Gwent Creative Stitch & Textiles

2020 Programme

Posted below is our Workshop Programme for the year.

Members can book with Margaret via phone or email or at workshops as usual.

If anyone who is not a member would like to join, attend a workshop or ask for further information would they please contact us by the group email

[email protected]

because for some reason we are having problems accessing messages on Facebook. Thanks.

2020 Programme

January 18th
10am-1.00pm
Show and Tell
Everyone bring along some pieces of their work - finished or otherwise - to show the group and/or seek advice and inspiration

February 15th
10am- 3.30pm
Still Life Surface Design
Design and stitch a Still Life picture
Deborah O’Hare

March 21st
10am-3.30pm
Illuminated Manuscripts
Produce a medieval style letter and illustrate with stitch
Anne Griffiths

May 16th
10am-3.30pm
Blue China
Produce a beautiful hand embroidered design
Loetitia Gibier

June 20th
10am-3.30 pm
Felted book jackets
Make and decorate book jackets in felt
Abi Thomas

July 18th
10am-3.30pm
Multi-media seascape
Create a seascape with paper, fabric, colour and stitch
Amanda Hislop

Sept 19th
10am-3.30pm
Playday/Catch-up
Bring your half-finished/completed workshop attempts and finish them/do another one with mutual support

October 17th
10am-3.30pm
AGM followed by Stories and Stitches from India
Illustrated talk with examples based on recent trips to India
Vanessa Coole and Margaret Jenkins

Nov 21st
10am-3.30pm
Xmas Stockings
Make beautiful Xmas Stockings
Julia Mynott

As expected our members experienced a time of oohing and ahhing over the sumptuous and quirky pieces by steampunk queen Veronika , before getting to try the techniques themselves.

Check out some of Veronika's work and the resulting workshop pieces below.

Something not to be missed

16th November

10am – 3.30pm

Steam Punk with Veronika Brannovic

Learn new and unusual ways to decorate and embellish fabrics and clothes in the context of this very interesting subculture, with Veronika one of our newer members.

The workshop is for all skill levels. So don't be nervous. Just come along and learn in a friendly, fun atmosphere. It will be a chance to learn how to add that unique piece of chic and glamour to an outfit or article.

Workshops – Members £20
Non-members £35

Message or Email us to secure your place.
Check out some of Veronika's work in the pictures below or on her page

Check out our workshops 10am - 3.30pm cost for non-members £35 message us to book a workshop. If you would just like to meet us and find out what we do before committing yourself, come along on one of these dates and check us out.

13th April Dyeing Fabric - Judith Gussin
Learn to dye a range of fabrics, producing materials for future use, with Judith from 21st Century Yarns and author of the book “Dyework”

15th June Hammered Leaves - Ruth Norbury
Use summer leaves to decorate fabric as the basis for stitching and other decoration including card-making. You may have seen Ruth at Swansea Festival.

20th July Garden in a Cup - Jane Fairweather
Stitch a 3D garden in a vintage cup, with Jane, whose work you may have seen on our trip to Berrington Hall or at other venues.

21stSeptember Designer Dolls - Jane Davies
Use up your fragments of fabric, threads, beads, buttons etc to produce lovely, individual, decorative dolls. A welcome return for an interesting and enjoyable tutor.

16th November Steam Punk - Veronika Brannovic
Learn new and unusual ways to decorate and embellish fabrics and clothes in the context of this very interesting subculture, with Veronika one of our newer members.

Two very exciting exhibitions it looks like it would be a shame to miss.

On May 12th we all enjoyed or Summer Trip to the Jen Jones Welsh Quilt Centre

https://www.facebook.com/WelshQuiltCentre/
to see a selection of the quilts previously exhibited in the yearly exhibitions and the Janet Bolton Exhibition.

The centre is very well worth a visit not only for the wonderful exhibitions but the shop and cafe next door.

We all also had an amazing time in the aladdin's cave two door's up that is Calico Kate's, which has an abundance of beautiful fabric, thread etc that is any textile lover's dream. https://www.facebook.com/pages/Calico-Kate/216017308787229

Needless to say we went home with our bags heavier, our purses lighter and giving a big thank you to all those who organised such an enjoyable trip.

We were all very excited when we walked in and saw Jane's beautiful silk creations all laid out. Jane then gave us a very interesting talk on each textile and how she got interested in silk paper.
After Jane gave us a brief history of silk production she proceeded to let us into her secrets. We then proceeded to have a wonderful messy, creative time as Jane explained each process and we attempted to copy her.
Jane had very thoughtfully provided us with a clothes airer to put our wet paper on to dry it as much as we could before taking it home.

We hung up our paper, put the airer outside and went to lunch. We came back after discussing the beautiful weather, the prospect of another summer like 1976 and a hose ban came back to the art room, looked out of the window and saw to our amusement that it had rained.

It was a thrill to be able to take home two completed pieces that only had to dry, and possibly put a stitch or two into.

A new technique for many of us at the workshop but one we took to like ducks to water. I think it is safe to say that we were all amazed at the amount of paper and cloth samples we were able to produce and to go home with our final mixed media collage all ready to stitch.
As always with Sheila Davies of Celyn Textiles https://www.facebook.com/celyntextiles/

We hope everyone is enjoying the sunshine and finding a cool place to stitch outdoors.

We are now on our summer break and looking forward to our coffee morning at Jan's. We haven't been slacking though so check out are posts showing the beautiful work which has been created at our last 3 workshops.

If you feel inspired or just fancy checking us out then put Oct 20th in your diary and drop in between 1pm-3.30pm and meet us at our Playday where we try out or practice various textile techniques.