Meet the Artists!

WOO HOO!
Today was our Meet the Artists afternoon...
Guess what - 238 visitors today alone!!!!!
When the 200 person walked through that door we cheered - she got a little BB present..
Come see us - another week to go...

 

 

the travelling bags!

Susi's wonderful bag made by Louise - a Japanese styled shape with faded beauty in the fabric
Here it is in the garden...

and you can see my added button detail - the flame orange vintage twisted silk...

You have seen Alison's bag by Louise - here they are in an unusual place - they travel regularly every week to Save the Children in Bath where both of us volunteer!

This is a taster of Alison's project for our exhibition 'Suited' as part of the Stroud International Textile Festival.

Bag by Corinne

 

 

This beautiful bag made by Corinne will be at the exhibition in Stroud - coming soon.

buttonhole silk...

Soon, there will be 'no more twist' (Beatrix Potter, The Tailor of Gloucester) in this stunning vintage magenta. I will feel sadness when the last strand is stitched - it is inherently beautiful on it's reel, unrolling, unfurling with energy! On researching the making of buttonholes, I decided to run some through wax before stitching, which makes it more controlled for a tailored buttonhole.. though that isn't all I stitched in little samples with it - as you will, perhaps, see - if you come to our exhibition  - SIT SELECT 2013

Sketchbook sample - 3 in a row - all unfinished with one unravelled!

This morning's stitching...
Images and audio will be presented at Suited, alongside the sketchbook work

Linda's work for Suited

Beautiful new image from Linda

Louise hard at work

 

 

This is Louise, hard at work stitching for 'Suited'

See this work at the show.

 

The photographer for this image is J. Ingledew and is supported

by Stroud International Textiles.

one and twenty buttonholes..!

'One and twenty buttonholes'  - back to Beatrix Potter's tale, The Tailor of Gloucester...
Some sampling of the tailor's cloth, some text and some machine made buttonholes...
No - it has to be hand-stitched buttonholes for those Exhibition pieces - the skill.. the care.. the time and detail are not to be brought to attention any other way...
But there we have it - the skill?! The frustration, the clumsy attempts - oooh - what a challenge!
Ah, but the vintage buttonhole silk twist thread makes up for any of this - the way it slips through needle and lies against the fabric, it is just wonderful!

I am writing alongside stitching.. an audio piece will follow. The camera - for me it is a dilated eye -
some stitch which begins to resemble something presentable, when looked at magnified is breathtaking in its revelations! And so another idea has formed too - and more work has followed which links to both the story and some deep issues about clothing production... more another time!
Susi

a particular kind of tailoring...

Whilst thinking about work for our 'Suited' Exhibition, I have made some links in my mind.
I hope they make sense in sharing them here!
Tailoring requires considerable skill, craft, attention to detail, practise, experience...
It is about a careful honouring of the person the clothing is for. To 'make the best' that is possible with cloth, fit, detail.
For the Exhibition, I am working on buttonhole stitch (cherry red buttonhole twist as in the Tailor of Gloucester, but that progress is for another post!)
Meanwhile..

 Buttonhole in another context. This one is about mending - about continuing to care for clothing that has lead a full life - about trying to nurture - to catch tears and bring colour and beauty and new life.
The buttonhole stitch here stops an unravelling, makes a feature of wear and tear!

It also honours (I hope) the skill of makers of mass produced clothing by not wasting it, by rejuvenating and extending it's life. I am bringing a different craft and skill and, in so doing, am also 'customising' - making something relevant and personal to an individual, adding detail in a light way -  'making the best' and bringing some creative attention to everyday denim...
To read more, see my blog post at boostitch

Suited 2013 - the beginnings

Work in progress!
Where to begin..

a tailor,
buttonhole stitch:
buttonholes,
patterns on delicate tissue,
buttonhole wheels









and the memories of a story..120 buttonholes of cherry twisted silk
A long way to go, many choices to make, but a beginning!

More on boostitch's blog in pattern piece doodle and pattern piece doodle two! (click on the pink links!)

Suited is the first new BB Exhibition for 2013 at the Lansdown Hall Gallery, Stroud
Please see Stroud International Textiles for many exciting events and news of Select 2013

Suited ideas from Susi..

Thinking ahead to the BB Exhibition 'Suited' for next year (even though we have 2 BB Exhibitions coming up in June - 'Curiously Enough' at Ruskin Mill, Nailsworth and 'Mending my Ways' at Musgrove Hospital, Taunton - I started to look more closely at the beautiful fabric donated to us from the tailor's ... such subtle weaves.
Decided to make some brooches and buttons and play with some scraps, threads and beads as it is holiday time!

bags from the tailors fabric

Here are a selection of bags I have made with fabric from the tailors shop. As you can see I am trying different shapes and sizes!

New and exciting work from Louise Watson...

Another month, another bag for the Brunel Broderers using the fabric from the tailors shop.

The intention is to make one each for each borderer!

This work is for the Broderers 2013 exhibition entitled "Suited"...more to be revealed as the work progresses, each Broderer has an amount of fabric, fastenings, findings, buttons and suchlike from a fabulous tailors shop in Woodmancote that had long lay dormant. We all intend to manipulate, alter, bring to life the wonderful fabrics that tell such stories and hold such history.

Louise has been working on bags, of varying shapes, sizes and patterns, these bags will go on journey between now and the exhibition, who knows where and who with...

Happy Christmas Everyone!

Last week the BB's held our Christmas get-together. Not much trifle was left, but here it is amongst some inspiration gathered from the stash of tailors remnants which we will work on in the New Year, as well as planning for a possibly curious event!