From the Editor The Magazine is full of interest and information written by you, the Members. Be transported to Trinidad and share a Christmas evocatively recalled by Vidhya. Share in her descriptions of the tastes and smells conjured up from her childhood memories. Or travel to Gambia, with Rosemary, for a holiday of a lifetime where she spent time away from the commercialism and hype of an English Christmas. Finally we must sadly say goodbye to Shirley Baldwin, who has played a large part in the recent history of the Guild. Ruth Smith has written a very fitting obituary to her memory. May Christmas end your year on a happy note whilst it makes way for a fresh new year. Include in your New Year Resolutions the making of time to stitch. I wish you all a very merry Christmas and a happy New Year. Keep Stitching
Embroidery The purpose of embroidery is to beautify an otherwise plain surface by means of stitchery. The golden rule is to use embroidery materials in harmony with the fabric to which they are applied. Failure to observe this principle may give rise to unexpected problems, and the result will invariably lack the desired effect.
When confronted with an elaborate and intricate piece of embroidery, which may have entailed years of painstaking effort, it is difficult to envisage its composition as an arrangement of basically simple stiches. True enough, advanced embroidery consists of a skilful blend of imaginative design, colour�sense and method attained only after considerable practice and experience. But there is nevertheless a set of basic methods and stiches on which the more elaborate forms of embroidery are founded. Source Home Handicrafts Illustrated The home�worker’s book of practical instruction in eleven popular crafts. Odhams Press Limited First Published 1951
Shirley Baldwin She Will Be Sadly Missed Many EG members will be saddened to hear that Shirley Baldwin died on November 28th. She is survived by her husband and childhood sweetheart, John, their two children and four grandchildren. It was in 1980 that Shirley first joined the EG after having moved to Hampshire. Wanting to make new friends she became a member of the Winchester Branch and five years later became Branch Chairman for the first time. Before long she extended her activities to Hampton Court, stewarding at Guild exhibitions, for example. In 1989 Shirley was nominated to the Executive Committee by Ann Joyce, the first EG Director. Shirley took her responsibilities very seriously and served for the next eight years during the demanding period when the Guild was searching for a new home. Another important contribution was that of Treasurer of the newly formed SEW Region. The banking experience she had gained as a young woman ensured her meticulous accounting, a skill which was especially appreciated when lottery funding was granted to fund SEW’s programme of activities during the Guild’s centenary year. Shirley’s craft skills were in upholstery and soft furnishing and she was always keen to point out that she was not an embroiderer! She claimed not to have the patience. However, she loved and appreciated embroidery, acquiring
contemporary pieces and following changing trends with great interest. She believed that her role was to support and to encourage embroidery rather than do it herself; and felt that she could best do this through the EG at both local and national levels. Shirley was a Friend and Life Member of the Guild. She always looked forward to attending the AGM weekends which she greatly enjoyed, and where she became known for her searching questions. She had an eye for detail, a lively and enquiring mind and a concern for the proper handling of Guild affairs as she saw it. Her knowledge of the constitution was second to none. Shirley’s fondest memories of her Guild membership, and indeed her legacy, relate to the ‘Winchester Panel’, a huge 9x6 foot embroidery depicting some of the landmark buildings in the city set against a backdrop of trees and hills. Made during her chairmanship by the Winchester Branch it marked their 25th anniversary in 1988. It was due to her initial idea and efforts to find a suitable venue that the project got off the ground. The panel formed the centrepiece of the Branch’s Silver Anniversary Exhibition before being transported to the Royal Hampshire County Hospital where it has remained on display ever since. It is a testament to her notable contribution and to the energy and dedication she gave to the Guild; she will be sadly missed.
