THE CACOPHONY OF SPRING & THE STILLNESS OF SUMMER

This term we will be celebrating nesting birds and making a framed Victorian egg collection, enjoying Spring meadows and casting a herbarium tableau, creating a wool basket inspired by riparian landscapes, focusing on Summer picnics and printing seasonally inspired fabrics using plant pigments as well as experimenting with silk bundle dyeing and knotting/tatting using plant fibres and cordage.

WINTER LANDSCAPES AND OVERWINTERING BIRDS

Embracing all the glories of winter, this term we will be exploring inchies, needle felted waffa birds, lagom baskets, hedgerow basketry and winter stem art. We’ll be reflecting on frosty landscapes, be inspired by winter poems and celebrate long tailed tits and native bulbs.

AUTUMN EQUINOX - INDIGO SKIES AND SHASHIKO STITCHING

Preparing for the turn of the season, we will celebrate the indigo skies and harvest moon of the Autumn Equinox with some shashiko stitching on indigo fabric. Learn about the indigo dye process and the traditional stitches of Japanese shashiko and boro. This will be a two week project, where next week you can embellish your fabric further with migrating bird silouettes and then turn it into a useful cosmetic case or wash bag.

MIGRATING SWALLOWS AND WILD GEESE - FABRIC FEATHERS

Continuing on the indigo stitching started last week, we will celebrate the Autumn passage of migrating birds to and from our shores with simple bird silhouette stitching. You will then have the chance to make your work into a small cosmetic case or wash bag. This week you will also learn the simple but fun technique of making fabric feathers from denim and tartan fabrics. These can be attached as a zipper pull or made into a decorative wall hanging.

MUSHROOMS AND BERRIES - KASHIDA AND KASHUBIAN EMBROIDERY

Inspired by both Kashida (Indian) and Kashubian (Polish) embroidery techniques, this week you will start an ongoing stitching project which can be worked on part time over the following four weeks. Drawing your inspiration from autumn fruits, berries and mushrooms, you will be introduced to both these techniques as well as stumpwork and Ruskin lace and linen work. Make it as simple or complex as you like. Your finished autumnal linen piece can be turned into a beautiful tray cloth, funky clothes patch, card wallet or draw string bag.

SPIDERS, SEEDS AND SIMPLE PEWTER CASTING.

This week we will be celebrating the fruitfulness of autumn with its abundance of seeds, nuts and berries through the technique of pewter casting. Pewter is very forgiving and can be recast repeatedly until you are happy with your result. You will make a simple pendant design to thread onto a cotton or leather cord. We will also be celebrating spiders this week as they start to find warmer places to shelter and their webs glisten in the morning dew. You may want to incorporate this into your ongoing Autumn stitching project this week with some free machine embroidery.

VEGAN YARN AND PLANT CORDAGE, PLUS PEG LOOMS.

This week you will be introduced to the technique of hand cordage and its adaptability to many different plant fibres. You will be shown numerous different vegan yarns including ginger, banana, dandelion and pineapple yarn. Have a go at making your own cordage from nettle or flax, with an introduction to drop spindles and spinning on a wheel. You can then continue with your Autumnal stitching piece, or try out a small peg loom to weave with natural fibres.

ACORN INKS AND AUTUMNAL PIGMENTS.

This week you will be shown how to make simple pigments and inks from plant material such as acorns, galls and walnuts. You can use these as textile paints on your Autumnal stitching piece, or experiment on other fabrics and papers to make beautiful gift tags. This week, there will also be time to complete any outstanding projects from the term.

SUMMER PIGMENT - GELLPLATES & ECO PRINTING PART TWO

MAGNIFICENT MOTHS - BEADING, APPLIQUE & NEEDLE FELTING

SUMMER PIGMENT - SOLAR DYES & ECO PRINTING PART ONE

RIVERS AND MAYFLIES - RUG HOOKING & WIRE SCULPTURE

MAY MEADOWS - MOUNTMELLICK EMBROIDERY & LINEN LANTERNS

LORDS AND LADIES - PAINTED TEXTILE BOTANICAL BOOKCOVERS

This week we will be celebrating unfurling ferns, lords and ladies and the other botannical beauties emerging in the woodland understorey. Inspired by Wiliamm Morris designs, botannical wallpaper and other simplified botanical prints from Kew Gardens, you will create a design for a book cover. This will then be painted in earthy textile paints and lined with a fabric of your choice.

