Newsletter — November 2021

I must begin this month’s newsletter by remembering our dear friend Fatima Bhabha who died at the end of last month. She was the Chair when I re-joined the Guild after 20 years’ absence, and I could not have been made to feel more welcome. She took an interest in everyone’s work, and always had a bit of practical philosophy to share when the creative process became a bit frustrating as happens, even with embroidery! We had some lovely chats, and her work was always beautiful. She will be sorely missed, and we are grateful for all that she did for the Guild and its members. RIP Fatti, and our condolences to her family and numerous friends.

A selection of Fatima’s work from the Guild’s 2016 exhibition.

Further information about our “Eye of the Needle” project – the backing material has arrived and is waiting to be used to mount our efforts. Two of the working group are on a well-deserved holiday at the moment, but no doubt over the December period there will be some progress. We look forward to seeing the end result.

Last month Jenni Langford took a lot of trouble to collate a list of all available suppliers of embroidery materials. There is a new shop which has just moved to the Jan Smuts Avenue area. It is called “Moon and Son” and as yet has small amounts of wool, embroidery thread (mostly Chameleon) and quilting material. The delightful young lady who runs it is offering classes in knitting, crochet, quilting and embroidery – she did tell me the name of the teacher, and it sounded familiar, but I’m not going to write it here and get it wrong. Since the shop is new to the area, the dominant offering will ultimately be according to whatever the demands are. The shop is situated in the Valley Shopping centre, and if you come out of Clicks, turn RIGHT and it is tucked into the northern most corner of the centre. Go and have a look. The phone number is 082 728 8103, and I’m sure she would source anything you needed.

While we are talking about lessons, Colleen Goy is teaching again, at Ribbon Fields and at Buttons and Bows. Phone the shops concerned to get days and times if you or anyone you know is interested in upping their skills.

Danny has been in touch with the Roosevelt Park Recreation Centre to find out about re-opening again, but it seems as though the re-furbishment is nowhere near ready. We really don’t want to wait forever to begin again, and the committee is considering other venues. If any of you know of a possible meeting place which is within about 10 Kms of Roosevelt Park, has secure parking and also is big enough to allow for Covid protocols (and the WHO says we are only about halfway through the pandemic. We still need distancing, masks etc), please let one of the committee members know, or reply to this email and I’ll make sure it is passed on. Even if we meet only in temporary accommodation from the beginning of next year, it will be good to see everyone again.

A couple of years ago I was looking for embroidery groups around the country and I happened upon the South African artist Sally Scott, who does the most magnificent paintings of the country around the Eastern Cape. She also calls herself a “Fibre Artist,” which is like post-graduate embroidery and quilting, and some magnificent creative things are done by those groups of Fibre Artists or (Textile Artists, which is the better-known name), who create these things. At the moment there is an exhibition being held in Gqeberha (the old PE) and I asked for the brochure to be sent to me so you can see what sort of work is done. It has links with the Keiskamma project – you remember that project where a number of concerned people went to the area around Hamburg and taught the indigent women art work of various kinds. That excellent outreach is still going on, and you will see some outstanding samples of what they are producing as well. Apparently there are fibre art groups all over the country, and I am sure we can only benefit by seeing a slightly different approach to our craft. This is the link: https://gfiartgallery.com/current/.

Other than that, I hope you are finding that the heat, the exhaustion from Covid – (is it ever going to go away?) and the general winding down towards the end of the year is not stopping you. Perhaps now is the time to be a bit embroidery mad. Let’s see if you can be REALLY crazy and different. Who knows – you might be South Africa’s next great world-renown artist! We look forward to seeing your creations and bragging about you to all our friends.

Keep well and keep cheerful.

Newsletter — August 2021

Colleen Goy has a number of new designs in the pipeline. We are privileged to be the first people to see the final product. This one is called “Summer Flowers”.

