Make your mark!

It was such a delight to welcome textile artist, Clive Barnett, as our very first guest tutor to the new studio.

Throughout the two-day workshop Clive encouraged us to experiment and explore our own style of 'mark making'. The first day was spent printing with a discharge medium - who knew Finish dishwasher liquid could do that!

 We used a variety of techniques including masking tape resists,

freezer paper stencils with a screen

and monoprinting with acrylic sheets.

We were hooked - and very busy!

We needed to dry and iron the fabric before washing and ironing again to reveal our designs.

Clive is a very warm and generous teacher and

was always on hand to offer advice and inspiration when needed

and when I found him ironing my samples I even asked him to come home with me!

No InStitches Textile Adventure is complete without lunch

and the studio has plenty of space for us to all sit down together.  But  as much as we'd like to go with Clive's suggestion of a small glass of wine to accompany lunch, we do need to have a productive afternoon!

I think we managed that - judging by all the fabric flapping gently in the breeze!

 We were back the next day eager to get going with a bit more discharge before Clive managed to finally tidy it all away and start exploring stitched marks!

It was inspirational hearing about and seeing Clive's own work.  There was such a lot of stitched mark making ideas for us to try out.

These are a selection of Clive's pieces

and I'm hoping the students will send us images of their work once it is completed.

I used a leaf cut out on a couple of pieces, so I definitely want to try this stitch idea out on it.

If you fancy a creative day out why not take as look at our web site and see what is coming us soon?  We would love to welcome you to our new creative space!

http://www.institchestextilecourses.co.uk/

Dreams can come true!

For a long time we have dreamed of having our own textile studio one day and finally this week that dream came true!  Sunfield Studio opened for business this Wednesday after a manic summer getting everything ready. 



If you follow us on Instagram or Facebook you'll have seen the occasional teaser photograph, but come and have a tour right now!



We have padded height adjustable tables which are just the thing for printing and sewing on (and great for ironing on too), lots of light, big windows, air conditioning plus a door outside for when the weather is nice and we want to indigo dye!  Look closely, see the half wall, well behind there, for when it's not so nice out, we have a great wet area just waiting for dyeing to happen...



We have made sure there's lots of equipment available for use,



that's easy to find



and don't you just love all the brayers hanging neatly on their hooks waiting for you?



There are comfy chairs and brightly coloured stools,



and of course the kitchen is well stocked and we promise there'll be something home baked in the tin too!



We have added a library for you to peruse



plus interesting things to stimulate the creative juices



So what are you waiting for? - Come and see us soon, we can't wait to show you around our lovely new home!