Textile Conservation - a talk by Leah Warriner-Wood Friday evening 31st march 2017

Leah was involved with Doddington hall tapestries; they were stitched onto a support layer and Velcro was used to hang them. This is so that it is easy to pull the tapestries down and throw them out of the window if there is a fire.

Her conservation remit is to ask what is it? What is it made of? How is it made? How was it used?

In the distant past clothes were cleaned with bread and lace with milk. Nowadays in conservation there is minimal intervention, just so it can survive and be displayed. Laying in distilled water with a mild liquid soap, waiting for the dirt to shift is the most that takes place regarding cleaning; about three repeats removes the dirt.

She uses most of the time curved John James needle 10 and Gutterman polyester threads.

Kathy Paton's stitch club: Lutrador, Ink and Melting 18th March 2017

Kathy had supplies of lutrador and inks which we could use at a nominal cost. Bailgate members were supplemented by people from Reflections, Heighington glass club and IMPart, a social art group in Lincoln. The day was spent using acrylic ink on lutrador which was then shrivelled and reduced to holes in specific places with a craft heat gun. As you can see above some stunning images were created.

Erin Fleming Theatre Costume Design Friday February 24th 2017

We were given a glimpse of the life of a costume designer for the theatre. Each were expected to design a costume for Eliza as a flower seller from My Fair Lady. There were a choice of fabrics to use as swatches for the costume; we each had to draw Eliza – some created their design by cutting up pieces from magazines and gluing a collage. It made a fresh way of looking at things.

Dry Felting stitch club by Robyn Smith 18th February 2017

We were each issued with a barbed needle in a holder and a large chunk of synthetic sponge; Robyn invited us to choose the fleece we wanted to use and decide on which smallish item we would create (needle felting is very time consuming). She encouraged us to start by rolling the fleece to create body shapes which we would place on our sponge and needle all over. Ears, feet and limbs were worked separately and added. As you can see hare/rabbit creations were the most popular with toadstools coming second. 

Pentagonal Patchwork Bowls: a practical evening with Linda Phillips 27th January 2017

Linda Phillips showed us some of her patchwork quilts and examples of her bowls. She had prepared vylene templates which also served as stiffners and gave us a choice of fabrics; patterned for inside the bowl and plain for the outside (to allow us to add some embroidery). Most of us hand sewed the inside layer during the evening, leaving the outside as homework. 

Stitch clubs change location in March

In March we are moving stitch clubs to a room at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, Skellingthorpe Rd, opposite the petrol station on the Birchwood Avenue junction.

Islamic Tiles – Ceramic into Textile with Kate Steane: stitch club 21st January 2017

The members all chose arabesque designs with interwining lines, leaves and flowers. The tiles were created using acrylic paint on tissue paper, backed with white felt; three different types of glue were used.