I hope you all survived the recent VERY cold front, and that your hands were not too cold to continue your beautiful embroidery. Now that the days are beginning to warm up, spring is on the horizon, and most of us have been double vaccinated (even though infection numbers are still high), we were hoping that meeting again would be possible in the not too distant future. Unfortunately that won’t be possible. The Roosevelt Park Recreation Centre is undergoing some renovations, and will be closed for the rest of the year. That means we will still be working from home, although I’m sure smaller, informal, self-generated meetings will happen, and perhaps the committee may have some plans for later on in the year.

We have reached the last month of our Covid project “The Eye of the Needle”. Jenni has between 20 and 30 pieces, and Hilary has a few as well. Please finish up what you are doing, and let us have them. The next collection day is the 28th August at the Roosevelt Park Recreation centre, and then the team will begin putting it all together. I finished my piece, and was truly inspired by a new book out this year “Threads of Life” by Clare Hunter. It is a story of the history of embroidery, but not about who wore what and which stitches were used, but rather a narrative of the author’s discovery of what embroidery meant to the many people (men and women) and how it is more than a hobby, but has been an eternal document of the lives and experiences of people of all ages, cultures and civilisations for about 1000 years. I bought an audible version and am still listening to it while doing handwork. You need a few tissues at times – it can be quite moving. It made me realize our Covid project is more than something to keep us busy during lockdown, but it is a statement of women in Johannesburg, in South Africa, during an event which is profoundly shaping us and will have huge implications in the years to come. Please don’t pass up the opportunity to have your say, and get your bit of cloth and do something for us. This is not about producing a piece of perfection which will be judged by the nastiest Home Economics teacher you ever met, but rather a statement, however imperfect, of our dealing with sadness, frustrations, deprivation, stress and a world-wide sisterhood (and brotherhood too) sharing the uncertainty of a spikey golf-ball shaped virus which has come to dominate our lives. Future generations will get to understand this in our unique way — WE NEED YOUR INPUT! I am including link to a review of the book which will tell you much more about what is in it.

https://www.thebookseller.com/profile/clare-hunter-embroidery-became-her-emotional-and-political-representative-899476

Jenni has once again included a short “how to” piece (see the bottom of this post). You will all remember that last Friday was World Embroidery Day. To mark it, perhaps you may like to try something new if you have never done cross stitch before, or you might like to teach someone. 95% of the time it will be one lesson and they will probably never pick up a needle and thread again, but at least they now know what embroidery is. That other 5% may take to it at once or may pick it up later. See what you can do! There will never be too many embroiderers in the world.

Another of Colleen Goy’s new designs, Volaré.

Colleen Goy has been busy and she says she has a number of new designs in the pipeline. She has given us two of them and we are the first people privileged to see the final product. When you have done your “Eye of the Needle” project and handed it in, here are some exciting new things to take on. I have attached them to this letter. Keep an eye on the Roseworks website, and look in our favourite embroidery shops, and we will soon have new things to do.

In the meantime, keep on keeping on. These trying times will end someday, and let us use our art to make us stronger, kinder, and more resilient people – although most of you are there already! Lots of love.

CROSS STITCH

FABRIC

Most counted cross stitch projects are worked on even weave fabrics made especially for counted tread embroidery.  These fabrics have vertical and horizontal threads of uniform thickness and spacing.  Aida cloth is a favourite because its weave forms distinctive squares in the fabric, which makes placing stitches easy.  To determine a fabric’s thread count, count the number of threads per inch of fabric.

In addition to even weave fabrics, many stitchers enjoy using waste canvas, perforated paper, and plastic canvas.

Waste canvas is basted to clothing or other fabric, forming a grid for stitching which is later removed.

Perforated paper has holes evenly spaced, 14 stitches per inch.

Plastic canvas can be found in different counts and shapes.

NEEDLES

Size 24 and 26 blunt-end tapestry needles are used for stitching on even weave fabric and Aida cloth.  The ideal needle size is just small enough to slip easily through your fabric.  When stitching on waste canvas, use a sharp needle. Sharp needles are also recommended for back stitch and other embroidery stitches used to embellish cross stitch work.

HOOPS AND SCISSORS

An embroidery hoop is recommended for cross stitch, and a pair of small, sharp embroidery scissors is very helpful.