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Northern Ireland Embroidery Guild | www.nieg.org.uk | email: [email protected]

Embroidery The Northern Ireland Embroidery Guild Newsletter

‘Isolation’ special issue 5

Editor Karen Nickell - [email protected]


Editor’s Note

This is an extra special issue - two great articles specially ‘commissioned’ for our magazine!

We were so disappointed when the Guild was cancelled this year, not only did we miss our

March meeting with Nigel Cheney, but also our April meeting with Sue Rangeley. What a

fabulous programme we had planned for our 40th anniversary year! Nigel kindly sent us images

and news that featured in our first lockdown magazine and now in our 5th lockdown issue we are

featuring Sue Rangeley from her studio at home. A big thank you to Sue for writing an article for

us and sharing images of her work in progress. (Please respect image copyright and don’t share

Sue’s images beyond this magazine).

Also featured in this magazine is an article by my niece Emma Jones, a final year student in

Textile Design specialising in embroidery at Glasgow School of Art. Emma was awarded a

student bursary from the Textile Society in March and was in the final push towards her degree

show when Covid-19 struck - a big thank-you to Emma for an inspiring and thought provoking

article.

Avril’s word search was a great success last magazine, so here is another one on a ‘garden’

theme. Avril has 22 garden words hidden in it, plus you may (as you did last time) find others.

Answers in the next magazine. If you are a Guild member you can go to the member’s private

chat room on the Guild website and upload your answers. More great puzzles at the end of the

magazine … so keep reading.


30 years ago …

Sue Rangeley visited the Guild as a special speaker for the Guild’s 10th anniversary and Joan

Taylor hunted out the newspaper cuttings of the event – spot some familiar faces!


text


Lockdown Studio - by Sue Rangeley

Welcome to the studio and my creative playground, where my imagination roams freely in

these challenging times. I thought I would share some of the ideas I have been playing

with recently and perhaps inspire a few thoughts for your own work, as I could not present

my ‘Pop-up Studio’ in April to the Guild.

The studio looks out onto the garden, yet another playground for another passion.

Themes in my latest work were nurtured while delving amongst weeds and mossy

textures, selecting random tangles of feathery fronds rather than precise prettiness of

floral blooms. My daily ‘lock-down’ routine has been divided between the garden and the

studio (plus some cake-baking!); each giving solace, inspiration and creative fun, and that

is what we all need right now!


Moss Textures

A fascination with stitched laces began in 2009, while creating the ‘Viridis’ skirt panel for my

book ‘Embroidered Originals’; once again a palette of greens inspires threads but textures are

bolder. Choosing a diverse mix of threads, including some vintage spools, gives the stitched

laces a variety of boucle effects, for example: using thicker thread such as a perle or Madeira

‘Lana’ in the bobbin. See photos below...

Like many of my embroidered pieces these mossy textures are destined for fashion

embellishment , referencing a famous garden. The work is almost complete and will now wait to

be photographed by Michael Wicks, for my next book. Until then, here is a detail of ‘work in

progress’, excuse me being secretive about the nature of the fashion item, all I can say is it is

very quirky and quite different!

All images in this article are copyright of Sue Rangeley


Studio Technique - Sue Rangeley

The climbing rose blooms on my garden wall are opening, here is a rose corsage that I created

for an article in the American magazine Threads (Feb./March issue). I was commissioned to

write about machine lace techniques; here is a photo of ‘work in progress’ for making lace leaves

using a water-soluble stabilizer and applied silk organza. The organza gives extra support to free-

motion stitching, but the lace leaves can be created with applied organza too.

Water-soluble

processes are in

‘Embroidered Originals’

www.suerangeley.co.uk

http://www.suerangeley.co.uk


Springtime Blossom

Surrounded by springtime blossoms in the garden, I am reminded of an embroidery I created for

an exhibition in Vancouver in 2016 which celebrated an annual Cherry Blossom festival. Here is

a detail of that piece, which I shall also feature in the next book, and the threads box for that

work. Applique flowers, wired stems and petite machine lace leaves.