MARY QUEEN OF SCOTS EXHIBITION, EDINBURGH A long way from the SEW region, but a few days in Fife provided the opportunity to visit the Mary Queen of Scots exhibition at the National Museum of Scotland (ended 17th November). This reflected on the main events of her life, particularly during her time in Scotland and included several embroideries among the exhibits. The most important was one of the Oxburgh hangings, the Marian Hanging, which has the hand and pruning fork as its centrepiece with the motto 'Virtue flourishes from its wounds'. It is surrounded by bird and animal motifs including a dolphin, a bird of America and a tortoise climbing a tree. It is always exciting to see a hanging on display instead of peering at small reproductions in books. The exhibition also highlighted how much embroidery is often wrongly attributed to Mary Queen of Scots and her four Maries (her lifelong attendants). A stunningly well-preserved hanging from Lochleven Castle attributed to her was on display. It has been shown to be late 16th century (after Mary's death) but is stitched with typical 16th century motifs in bands of appliquéd black velvet surrounded by satin dots and basket stitch on red wool. The Morton valances were also on display. Again these were once said to be the work of the four Maries, but are now proved to be of a later date. These depict Elizabethan figures worked in canvas stitching. Images of both these hanging can be seen at www.nms.ac.uk/highlights/mary_queen_of_scots/wall_hanging.aspx The exhibition also included four large costume dolls made by Victoria Cairns in 2003, two of Mary Queen of Scots, one of her husband, Lord Darnley and one of Elizabeth I. From studies of contemporary paintings and engravings, and extensive costume research, she has recreated scale models of them. On the underskirts of both Mary and Elizabeth, the detailed embroidery of flowers, animals and birds on silk is stunning. The embroidery has been carefully scaled down and meticulously worked. The outer garments are ornamented with gold braid, lace, velvet, fur, beadwork and jewels. Examples of Victoria Cairns work can be seen at http://www.ladyoffinavon.com/home/ The last were an unexpected surprise in the exhibition and added to the overall enjoyment of spending a day in such a wonderful museum. Sue Moys
“All day long you sit and sew, Stitch life down for fear it grow, Stitch life down for fear we guess At the hidden ugliness. Dusty voice that throbs with heat, Hoping with your steel-thin beat To put stitches in my mind,
Make it tidy, make it kind, You shall not: I'll keep it free Though you turn earth, sky and sea To a patchwork quilt to keep Your mind snug and warm in sleep!� The Lady with the Sewing Machine Edith Sitwell
Visit to Walton-on-Thames
Solent Branch is lucky enough to be within reach of Guild HQ. In early September we filled a 19 seater and arrived at Embroiderer' Guild House in time for morning coffee and a very warm welcome. The exhibition space is light and spacious and at the time of our visit was filled with inspirational work from the Guild's collection. We had requested a huge number of folios to look at and we were mightily impressed that they were all out ready for us. A big thank you should go to all those who have been and are still involved in the restoration of the folios: they are a wonderful resource and our branch will be borrowing material to support and inspire future workshops. If you can get to HQ and haven't managed it yet can I suggest that you make it one of your New Year resolutions? Margaret Mainwaring
Please can you tell us a little about yourself I graduated from Eastleigh College with a degree in Textile Arts, which I undertook after completing a City and Guilds Diploma. I was thrilled to be selected for the graduate showcase at the Knit and Stitch show in 2013. As well as being a member of other groups, I am a member of the Andover Branch of the Embroiderers' Guild. What were your early influences I had always enjoyed sewing and it was not until I joined an evening class in 1980 that I became aware of the scope of embroidery and textile stitch. Tell us a little bit about your process and the environment in which you like to work During the City and Guilds courses, I, of course, experimented with many types of stitch, dyeing and other textile art formes. But it was free machine embroidery that really inspired me. I am very fortunate to go to Africa twice a year and all my work is influenced by my trips there. Photography is very important to me and it is through my photographs that I am able to record my travels and experiences. Wildlife is my predominant theme but also the people and landscapes have an influence. It is Zebras that are my particular favourite design source. The stripes are all individual to each animal in a similar way that our fingerprints are individual to us. These stripes influence much of my work at the moment and it was experimenting with them in mind that evolved into the pieces of work for my graduate show. Do you like to use a sketch book I used to shy away from sketchbooks but I learnt during my degree course how useful they are. Mine are not only used for drawing but also for jotting down ideas, keeping websites and emails safe, adding interesting photographs, fabric and small stitch samples. So my sketchbooks have become a reference tool. How do you see your work evolving in the future
