesummerschool.co.uk

Jenny Adin-Christie

The Stuart Thistle Etui

4 days: 12th-13th, 15th-16th August 2024

Inspired by the ingenious stumpwork needlework ‘toys’ produced by embroiderers of the 17th century, learn to create this unique etui which combines 17th century-style detached reticella needlelace with a variety of sumptuous metal and silk techniques.

What students will achieve

The embroidery is applied to a beautiful bespoke mould created from sustainable bamboo, which opens to reveal space for tiny etui scissors and a thimble. Each panel is embroidered separately then applied to the mould using tiny pre-drilled holes around the edge. The etui hangs from a mesh ribbon with needlelace covered beads. Students may wish to add to their piece by working their initials and the date on the reverse.

Please note that the thimble and etui scissors are not included but can be pre-ordered.

Etui scissors, £45; Bespoke engraved sterling silver thimble with matching thistle design: £110

Jenny Adin-Christie

The Puffin

4 days: 12th-13th, 15th-16th August 2024

Learn to create this stumpwork and metal thread panel depicting one of the world’s most loved and characterful little birds.

What students will achieve

We will use felt padding to create the domed form before exploring a wide range of materials and techniques to capture the detail of the bird and the surrounding landscape of sea and clifftop.

Class kit

For this class you will need to purchase a project kit containing all fabrics, threads and needles required, plus fully illustrated instruction manual. The cost is £95.

You will be able to order picture frames or wooden boxes to fit the design ahead of the class.

We will study ‘or nue’ (the process of creating images using carefully placed coloured couching stitches over metal threads), use of silk gimp and fettuccine braids, cut purl work, silk shading, mesh ribbons and chenilles. www.bathtextilesummerschool.co.uk

Class kit

For this class Emily will supply a selection of silk organzas for you to try samples and complete your own layered work. The cost is £25.

Emily Jo Gibbs

Illustrative Appliqué – working with translucent fabrics

4 days: 12th-13th, 15th-16th August 2024

Explore how pieces and layers of translucent fabric can be built up to create different tones and colours, closely observing the subtleties. Create exciting compositions by moving pieces around, see how shapes and colours interplay and overlap creating depth.

What students will achieve

Working through samples and using your own images, you will learn how to build a layered appliqué work and notice how changes in the order in which the fabric is layered and the thread colour subtly changes the outcome. Emily carefully guides you through how she uses a stab stitch action, for construction, then description, observing how stitch length, colour and direction change the nature of the line that you are making. This class suits all levels. You can work on a series of samples or tackle complicated compositions.

Class Materials

There will be a £12 charge for materials. Rosi will supply a metre of cotton fabric, plus dyes and tools needed for the class. You can choose to work on silk at an additional cost.

Rosi Robinson

Pushing Boundaries in Batik

3 days: 12th-14th August 2024

Explore traditional and modern techniques of batik. Discover how to develop them into both pictorial art forms, or purely expressive abstract designs. All skill levels can take a variety of approaches to this traditional Far Eastern resist technique of decorating fabric, using hot wax and fibre-reactive dyes.

What students will achieve Rosi will take you through different projects and will show you how to work individually from your own drawings or photos. During the workshop you will learn different methods of applying hot wax with a variety of tools. Learn how to etch (graffito), how to create texture by crackling and spattering the wax, how to apply colourful dyes by both direct dyeing (hand painting) and by dip-dyeing. Also how to fix the dyes, how to discharge and re-apply colour and how to remove the wax at the end of the process.

Johanna Flanagan

Intuitive & Experimental Doll Making

4 days: 19th-20th, 22nd-23rd August

Johanna Flanagan is a Scottish doll maker, costumiere and teacher. She studied Constructed Textiles at Duncan of Jordanstone college, then an MA in Fashion at the Royal College of Art. Throughout a career that meandered from catwalk, to film, to theatre, to historical costuming, Johanna always made dolls in secret, never really taking them seriously until her mid-thirties when she decided to bring them out of the shadows.

Johanna’s work is heavily influenced by the natural world, themes of decay and restoration, and is a deeply personal reflection of her own emotional world. Her design approach is often led by intuition and an instinctive response to materials and subject matter.

What students will achieve

During this four-day workshop, we’ll be exploring free-form doll making. The focus will be on recognising the sparks and seeds of ideas, how to nurture them and then develop them into characters that reflect our thoughts, emotions and personal narratives. We’ll be working with collage, found objects, and a variety of free form doll making methods to create a collection of small dolls that are entirely personal and meaningful to you.

Class kit

Ali will provide the woollen blanket background and a lovely collection of kitchen related vintage fabrics and papers for you to use –everything you need for a small charge of £10.00.

Ali Ferguson

Kitchen Tales – Cloth Collage

2 days: 19th-20th August 2024

In this workshop you’ll spend two lovely days sharing kitchen stories, playing with deliciously scrappy vintage materials and slow hand-stitching to create a cloth story collage inspired by our theme - Kitchen Tales.

Ali will share the stories behind some of her own kitchen collages and then gently lead you through her process of gathering and playing with meaningful materials and then using words, motifs and simple hand stitching to create a piece that is personal and has story at its heart.

What students will achieve

The inspiration for your collage will be a handwritten recipe printed onto fabric. Ali will bring along a selection for you to use or she’ll print your own personal recipe for you in advance of the course (details of this later).

Working on an old woollen blanket background, Ali will demonstrate her relaxed approach to cloth collage where fabrics are ripped and layered, printed words are highlighted, and personal words are hand stitched. She’ll show you how to add a stitched motif or two - all adding to your Kitchen Tales.

As well as demonstrating the techniques throughout the workshop, Ali will work with you individually to create your own personal piece. You’ll be encouraged to capture your own thoughts and memories and find ways to incorporate them in your work.

Don’t worry if you’re not an experienced stitcher, you’ll be shown everything you need to know. The workshop is suitable for all abilities.

Anne Kelly

Bath Textile Travels

2 days: 22nd-23rd August 2024

Join artist, author and tutor Anne for a new, two day, exclusive to Bath Textile Summer School course.

We will be looking at the nostalgic and heritage aspects of both making a souvenir box or book cover using mixed media textiles and paper.

You can be inspired by the heritage sights, the traditional architecture, the novels of Jane Austen or your own particular relationship with this glorious city.

Amanda Hislop

Elements of the Sea & Shoreline

2 days: 22nd-23rd August 2024

An exploration in cloth, paper and stitch developing concertina book forms.

‘I must go down to the sea again’. Take a close look, observe, find your sea view, imagine, and respond making a simple folded book form in paper and cloth with hand stitch. Work with loose expressive mark making, developing visual language using a variety of drawing media with simple collage techniques in a relaxed and creative approach to textile development.

What students will achieve

The aim of the course is to develop and explore expressive techniques with mark making and visual language, simplification, and abstraction, working with a limited palette through experimentation with mixed media and hand stitch. Working with personal seascape inspiration, develop responses and colour notes, observing shape, line, and colour within your view, responding to experiences of the sea. Work intuitively with materials and mediums to create responses using line, texture and colour. Discover different qualities in drawn lines with resist, layered tissue and colour washes to free up and create expressive original abstract arrangements to develop with stitch.

Suitable for those who enjoy the challenge of intuitive experimentation, exploration and extension of creative boundaries who have an open mind and a desire to explore.

Jenny Adin-Christie, Emily Jo Gibbs, Johanna Flanagan, Amanda Hislop, Anne Kelly & Ali Ferguson