Sashiko stitch...

Sashiko... meaning literally little stabs, is a Japanese form of simple decorative stitching traditionally used to repair cloth, but often used for purely decorative purposes in quilting and embroidery.

photo - from Mai on Flickr.com

The knitting and stitching show 2014...

A bit of a late post on the knitting and stitching show at Alexandra Palace

Last Friday I went to the knitting and stitching show with a friend. This is the third or fourth time we've been, and there's so much to see we always split up to look round at things that personally interest us, then meet up for lunch to show each other anything we've bought.

We both like the exhibition hall which this year seemed to have fewer exhibits on show and more sellers, but some of the displays were absolutely stunning.

Jo Beattie's 'Precious Memories Exhibition' was so beautiful I bought one of her smaller works, although I won't be getting hold of it until November as it's off to a show in Dublin. 

'Memories are those precious moments that tell our story'

Her work is a reflection on memories of people we love and how we associate them with what they wear. Their patterns and colours are embedded into our memory and become inseparable from our image of them. Our patterns and colours determine not only our character and how we want to be perceived by others but define us in a time, place and culture.

Her most recent work uses shadow to reflect the image of our patterns and identity. She is interested in the way her artworks enhance the idea of a memory by having a shadow of the image reflected onto a plain background a distance away from the actual work. This enables the shadow to become larger and more defined. The work is produced in anyway that best creates the atmosphere she is trying to evoke, predominantly using machine stitch with see through backgrounds such as wire mesh to allow shadows to become an integral part of the work.

 'The Playground'

'Separation' is a homage to soldiers and their wives separated from each other by war. 

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Some beautiful Julie Arkell figures...

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Body Knowing... 'Heads' - Jean Bennett

'Contained' - Jean Bennett

'Scapegoat' - Jean Bennett

'Shame' - Jean Bennett

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'Eynsham Morris' - Sue Latimer

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Digital imprisonment: 'Life on the inside' - Molly Williams

A woven, layered and felted textile.

Weaving...

Woven cloth by Jude Hill

Embroidery...

Beautiful embroidery from Stella McCartney's clothing collection

original photo source unknown 

Yumiko Higuchi ・ 刺繍制作記録

Blekingesöm embroidery...

Swedish Blekingesöm embroidery characterized by it's blue, pink and yellow colours, this piece was designed by Ingrid Eggimann-Jonnson and beautifully embroidered by Helena Ericsson.
http://www.brodera.nu/blogg 

Linda Miller...

'Oh look at all the leaves'

'Autumn leaves'

Kimika Hare embroidery...

Couching...

couching by Kay Susan's blog - smockerytast.blogsop.co.uk

In embroidery, couching is where yarn or other materials are laid across the fabric and fastened in place with small stitches.

couching by Barbara Cheeseman's blog - embroideryoverlaps.blogspot.co.uk

The knitting and stitching show...

Friday was the day I went with a friend to the knitting and stitching show at Alexandra Palace. Just like last year, the beautiful creations of Mandy Pattullo were really the only works I wanted to photograph.  

Mandy was there with her husband, she is such a lovely lady and very modest about her work. Her own photos of the stand at the show can be found on her blog thread and thrift

     We went around separately, then met up for lunch half way through and discovered we'd both bought one of her pretty hand made textile cards. 

My intention of not spending too much time in the first hall failed as there were so many interesting things to see. Which was probably a good thing as by the time I got around to the big hall four hours later where you could buy all the materials, I was practically on my knees.






There was an exhibition of amazingly intricate large art works by a Canadian lady (whose name I wrote down but can't find) and it was beginning to get a bit 'The Twilight Zone' when we met up for a cup of tea and found we would have both liked to have owned the same piece... not at £3000 though!

I thought this collage of paper and fabric was especially pretty.

  
Neither of us was able to finish looking around the big hall, in fact we only managed about a quarter of it, but I came away with a couple of sensible things like a new cutting board, some Christmas presents and a few small pieces of fabric and lace.

The Liberty fabric was from Alice Caroline also the patchwork cushion kit, which I thought would make a lovely present. The small print fabric was from The African Fabric Shop  the lace from namolio

  






                                           On the free shuttle bus back to the station after, the noise on top of the bus was so loud you could hardly hear yourself speak, it was like a group of exited children after a school trip, people were knitting, crocheting and showing each other the things they'd bought.

Stephanie Devaux...

 Organza overlay, paper and embroidery

Junko Oki...

The amazing freestyle embroidery of Japanese textile artist Junko Oki

photo - woky-shoten.cocolog-nifty.com

Crochet...

 The beautiful work of namolio

Embroidered ladies...

 The beautiful embroidery work of Sue Stone

from - womanwithafish.wordpress.com

ボロ Boro...

Now highly collected, beautiful Japanese Boro,which basically means rags or scraps of cloth, were made out of necessity not design. It was the need to stay warm and the patience to repair that created these lovely fabrics that we now consider an art form. 

These fabrics were precious, they were made from the hemp or flax that people had planted, harvested, spun and dyed themselves. Therefore when clothing and bedding needed to be repaired, patches of other fabrics were stitched over worn areas with tiny 'sashiko' stitches to secure them in place.

For the poor of Japan up to the early part of the 20c, clothing  had to be maintained throughout the wearers life. Boro was born of the value of 'mottainai' an ancient Buddhist term from Japan that means to have respect for the resources around you, to not waste resources and to use them with a sense of gratitude.  

 Each boro is by it's definition totally unique, it is the value of time spent, not money.

all photos - google search