One of the fab samples from one of my workshops at Excel. The Stitching, Sewing and Hobbycrafts Show at Excel was splendid. It was very busy. I haven't seen a show that consistently busy every day for a long time. It was interesting to see and meet so many new visitors. Roughly half of the visitors were aware of the more experimental side of textiles and the other half were well informed. It was a fascinating mix - I have never known this before and I have done a lot of shows.  Apart from having my own stand, I also ran The Vilene Workshop as I did the previous weekend at the NEC. At this show the tutors were, myself, Fran Holmes, Tina Francis, Jayne Routley and Wendy Dolan.  I was given extra space for a small part of the end of the year show of Experimental Textiles that was at the NEC the previous weekend. It was very well received and I had several enquiries about enrolments. Some of my students work on my stand. Getting my stand ready, this is J...

A splendid sparkly sample. So - that's The NEC done and dusted, at least until August anyway. The Fashion, Embroidery & Stitch Show was great fun and was very busy. I have various roles at the show, it is my busiest show of the year. One of my roles is to run the Vilene Workshop. 5 x 45 minute workshops a day with 5 different tutors. This year it was Lynda Monk, me, Fran Holmes, Tina Francis and Jayne Routley. One of my workshops getting under way. The workshops are free and are always popular. I will be running similar workshops at Excel from Friday - www.fashionembroidery.co.uk/london/workshops. I will also be giving a lecture every day. These are some of the samples the ladies produced in 45 minutes. Lots of sparkle and twinkle on painted Bondaweb. My workshop is 'Sparkle and Twinkle' , using all manner of sparkle and transfer foils on painted Bondaweb. This process makes fabulous surfaces for stitch. The other tutors had sta...

Mary Smith's interpretation of her journey in colour and in fabric. So - here we are the NEC for Fashion, Embroidery & Stitch. It is my biggest show of the year. It is a very exciting show, so much to see and do. This is a quick post just to talk about my Experimental Textiles students end of year show. There are 2 stands at the show. Having sorted most of the work on the students last session in the IDC studios at The Old Needleworks, I knew roughly what I wanted to hang on each stand. Arriving and seeing an empty stand can be daunting, you just have to keep going till you finish.  Starting to set up the stand.  Starting to realise just how much work we have to choose from.  . . . And then, as if by magic (several hours later) - you have a finished stand.    A selection of the work created on the course including some crazy 3D pieces and all the workbooks.  The workbooks are always the most popular part of the st...