Stitch Nights

Our new season of stitch nights was off to a flying start last week with Ann giving us some guidance with shadow work.  
Several members had brought in lovely examples of work to inspire those who had not tried this technique before.

Shadow work is worked on sheer fabric where the stitches show through the fabric to give a delicate, muted effect.

This technique is often used on lingerie and children's clothes - particularly christening robes.

Colour can also be introduced for a bolder effect

Members tried out various designs and those with more experience were given a "mystery item" (in this case - metallic thread) to incorporate into the samples.

Inspiring Work

For our first meeting of the new programme we were very pleased to welcome our speaker Karen Casper from Helmshore.

Karen is a very lively and enthusiastic speaker and has recently completed her studies at Manchester Met.  She brought along many samples of her beautiful work including some of her degree pieces.

"Karen is one of those rare people who bridge the gap between fashion, textile design and art".

On one hand, she will create a head-piece that most women would be delighted to sport at fashionable gatherings. On the other, she’s using glow-in-the-dark thread and ancient pieces of lace to build extraordinary confections that are exhibited in galleries and museums. Then, somewhere in between, she’s commissioned to make the glitzy headpieces worn by dancers in the X-Factor stage show.

The piece shown above is "Miss Coral" inspired by images from our endangered coral reefs.

Detailed pictures show the intricacies of the design :

The matching headpiece is equally stunning

Another of her pieces was based on Fairgrounds and also incorporated lots of family memorabilia . The whole piece is heavily embellished and finished with antique buttons and pearls - causing a few construction problems along the way due to its weight and size. However with a little help from Dad, and a few garden canes and hoops the piece was finally stabilised and ready for display

Karen's most recent work involved working with antique and vintage bridal veils to produce three veils based on the theme of Victorian mourning.  Two of these are currently en route to Riga in Latvia for an exhibition leaving one for us to see up close on Monday

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This picture does not really do justice to the beautiful work in this green veil

Another stunning example of the detail in Karen's work is this work using an antique fan as the base. It was on display at the Whitworth Gallery in Manchester until recently

Following this meeting, we are certainly looking forward to enjoying our new programme of events.

Our next meeting is a stitch night practical on 27th October. Ann will be sending out information and a requirements list before the meeting.

Blackpool's Treasure Trove

Following our AGM this year our speaker was Laura Brennan from the Volunteer centre
 who came along to give us an overview of the Treasure Trove Project and highlight opportunities for us to get involved.

The project is focussed on the entertainment heritage in Blackpool and is leading up to the bid to open a permanent museum within the Winter Gardens.

In the build up to this, the group are facilitating in setting up a series of "pop up" museums using material from Blackpool's extensive archives.  If any of our members would like to be involved in the set up it would open up possibilities for us to work with a professional artist and the archives to produce works to go on display.

Ranging from the Illuminations archive, which includes some 20,000 pieces, including some long forgotten original drawings of Disney characters., to the collection of Cheeky postcards and tourism posters and memorabilia from the past it would seem there is something for everyone.

The project is set up to get the displays out to public  with the initial aim of 4 "pop up museums". The picture below shows how one group have already displayed their work.

If any of our members are interested, the group are looking for adult volunteers and we will be able to sign up at our next meeting.  This will give us the opportunity to work with heritage tour guides and a regional artist, and it is thought that the commitment would be to meet around twice a month.

Further information can be obtained from Laura on:
01253301004

Facebook:BPLtreasuretrove

Twitter:  BPL_treasures 

Or just come along to our next Branch Meeting on 13th October 

Progress Report

On Saturday we had the first "brainstorming" session and started work on the "Twiddle Pockets" for
dementia sufferers.  Apparently the name is copyright so we have to chose a new name - for now I will refer to them as "Sensory Pockets".

We set to work sorting out the rather large pile of donated stash into some kind of order, and then decided to work on a few different design ideas to see which worked out best.

It was quite surprising how the project gained momentum as we all got going designing, sewing and coming up with ideas.

During the course of the day we managed to produce several completed samples and many more "works in progress" to be continued at home.

The pockets will be on display at the AGM on the 29th September and following this Ellen is going to take them along to the Support Group and to the hospital so we can get feedback.  The intention is then that we incorporate the best ideas into a simple design and hopefully produce some kits to make many more.

The whole day was very enjoyable and productive.  If  you are interested in getting involved with the project please let us know.  We have lots of supplies and welcome any new ideas.


Please come along to the AGM on the 29th September as following the business part of the meeting we have a speaker coming along to give us an overview of the Treasure Trove Project about the history of entertainment in Blackpool and the proposed bid for funding to open a museum.

September meeting

On Monday we enjoyed our first meeting following the Summer break. Our speaker was Melanie Kay who In a very interesting presentation took us through her creative process and how she related this to an interest in gender and the differences/similarities.

Constructing a tool belt (fully functioning complete with wired pockets) entirely from discarded men's shirts dyed with pink tones and embroidered with a variety of headlines and gender related wording, the picture was completed with an array of  papier mache and embroidered tools.

Melanie then went on to explain the background to her degree work.  Choosing the subject of alcohol abuse and depression may not seem to be perhaps not the most promising topics - or so one would think.

Using discarded beer cans as a base produced some rather surprising results! From killing the slugs attached to the insides of litter picked  cans was not the most appealing job, and she was grateful for the help of her (now) husband in this aspect of her work! 

Thought provoking  and by using imagery including flowers and butterflies to represent new beginnings the pieces certainly had us all enthralled throughout her talk.

Melanie works into the metal with a sander to create a base, which is then drawn onto and machine stitched before being further embellished with hand stitching if required.

Reflecting on the cost to the NHS and other services:

Using single cans for individual pieces - these are first of all flattened and then stitched together again using fishing wire. A time consuming but effective use of an unusual material.

 A piece in the early stages of construction :

 A sample of hexagon patchwork using various different coloured cans:

Sketchbook page

The "crowning glory" for her degree show was a pair of lampshades which have now been sold but the photographs were stunning.

Melanie has recently been working with secondary school students addressing issues around body image and confidence and using found objects related to fashion in general:

Our next meeting is the AGM on the 29th September, which will be followed by a brief talk about the

Treasure Trove Project - the history of entertainment in Blackpool