Textile Books, Rolls & the odd Box, surface design, hand embroidery & more

Try to work with your favourite techniques – or some new ones – in a different format from the normal quilt or wallhaning. If nothing else some of the projects lends themselves brilliantly to creating exiting new ways of keeping your samples together – like a contemporary sampler. You will be able to explore a variety of simple yet effective surface design techniques through simple exercises and you are free to choose whether you want to work on a book, a roll, a scroll or maybe a box – or several.

Student Requirements

inspirational material; such as sketchbooks, photos, images, books, found objects and so forth

•miscellaneous tools; masking tape, scissors, rotary cutter, ruler, cutting mat, needles, pins, 505 spray.

•fabrics: At least 0,5 m of 6 different kinds of fabrics, but more is as always better. White or light fabric is good for many surface design techniques and if you have hand dyed or for instance rust dyed fabric bring that too. Scraps and smaller pieces are invaluable for collage techniques; sheer fabrics as scrim, gauze, organza (I often use very thin white silk organza) or similar. Bringing too much is better than bringing too little – choice is important!

Your will need some heavier fabric for backgrounds if you want to work with books, rolls or boxes, but it is difficult to say how much

•thread; suitable for hand and machine stitch and embroidery,

•batting; thin cotton or polyester batting, (505 spray)

•backing fabric; enough for at least 2 or 3 times 50 x 80 m

•sewing machine; including darning or embroidery foot if you wish to machine quilt or make machine embroidery. The sewing machine manual, if you are not confident with your sewing machine. Extension cord.

•American freezer paper, acrylic sheet or A4 plastic pockets; if you wish to try stencilling or mono printing

•fabric paints or inks, Markal/Shiva Paintstiks; a small selection of colours that complement the fabrics and mark-making tools; a small selection such as a couple of brushes, rollers etc., plastic to cover up work space, apron to protect your clothes - I will bring a selection of paintstiks to complement the selection too too.

•stamps, stencils, things with interesting textures for rubbing - anything you would like to use or to try out. Heavy cardboard pieces, string and/or rope, craft foam, double sided carpet tape if you want to make your own stamps

•apron and paper towels; or old rags to clean tools and workspace

•water soluble stabilizer; if you want to experiment with machine embroidery on organza

PAT Testing: Make sure your electrical equipment (sewing machine) has been recently PAT tested.