I know people have been patiently waiting for my next book, I was aiming to get it published this

year (and still hope to) but the spring photography has now been delayed because of the

restrictions. The good news is that the extra time means I can create a few extra pieces. It is 10

years since my first book came out and I am still hoping for 2020, but it will be later in the year

now. Below is one of the water-colour paintings which is the inspiration for a new piece of

work that will feature in the book.

Best wishes

Sue


Links to more …

Have a look at Sue’s website for links to lots of other images of her work, events and information

and to her quarterly newsletter.

www.suerangeley.co.uk

Also an interview with Sue on TextileArtist.org

https://www.textileartist.org/sue-rangeley-interview-bespoke-embroidered-textiles


Remembering V.E. Day - some snippets from

Sue Rangeley

In my archive collection I treasure a few vintage Vogue

magazines, purchased some years ago, I thought you might

enjoy seeing this cover which was commissioned for the May

1945 Victory issue. The story of Vogue magazine during the

war years is fascinating and I can recommend ‘Dressed for

War’ by Julie Summers, about the editor Audrey Withers.

Glancing through a Harper’s Bazaar magazine (October

1944) I was amused to see this feature: ‘What shall I do with

my hair’ and thought you might enjoy a few ideas for how to

be creative with hairstyles, as we all wonder when we will be

able to visit the hairdresser! My favourite is design 3

festooned with flowers and hummingbirds, perhaps

inspiration to create an imaginative corsage or fascinator for

May 8th - I will leave that fun thought with you.

Sue


Class of Covid-19 by Emma Jones

These past few weeks my mind keeps returning to the

theme for the Venice Biennale Arte in the summer of

2019, “May You Live In Interesting Times”. Although the

current Covid-19 pandemic was probably far from what

they meant by interesting, one of the effects lockdown

has produced is an interesting set of circumstances for

this year’s graduating art and design students. I am one

of these soon-to-be graduates, hopefully graduating in

Textile Design from the Glasgow School of Art, albeit in

absentia. Over my 4 year degree I was able to try out 4

different textile specialisms, embroidery, knit, weave and

print before finally deciding to specialise in embroidery

for the last 2 years.

My embroidery for my graduate

collection, which has been the main

project for my last year, has been

focused on exploring embroidery as a

way to interpret the qualities of light,

form, movement and flow found in

landscape. I have been drawing

inspiration from a trip to the Isle of

Skye and the Outer Hebrides and

considering the traditions of Celtic

Twilight and the visual and literary

culture surrounding 18th century

Romanticism, especially tours of the

Scottish highlands and islands.

Images from top:

Emma working in her flat

during lockdown on her

domestic machine.

Collages inspired by

images of rock pools and

twigs of heather.

Collage inspired by the

Fairy Glen on the Isle of

Skye.


I have been experimenting with techniques like shadow work, digital embroidery on smocked

fabric, satin stitch work through freehand Irish machine embroidery, also pleating and fabric

manipulation. I’ve been using a mix of materials, mostly silks, linens, silk organza and cotton

organdies in the hope to create a vocabulary of textures, translucencies, distorted shapes and

3D structures that interpret some of the sublime landscape I visited. Having a year long project

has had the added benefit of being able to properly explore materiality and colour. I have

ventured off into the print room and dye lab to play around with dying raffia and different silks and

sublimation printing onto ostrich feathers.

The Covid-19 pandemic brought an abrupt halt to the normal way of things, the studios and

workshops at GSA were emptied and vacated within 24 hours on 17th March, everyone carting

back to their flats as much of their work as they could carry. On my way to collect my work from

the studio, one particularly humorous sight was watching my friend walk towards me on the

street. I was thinking they weren’t observing social distancing very well what with their arm

around another person. Only on closer inspection did it turn out to be a tailor’s mannequin,

dressed in a look from their fashion collection, they were wheeling along beside them. It is a

strange feeling to find yourself switching your mind set from mentally preparing for an intense 11

week push to finish off your degree, expecting more than a few sleepless nights making and fin-

ishing off samples and putting together sketchbooks and boards for the final deadline to a much

more relaxed although anxious alternative.

