WORKSHOP Details

  I have been fortunate enough to visit India twice in 2019. I learnt a lot about block printing and fell in love with the technique and the blocks themselves, which I consider as little works of art, hand carved and beautifully made. 

I have had a lot of my own designs made into blocks; the mandalas are no exception. Of course, I could not have them made into dinner plate sizes so I had to think of another way to make my prints bigger to create these Marvellous Mandalas.

I am always visiting charity shops to find treasures that I can turn into something else. I found a whole load of these curtain rings in the Big C craft supplies charity shop in Wymondham, Norfolk and immediately thought of turning them into decorations, mobiles and garlands, using traditional embroidery, wire work and tassels. Some of you will know that I use vlieseline in my work and these are no exception. Beads and other embellishments can be added to make these unique decorations. 

This is another inspired make from my visits to India.I  watched first hand and had a go at block printing with the master artisans themselves. I am now hooked on this ancient form of art printing.

This is an introduction to Indian Block Printing, with a twist, as in, making your own prints to use. You will also be using kantha stitch and couching, Indian style, along with beads and other motifs, to create a small, mixed media concertina book full of opulent ‘Indian Treasures'.

In this workshop different techniques will be used to create some delightful cards. Free motion machining is useful but not essential. For everyone from beginners to those in the know that want to have fun with printing, painting and stitch.

  I love using anything to do with flora and fauna in my work and Christmas Wreaths are no exception.

Just using some organza, beads, raffia and other bits and pieces, you can make holly leaves, poinsettias and much more, to create these gorgeous wreaths which will last for more than just one Christmas!

These can also be made into other seasonal wreaths as well. So once you have learnt the technique you could make one for any event.

 Use transfer dyes, interfacing and organza to create these lovely garlands. A soldering iron is used to burn out the shape. Free motion machining is also useful but not essential.

We will be using my favourite material, Vlieseline, (vilene to most people) with teabags, moth print blocks which I designed and had made in India, how wonderful is that! Free motion stitching, paint and varnish to create these postcard size pieces. We will also use a soldering tool for the finished edges.

This workshop will start you on the journey of mastering free motion machining. I will help take the fear out of the art of drawing with a sewing machine needle, and leave you more confident with this skill.

I am very fortunate that I can have my designs carved into blocks created by the wonderful Indian Artisans from Aahilya Creations.com. I also have others from all over, which are not my designs, but equally beautiful. What better to have a block printing day using all my blocks. You can print onto fabric and paper ready to use in your own work in the future. Be warned it is addictive!

I love using anything to do with flora and fauna in my work , this  workshop was created for a stitch retreat at the Lodge flower and Craft  School. I think it is lovely to make boxes for gifts etc. Bento Boxes originate from Japan, initially as food compartments  but gradually used for floral designs.

You will make one decorated square box in the day but will be able to create many more afterwards. 

Using red, yellow and blue procion dyes to dye fabric into the colour wheel. We will be doing a few more techniques as well to acquire some beautiful colours and patterns on the fabrics. 

You'll learn to make your own concertina book with the theme you choose. We'll be using a variety of techniques, including transferring pictures to fabric, tea dyeing fabric and embellishing using bondaweb, FuseFx, buttons, beads and much much more. 

This is a 2 day workshop.

I'm loving using some India based inspiration in my work. Come along - you will be painting, stitching and painting again in this therapeutic workshop.

 An easy way to get quick results with eco dyeing

I am a little impatient when it comes to waiting for things to happen. Eco dyeing is no exception, it can take quite some time to get good results. I have done a lot of experimenting with leaves in my heat press and have had some surprising outcomes. Not everyone will have a heat press, so I practiced with an old iron which worked equally as well. Now to share it with you.

In ​this popular workshop transfer paints, organza and interfacing will be used to create these pretty decorative bowls. Inside of transfer paints other colour mediums can be used, paints, felt tips etc. Some free motion machining is used but not essential 

 In this workshop, you'll be using a variety of techniques, including transfer paints, print blocks, free motion embroidery and gliding flakes, to make your own wall hanging based on trees. 

 I have always loved dolls and I adore making them too. Queenie came about because I have a large amount of upholstery fabrics and wanted to make something different instead of cushions and this is the result. You can use any scrap fabric you have - upholstery, cottons any up-cycling bits you can find in your stash.

There is nothing quite like hand embroidery. Embroidery stitches and techniques are as old as time itself and I am happy to share some of them with you.

You will be making a little book, using different embroidery stitches and some of their variants.  

Throughout the time you will stitch sample  pages and some pictorial pages using the stitches learnt. The book will then be put together using ribbon and beads. 3 hours over 6 weeks on Zoom or 3 days over 6 weeks  live.