STUNNING SPRINGSCAPES - WET FELTED POD BOWLS

Inspired by the official arrival of Spring this week and the changing colours of the landscape, we will make wet-felted pod bowls using the resist technique. Wet-felting is a textile technique using fleece that has been practiced for thousands of years. There is evidence of it across some of the earliest human civilisations and it is thought to have been discovered long before weaving methods were developed. Wet felting using a resist allows you to create seamless complex shapes in one piece. There will also be an opportunity to celebrate the equinox with some refreshing botanical tea made from young shoots, full of nutrients to rejuvinate body and mind.

MARCH HARES - WOODEN PYROGRAPHY NOTEBOOKS

The hare is a much-loved species associated with folklore and springtime. The idea of the Mad March Hare comes from the boxing behaviour of the males around the month of March when they are courting. We will look at the hare in history and take inspiration from various artworks to inspire a burnt wood design for the cover of a simple notebook. Pyrography is a great way of creating effective designs by burning wood with a hot rod tool. We will use this tool to sketch the hare, using templates to aid us in the process. No previous experience or drawing skill is necessary. We will then bind these wooden sheets with fabric or leather and fix paper between to make a beautiful rustic notebook.

CELEBRATING CELANDINES - SILK RIBBON EMBROIDERY

Come and have a go at this wonderful craft, its easier than it looks. Silk Ribbon Embroidery, also known as Rococo Embroidery, made its first appearance in England in the early 17th century when London dressmakers began copying the French technique of embroidery de favor. We will use this technique to decorate simple weighted doorstops. As the first snowdrops appear, we become uplifted that Spring is on its way. Ancient traditions, folklore and tales show how people were once closely connected to the emergence of each flower as the land began to wake up in February - from primroses, lesser celandines and wood anenomes to wild daffodils and aconites. We will look at botanical prints of these beautiful flowers, then, after machine sewing a simple pre-cut natural linen or jute doorstop (weighting it with wheat, lentils or cherry stones), I will show you how to embroider a flower of your choice onto your doorstop using silk ribbons.

BEAUTIFUL BIRCH - WEAVING WINTER STEMS

Come and make a birch twig bowl. Crafting a sculptural bowl using bare tree stems, especially birch, can be a unique and fulfilling experience. The incorporation of winter colors and the use of various stems like dogwood, applewood and willow add a diverse and natural touch to the artistic process. Just before Spring emerges, this workshop will embrace the wonderful winter colours of bare tree stems. Making birch bowls was once a common traditional country pastime. Different in technique to willow weaving, the bowls grow quickly. Their shapes and forms are easy to control using a looped copper wire technqiue. If you've never made a woven basket before, this is a great place to start.

ROOKS AND CROWS - SKETCHING WITH STITCHES

January's winter skies and bare trees make an amazing backdrop to observe the feeding and roosting behaviours of rooks and crows. Their blue/black bodies silouetted against the landscape make wonderful patterns. In this workshop you will learn more about these amazing birds, using their pattern and form to create a calico vignette and an applique tote bag. If you've never experimented with free motion embroidery on a sewing machine you will love the freedom to sketch with a needle. We will also learn about iron on backings, soluble sketch papers and other techniques. No experience required, I will guide you step by step.

WINTER LICHEN AND MOSS - FUNKY FABRIC BOWLS.

If youve never made fabric bowls before, youre in for a treat. This workshop will introduce you to the various hand and machine techniques. We will look at the wonderful colours and textures of lichen and moss in the winter landscape and use these observations to guide our choice of colour and texture to make a beautiful, woven fabric bowl, using embellishment and top stitching if desired. Youll leave this workshop hooked! Once youve learnt the techniques, before you know it, youll be making fabric bowls everywhere - in the car, in front of the tv or anywhere possible.