I am not quite sure how my work will evolve in the future. I think it is good not to have too many hard and fast rules on where you want to go but to let your work develop as you are inspired. I have just returned from a safari to Botswana and Zambia, during which I gathered fresh inspiration for a completely new body of work that I am eager to begin. I will continue to work with free machine embroidery and particularly using water soluble fabric. I like this because it enables me to create “holey� pieces. I am starting to use this technique to create large pieces of work. Have books inspired you I found two books that particularly inspired me. Africa Art Now and African textiles by Chris Spring. Will you be exhibiting in 2014 I am still in the process of deciding where to exhibit. The details will be put on my web site. www.janmcgarry.com
Waterford Treasures - The Magi Cope
After visiting The Bishops Palace in Waterford, Eire with my sister and husband we had a combined ticket to visit the adjacent building housing the Waterford Museum where we a found a stunning display of fifteen century Benediction copes and High Mass vestments which quote:‘Affords a rare insight into the richness of Liturgical practice in late medieval Ireland’ ‘The embroideries are even more remarkable for their period by the unusually large number of figures and details in each panel.’ Eamonn McEneaney with Rosemary Ryan – Waterford Treasures. A guide to the historical and archaeological treasures of Waterford City. www.treasure-troves.com From Cromwellian times the vestments had laid hidden for 125 years until they were accidentally found when John Roberts was in the process of demolishing the medieval cathedral in 1774. What a find they are, particularly since they have been restored to their former glory of wonderful crimson, emerald and gold which shine out again like new. The copes are a set of embroideries which follow great cycles of the Old and New Testaments through the life of Christ to the Last Day and Salvation of Souls. The High Mass vestments consist of a chasuble, dalmatic and tunicle, all of green velvet brocades on cloth- of- gold ground. The decorated panels on the front of the cope are worked with silver-gilt metal threads, coloured silks with split, brick and stem stitching. There is also couched work which was perfected in Flanders. There is shaded gold work, Or Nue technique on linen fabric. Ogive arches frame the scenes and the scenes are worked in gold thread laid over string and parchment padding with blue silk spandrels. The semi circular Magi cope which is one and a half metres high and two metres wide is made of brocade velvet on cloth- of- gold ground with pomegranate design in red silk pile and tiny gold loops coming through the pile. There are asymmetrical patterns of undulating stems, leaves and stylised pomegranates. The book also states the velvet came off a Florentine loom about 1480. If you happen to visit County Waterford the Waterford Museum will not disappoint. I was enthralled and excited on entering the room where each of these vestments is so splendidly displayed. Julia Webster
Christmas Fairies Wokingham Branch made Christmas fairies and hung them on a bonsai tree. For Christmas they will hang on a Christmas tree in the centre of Wokingham which will raise money for Charity
It's a Swedish custom To have a bird's nest in your Christmas tree will bring you good fortune in the coming year...
ADVICE FROM A SINGER SEWING MACHINE MANUAL 1949 Prepare yourself mentally for sewing. Think about what you are going to do. Never approach sewing with a sigh or lackadaisically. Good results are difficult when indifference predominates. Never try to sew with a sink full of dirty dishes or beds unmade. When there are urgent housekeeping chores, do these first so your mind is free to enjoy your sewing. When you sew, make yourself as attractive as possible. Put on a clean dress. Keep a little bag of French chalk near your sewing machine to dust your fingers at intervals. Have your hair in order, powder and lipstick put on. If you are constantly fearful that a visitor will drop in or your husband will come home and you will not look neatly put together you will not enjoy your sewing.
Overhead at the end of a tour of the Old Jameson Distillery where two men where chatting. " Yeah, it wasn't a bad tour but I do remember that at the end of the Coca Cola Factory we did receive a pencil case." I wonder what they expected; a free bottle of whisky
Chairman's Christmas Message
Christine
For your Diary
The Committee of the SEW Region all wish you a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year