Development samples of pleats interspersed with

feathers and raffia inspired by moss textures


Freehand Irish machine embroidery inspired by moss textures

In the strange reality of lockdown I have a slight feeling of it being a holiday, albeit a housebound

one. The stress of deadlines has faded away as GSA took the decision to not have any physical

or digital submissions for assessment. But of course the world will resume again someday and

the need to keep productive is slowly sinking in for me. These past few weeks I have been

thinking around how I can change my design process to suit our new circumstances and I am

very thankful that embroidery is such a versatile medium, where you can make the most of what

materials you have around you. Although I have certainly got used to the luxury of having access

to a range of different sewing machines, heat presses, dye labs and laser cutters, the lockdown

has also been an opportunity for me to step away from the more highly digitised and mechanised

processes of embroidery.

It’s given me time to reconsider the potential of hand techniques and alternative processes. With

lockdown enforcing a slow down in the pace of life, I’ve been experimenting with hand dying

different materials to use in my graduate collection. With access to workshops curtailed it has

been a worthwhile challenge to look at my embroidery from the perspective of hand techniques,

embracing hand embroidery when I can no longer indulge my passion for the Juki Irish sewing

machine. By figuring out ways to hand smock and use my domestic sewing machine to smock

fabric without a Princess Pleater. I’ve also been researching other fabric manipulation

techniques such as silk crushing, which I haven’t previously had the time to try.


Development sample of digitally embroidered smocking

Shadow work inspired by rock structures All images copyright of Emma Jones


Since I got the opportunity to intern briefly at Karen Nicol’s London-based design and production

studio last summer, I have realised the importance of being adaptable, both in my designing and

physical making. I have drawn a lot of inspiration from Karen Nicol (an embroidery and mixed

media textile artist working in gallery, fashion and interiors) and her mixed media textile

approach to her art and designs. She creates her embroideries with an innovative use of

materials that she liberates from car boot sales among other places and combines together in

unusual and exciting ways. Her textile scrapbooks were delightful, full of trials and experiments

using odds and ends of fabric to create a texture resembling fur for a bear, or scales on a fish, all

collaged together for their qualities, colours or indeed their contrasts. While I was at her studio

she was creating her Paris map embroidery, her willingness to sometimes just cut something up

and place it differently, to fold and pleat and follow her instincts is perhaps an especially good

piece of advice for lockdown, when I find myself second-guessing my creative decisions a bit

more than usual.

Although this year there will be no physical degree show for the graduating students of GSA, an

alternative has been implemented for a digital showcase of student’s work via a website platform

opening on 29th May, (I will send the link to Karen once the website becomes active if anyone is

interested in virtually perusing some textiles and many other creative disciplines). I am finding a

newfound appreciation for the skill of professional photographers as I chase the sunlight around

different rooms in my flat trying to get decent photographs of my work in progress to upload to

the website. Online tutorials, reading groups and online talks by professionals and alumni were

starting for GSA students this week on Zoom. There are also groups of students designing,

using 3D modelling software, their own virtual simulator of a degree show in the Glasgow School

of Art’s Stow building.

It seems everyone is trying to make the most of the new normal and some brilliantly creative

ideas are coming to fruition to support fellow artists and designers and to celebrate years of hard

work. Yet it is also prompting a lot of discussion on what is important in an art school degree.

The Pause or Pay campaign (objecting to digital learning and digital degree shows) is kicking off

to garner support for universities to commit to hosting a physical degree show sometime in the

future. Also to allow final year students and postgraduates an opportunity to have access to the

last few weeks of workshops they have paid for but missed due to the Covid-19 pandemic, in

order to finish their portfolios and enter the job market. It is difficult to judge how much learning

can be moved online and still be effective and useful to a degree that is by nature not only visual

but also very tactile and hands on.

