I would like to begin this month by saying thank you to all of you for being such wonderful, supportive people. The Instagram page is looking lovely – quite festive – with all the super things you have been making over the years. We really did celebrate International Embroidery Day. Now to think of something special to do next year ;-). Thank you too, for your support, virtual and actual of one another. I know there is a lot of building up and helping those of our members who are struggling one way or another, and you have really done what you could under the limitations we are living with at present. You are a lovely group of people.
A few of us have been meeting every fortnight on Zoom and we were thinking that actually, living through this pandemic with its new demands and challenges is something of a once in a lifetime event. Even if we will have other pandemics, (and there are plenty of pessimists who seem to think so), this is the first time in 100 years that we have lived through something which has affected us as globally as this one. Values have completely changed, and our perception of strong nations and weak nations has been turned upside down. Weaknesses in our society have been exposed, and the strength and endurance of the human spirit has been expressed in some wonderful ways. We felt that living through this needs to be given some sort of expression, and that we need to mark it in some way. Accordingly, we have come up with the following:
Lockdown Project — open to all
We would like everyone who does embroidery (and we are not limiting it to this group only) to contribute to creating a small piece of embroidery which our Zoom group will put together in a frieze which will be exhibited at Ighali, when we hold it next year. We will then look for other places to exhibit it, and hopefully find a permanent home for it where it will speak to those who have lived through it, or to those who come after us, for some time. Eventually the “pandemic” character will fade from memory, but then, we want a piece of art which will speak of our craft for years to come. I hope you can catch the vision too, and will want to be part of this.
This is what we are looking for:
- The General heading – at the moment– we can tweak this later: “2020 – The View From the Inside. Experiencing Pandemic”
- Each member produce one piece of embroidery which expresses her experiences of this period in our lives.
- The material should be a light coloured even weave (white is preferred, but we are aware that people may not have this in their stash).
- It can be either linen or cotton as long as it is of fairly good, durable quality. “Threads” have some good quality stuff, (open Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday 10h00 – 12h00) some of it still old stock at a reasonable price, but you don’t have to buy anything if you already have something that will do. Should anyone have absolutely nothing in their stash, Danny has said her son and/or husband are willing to buy what you need and deliver it to you if you are unwilling to travel (thank you so much Danny!). However, ordinary fabric is absolutely fine. We cannot use canvas of any sort, and Aida is difficult to fold and attach to something else, so PLEASE don’t use those. They are also too heavy in comparison with most other material.
- Each piece needs to be 25 centimetres high by as long as you want it, up to 80 cm long, with an extra 2 cm border all round so we can sew it onto the holding fabric. You can make it a small square, or you could make it anything up to 0.8 metre in length. The HEIGHT is important (25 cm), because it needs to match its neighbours. You may also fit in more than one piece – like four bookmarks in a row, or six miniatures on your piece if you want to, as long as the finished product is within 25 cm in height. You are asked to mark the boundaries of your picture, either as an embroidered frame around your work, or to tack where the picture ends so we can centre it properly when mounting it. The frieze will look something like this:
- Any depiction of your experiences of this pandemic is valid. Any embroidery stitch or technique, any subject matter, internal and abstract, or a picture of a scene, or a tribute to medical staff, any additions such as sequins or beads, ANYTHING that expresses your experience and conveys it to the public. You may submit up to five pieces, and each piece must have your name (or artistic identity) and the initials of your organisation embroidered in small letters at the bottom right of your piece. You want to your admirers to know where your work is, and for this to be recognised by those who come after you! As they come in, we will display them on our Instagram page.
- We would love it if Thusani or any other upliftment group can be included. It’s important that all sectors of the population can be represented. Any other embroidery group you belong to would be very welcome to participate, and if your great-great granny is keen, or your great granddaughter’s Brownie group would like to be part of this, please let them!
- The time limit for this is by the 15thJanuary next year. That allows us to work at piecing it together while it’s summer and we can work in the open air with suitable distancing if we are still in lockdown. Hopefully, by then things will be a little more under control.
- When you finish your piece(s), since we are not meeting at the moment, you can submit them in one of three ways.
- Deliver it to “Ribbon Fields” embroidery shop, which is situated at 14 Pierre Road, Bordeaux in Randburg. At the moment hours are 10h00 – 12h00 on Tuesday and Thursday mornings, but Sue Clegg says she is considering opening on Saturdays too. Give her a call 082 338 4312.
- Deliver it to “Buttons and Bows” at shop 31B Cramerview village, 277 Main Road, Bryanston. They are open Monday to Friday 09h00 to 14h00, and Saturday 09h00 to 13h00 (the shop is at the back of the centre).
- Send it to Postnet Victory Park, and make sure the recipient is marked “Margaret 082 880 9229” and they will phone me and I can pick it up. (Just make sure the Postnet you send it FROM is reliable. I have had very mixed experiences, which is why Victory Park is the one I use.)
- Advertise this to everyone you can think of. I will be sending something that can be printed out as a flyer so you can advertise it along with these instructions to your WhatsApp group, your local Spar or wherever Lockdown allows you to go. And START SEWING!
We are really looking forward to what you will produce, and we hope to have something really special!