The beautiful courtyard at La Verderie 2 workshops in France September/October Hot Textiles - Creative Bondaweb  September 26 th – October 1 st Luscious Layers October 3 rd – 8 th I am very blinkered in the way I think and sometimes need a nudge to make me realise what is staring me in the face!  Gorgeous old buildings with loads of inspirational textures can be found around and about La Verderie Because the workshops in France are going to be for 4 - 5 students I immediately thought they would be good for beginners and marketed it accordingly. It has been pointed out to me several times that working in a small group would also be a great opportunity for more advanced students to have their own 'masterclass' with me. There will be plenty of time for one to one tuition for any level of experience so Sue and I have now changed the skill levels on all the advertising. I am giving you all the 'heads up' as I start my show season this week and wi...

Bonded and bejewelled newspaper for stitch at Foredown Tower March 3rd Hello again, apologies for the gap in communication. I had been struck down by a DISGUSTING cold and am just about getting back into the land of the living. I was so bad I had to cancel my workshop at Uckfield Community College last Saturday - unheard of!  I am almost up to date with all the orders on nid-noi.com . The Hot Spots! give away was obviously a good idea. That offer has finished now so things should calm down a bit orders wise - which is a good thing as I have just a little bit of organising to do for upcoming shows and my trip to Australia and New Zealand looming up fast. Because the funded workshop at Foredown Tower filled up within hours of my mentioning it I have added another one - there are 6 places left. This workshop won't be funded - it will cost £35 for the day and there will be a materials list. As many of you will know I rarely teach in my home town as my college close...

 Hot Spots! decorated with various heat transfer foils, sequins and glitter - FAB!  Well that was good idea!  I offered a free Hot Spots! Playpack (value £6) with every order received on nid-noi.com between the 15th and 25th January on this blog and in my newsletter and have been very pleased with the result. I wanted to see if it was necessary to put anything on the home page of the website to generate interest - it seems not! I think if I had put the offer on the website I wouldn't be able to cope. Thank you all for your orders and for being such lovely guinea pigs . . . . . . I have never done an offer before but I am so encouraged I think I will do another one next month - so watch this space.   It is my way of thanking my existing customers and blog followers and gives you a chance try something new . So until midnight on the 25th January - if you place an order - you get a free Hot Spots! Playpack. If anyone fancies sending me an image of what t...

  Painted and foiled Bondaweb with painted, textured and foiled Tyvek The final day at West Dean was a day of layering and stitch, a great treat. Having the extra day made such a difference, to the work and to the group. All the students bar one were beginners in the Hot Textiles field and they all produced some brilliant work. We worked through all the basic Hot Textiles processes as you will see in the previous posts. The students were left with various piles of heat treated fabrics which I asked them to create some kind of composition - here are the resulting samples -   Layers of transfer printed CS800 Vilene Spunbond zapped with a heat gun and decorated with frayed organza and embossing powder.   Transfer printed CS800 Vilene Spunbond zapped with a heat gun decorated with a Tyvek motif.      Polyester organza decorated with painted Bondaweb, zapped with a heat gun and decorated with textured Tyvek  P...

Transfer printed Evolon decorated with silver transfer foiled Hot Spots! This is a just a catch up post - I will continue with the West Dean workshop later when I have had time to sort through all the photos. Being a bear of little brain and what brain I have left is soggy with a cold, it has only just occurred to me that my followers on here are not necessarily subscribers to my newsletter and therefore won't be aware of my special offer this month. I am giving away a free Hot Spots! Playpack (value £6) with every order received on www.nid-noi.com between the 15th and 25th January. I am so pleased with this product I want everyone to try it. There is a free film to watch if you can bear it on the top left of this blog showing you how to use them - you can fast forward to the demo . . . . The pack contains 2 x A4 sheets of medium spots, 2 x A4 sheets of small spots, 2 sample pieces of heat transfer foil, hints and tips and a free gecko template. ...

  3 A4 sheets of painted Tyvek layered with polyester organza. this was then machine stitched together and then zapped with a heat gun to reveal different layers of colour and to create texture. The second day of a three day course - we have covered most of the basic techniques now and the students will be combining their own layers and stitching into them tomorrow.  There are seven in the group and it is another good group - textile ladies do seem to be good fun in general. I rarely get someone who moans. These are two Bondaweb pieces that I missed yesterday We worked with Tyvek for most of the day, starting with 'kissing, stroking and caressing' single sheets and moving on to layering Tyvek with polyester organza and zapping back. I don't know if you can have too much of a good thing but here are all the layered samples - front and back - Maggie's front and back Jean's front and back   Janet's front and back...

Painted Bondaweb ironed onto a turquoise background fabric, decorated with dried seeds and leaves, jewel dots and strips of the backing paper from the Bondaweb  The first day of this 3 day course was spent showing the students the basic layering techniques we were due to cover. Once the students have got to grips with the basics they can then start zapping and stitching or whatever they fancy. First of all we painted Bondaweb and Tyvek - The Bondaweb we started to work with today (as you will see) and the Tyvek will be played with tomorrow. While the Bondaweb was drying the students ironed some plain Bondaweb onto a piece of pre-coloured Vilene Spunbond CS500. A soldering iron was then used to cut out shapes which were the ironed onto a second piece of Spunbond. Here are some of their samples -         We then experimented with transfer printing onto white CS800 - the heaviest weight Spunbond. I have my heat press here so the students ...

Bridget had fun with black Hot Stuff sheet. Decorating it with heat transfer foils and then impressing with wooden printing blocks while hot We had a chance to play with various materials on the course - Hot Stuff sheet was one of them, another was Solufleece . Solufleece is a water soluble machine embroidery product that has another use. You can 'crash' it with steam.       Solufleece is layered with Bondaweb and a top fabric. The sample is then stitched in rows and then steamed - the sample then puckers up. The samples above show the technique using two layers of organza as the top fabric. Do any of you remember those swimming costumes made with shirring elastic we used to wear that used to go all baggy when they got wet - No!!! of course not - you are far too young!!! This technique reminds me of that wet soggy feeling!!!!!   Christine stitching into her decorated newspaper     Bridget had fun layering CS500 Vilene Spunbon...