I don’t currently have plans for my future after

graduation, I’m keeping an eye out for internships or

jobs involving embroidery for fashion but in these

uncertain times I’m trying to take things one day at a

time. In the meantime I plan to keep on sewing and

eating too much of my flatmate’s baking.

Take care!

Emma Jones


I have included some links to instagram accounts if anyone wants to keep up to date with what is happening in Glasgow School of Art Textile Design.

Towards the end of May there will be a digital degree show and Emma will send me the links to forward on to you.

Emma’s instagram: https://www.instagram.com/emmajonesdesign/

GSA Textile Design 2020 graduates instagram: https://www.instagram.com/gsatextiles20/

Also if you haven’t come across Karen Nicol before I highly recommend you browse her website

and read her interview on the textileartist.org website. I saw her work at an event at the Ulster

University some years ago … her sample books of design and process were inspirational.

www.karennicol.com

www.textileartist.org/a-baptism-of-fire-an-interview-with-mixed-media-textile-artist-karen-nicol

https://www.instagram.com/emmajonesdesign/https://www.instagram.com/gsatextiles20/


Fashion on the Ration – Karen Nickell

A few years ago the Imperial War Museum staged a great exhibition called Fashion on the

Ration. I visited it with my mother and daughter and it was great to get a three-generational

perspective. When clothes rationing was introduced in 1941 women were encouraged to ‘make

do and mend’ to make existing clothes supplies last longer. Women demonstrated great

creativity and individual style flourished. There was an imaginative use of materials and recycling

of old clothes, and innovative home-made accessories. We were fascinated by the exhibits on

‘Make do and mend’ - we are a family of menders and improvised cobbled solutions. It seems we

have been waiting since wartime for a pandemic so we can use of our skills again to rummage

around and make stuff with whatever is to hand. It helps of course if you are also a family of

hoarders!

One thing that amused me was that darning wool wasn’t

rationed, so you could buy it in skeins, and women were

using it to knit new garments. Once this trick was

discovered darning wool was sold in small lengths only on

cards.

I have a collection of darning cards collected over the

years, I don’t save them – I use them and I totally agree

with what it says on the darning leaflet ‘a well executed

darn is a badge of honour’. We have extended this adage

during lockdown to haircuts!

Top darn is on my favourite jeans, I do 5 invisible darns

and then a visible darn, so far the jeans have 14 darns.

Bottom darn is my cashmere gardening sweater, the elbow

has been darned numerous times, now it has disintegrated

so much it can no longer be darned, so I used darning wool

to knit a patch and then darned the patch in place!


Patchwork housecoats were popular and accessible

for everyone. Other items required more specialist

supplies … silk was unavailable and cotton was in

short supply so making underwear was difficult.

Some women used butter muslin (used to make

butter) as it wasn’t rationed and dressmakers might

be fortunate enough to have offcuts from pre-war

evening dresses.

But if you had an RAF boyfriend you might have

been able to get your hands on a silk ‘escape’ map.

These were issued to RAF airmen who might be

shot down over enemy territory and have to try and

make their way home. The maps being silk could be

scrunched up in a pocket and were waterproof.

Left: This underwear set was made by a

dressmaker for Lord Mountbatten’s

daughter, her boyfriend was in the RAF

and the map is of Italy. Milan and Trieste

are visible on the bra.

Below: a patchwork housecoat.


Linking to the Dior exhibition I mentioned in the last magazine, it was interesting to see

contemporaneous articles about the ‘New Look’ and to realise it was not universally admired at

the time. Critics pointed out that while the fabulously expensive collection was being launched in

Paris, the city was in rubble and people were starving. There was a world wide shortage of cloth,

and clothes rationing was still in force, but the day dress below with the stitchers sitting round it

used 50 yards of fabric. However, the new collection was a success selling to wealthy women

across the world and Paris took the leadership of the fashion world back from the USA.

Picture Post Sept 27th 1947


The exhibition also had a display of silk scarves, a highly desirable gift for servicemen to bring

home for their wives and girlfriends. This VE day scarf is draped appropriately as to fashion a

face covering for today!


More sketch book doodles – Yvonne Williams

In issue 3 we published some sketch book doodles from Yvonne of drawing flowers (when they

weren't full face). These sketches follow on from that with drawings based on a cylinder form.


Sketchbook doodles on

cylindrical forms

Yvonne Williams was due

to teach the April Sunday

workshop - cancelled of

course.

But somewhere, over the

rainbow, we will all sit

cheek by jowl in the

Lagan Room again.


On-line events

On Thursday 28th May Gawthorpe Hall will be hosting a live online event showcasing some of

the beautiful embroidered textiles from their collection. Along with a presentation of high quality

images there will also be live commentary from the Curator, describing the techniques and

materials used in each piece. This is a ticketed event to be held on Zoom, tickets are sold out so

there is no point giving you the links … just thought it was interesting that it was sold out so

quickly in advance and it is perhaps a salutary lesson to ditherers like me. The rest of the things

below are free and available.

Karen

Many of you will already be on the mail list for the

Knitting and Stitching Show and will have received a

newsletter from them. If you haven’t and you would like

to, go to the Knitting and Stitching website and sign up

for their mailshots.

www.theknittingandstitchingshow.com

Neill’s Teddies

As part of the Museums

from Home initiative,

North Down Museum

have made a short talk

on the famous Neill's

Teddies. These little

bears used to reside in

the window of Neill's

Coal Merchants in

Bangor and were

renowned for their

extensive wardrobe!

www.youtube.com/

watch?v=rNXKtK5XNIw

Island Arts Centre have created #InThisTogether(apART) via their website and social media to

entertain, inspire and enable you to feel socially connected while distancing. You’ll find lots of

useful boredom busting resources for all ages and interests. There’ll be opportunities to

participate in virtual workshops, relive ISLAND Arts memories with archival footage from your

favourite performers. As Island Arts Centre say, now more than ever the arts are crucial to our

health and well-being.

Lots of museums and arts organisations have gone digital for lockdown – it is worth a browse

around your favourites to see what they are offering.


As I finish off this magazine, I can hear on the Thursday evening news that face coverings will

likely be required for use on public transport and places like shops where social distancing is

difficult. Anticipating this, I started production last week, this batch were bound for London … just

waiting till I got elastic off the grannies! They are made from 3 layers, Liberty Tana lawn outer

layer, moisture resistant interfacing and down-proof cotton inner. Not hot-weather wear and not

chilly morning wear either as that can cause problems with your glasses steaming up!

Solutions for steamed up glasses

on the proverbial postcard – or

upload suggestions on the

members chat room of the NIEG

website under the masks

discussion. The wrong husband

scenario could happen very easily

with steamed up glasses!

I know many of you have also

been making masks and hospital

scrubs and all sorts of things

related to Covid-19. Please send

your stories to me for the final

issue of our lockdown magazine.

The first issue of the magazine

was the Guild bunting special

issue, lets wrap this up with

another Guild-wide sharing of

Lockdown sewing.

And finally a poem by the real

Pam Ayres!


This puzzle by Simon Drew was published in the Spectator, fortunately Edward has a friend

who subscribes to the Spectator! Edward puts it up on our family what’s app group (which

includes the grannies) and we all race each other to get the answers. He posted the one on the

next page while I was cutting Stephen’s hair and I made everybody wait till I had finished

before we started it.

Below are ten things that you can’t do in Lockdown, each line reads across as a sentence and

you solve it by figuring out the pictures. The next page has a similar puzzle but this time it is

things that you can do in Lockdown. Answers in the next magazine. We found 6 the hardest on

both puzzles.


The next magazine might be the last lockdown one. I would like to feature all the lockdown

projects people have been working on – big or small, extraordinary or mundane, textile or

otherwise. I always like to hear about people’s gardens! Send details to me with a photo if you

can, but if you can’t take a photo just send me a little message to say what you have been up to.

[email protected]

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Embroidery › wp-content › uploads › NIEG-magazine-isolation-iss… · The climbing rose blooms on my garden wall are opening, here is a rose corsage that I created for an article