Our house, in the middle of our street - is it Madness?

Our house, in the middle of our street

The answer is "No," it's not anything to do with the Madness song, but it is "Our house, in the middle of our street" - a stitched version for the York Embroiderers and Stitchers (YES) ARCHITEXTURE exhibition in June 2025 (more details here.)

Pattern Piece

I thought I'd just say a little about the making of "Our house". The construction was inspired by a friend's card, which was a flower that stood up on a base. I used this idea for the basic shape and made a paper pattern. I cut the base shape out of pelmet vilene. Then using fabric and Colour Catchers, which you put in with your washing to stop colours running into other clothes, I cut out the basic shapes of a simplified version of my house. I always save Colour Catchers as they come out of the wash all sorts of colours! These were then added to the base using Bondaweb, a double-sided iron-on adhesive web which is attached to a transfer paper.

Back & Front, Before & After Machine Stitching

The whole thing was then machine stitched to make sure none of the pieces came off. To emphasise the windows at the front, I added 2 strands of Anchor soft cotton which I couched down.  I also added some detail to the door to reflect the panelling and the door furniture.  Then to cover the edges of the front path, I added french knots and drizzle stitch for interest.

Window detail before and after couching and extra door detail

Path Edge Detail - French Knots & Drizzle Stitch

Our House - Layout

Finally I made a couple of chairs from the wires off sparkling wine corks and a table from a tin base and a bobbin to go at the back of the house and "Our house, in the middle of our street" was complete.

Back of the house with table and chairs

I did have to add a cardboard support up the middle as the pelmet vilene wasn't quite stiff enough to hold the house upright and added some velcro dots to hold it together.  The tree and the shrub were added, which made the piece more stable as well as reflecting some of the plants in my garden.  I think you'd recognise it as "Our house".

Do come along and see all the buildings that will form a central display at the YES ARCHITEXTURE exhibition.

Prism Textiles - Any Other Business, Art Pavilion, Mile End, London

Lynne Chapman - The 90% Beneath (detail)

 

I have recently been to Prism Textiles' annual exhibition at the Art Pavilion, Mile End, London.  Prism are an international group of textile artists who push the boundaries of textile art and promote its visibility.  They  exhibit annually at this lovely venue.  Prism members also run a variety of free workshops during the exhibition so it's well worth getting the date in your diary for future years!

This year's title and theme was "Any Other Business" which was diversely interpreted and showcased a wide variety of techniques.  Here's a few of my favourites...

Lynne Chapman - The 90% Beneath

Lynne Chapman's iceberg shows us the 10% of life that is made up of planned events versus the other 90% which is made up of the mundane that keeps everything going or "the unsung powerhouse of chores" as Lynne puts it. How very true!

I liked the use of a carpet making technique in Sally Spinks' cigarettes - "Fine Line". The piece draws attention to an industry that kills people and continues to lobby to promote its interests...

Sally Spinks - Fine Line

Nerissa Cargill Thompson's "12 Percent" presents a pie chart of where our plastic goes: 46% incinerated, 25% goes to landfill, 17% exported, leaving only 12% recycled in the UK.  This was a colourful and unusual way to illustrate our plastic problem...

Nerissa Cargill Thompson - 12 Percent

Pauline Cattle presents beauty, pattern and colour in everyday natural processes.  I particularly liked the contrasts of colour and texture in this piece...

Pauline Cattle - Drippings l

Helen O'Leary's poignant pieces "Mending l" suggests that repairing damage to garments adds its own story to a garment's history and is restorative to both the garment and the mender whereas "Losing Touch" draws attention to our frailty as we age...

Helen O'Leary - Losing Touch 1 & Mending 1

Jeryl Church's piece "Conspicuous Consumption" made from till receipts and packaging materials draws attention to our need to address our uncontrolled consumerism.  I loved Jeryl's use of consumerist packaging to highlight this issue...

Jeryl Church - Conspicuous Consumption (detail)

Julieanne Long's piece is inspired by the worry of environmental destruction through climate change and the lack of govermental action across the world to address this issue.  I thought this piece looked like fleeting thoughts passing through one's mind...

Julieanne Long - A Sense of Place (detail)

Sharon Kearley's work considers the duality of the fragility of life and the gratitude for love and memories experienced while living.  I liked how the rust had changed the textile...

Sharon Kearley

In Amanda Bloom's "Reliquaries" we are asked to consider what things we might hold sacred.  I loved the colours and intriguing objects in Amanda's "Reliquaries"...

Amanda Bloom - Reliquaries (detail)

Sue Reddish's two works, "Patched" & "Pieced", use cotton, a textile from which Manchester made its fortune, to explore Manchester's business transitions and changing cityscape.  The colours and composition of these pieces were great...

Sue Reddish - Patched & Pieced

Judith Isaac Lewis harnesses the power of weeds, plants usually disregarded and disliked, to ecoprint and dye her work to beautiful effect...

Judith Isaac Lewis - Overlooked 1

There were, of course, many other amazing works and artists.  The above represents just a small selection.  Prism's exhibition is over for this year but do look out for next year's and visit if you can.

If you want to read about Prism's exhibition last year you can find it here.

Stitched Tree for ARCHITEXTURE

Stitched Trees

 
Over the last few months, I've been stitching trees.  As a member of York Embroiderers & Stitchers, who are a friendly group of stitch and textile enthusiasts of all levels of ability and experience, I am preparing for our ARCHITEXTURE exhibition later this year (27-29 June 2025 - save the date!).  As you can imagine from the exhibition title, there will be traditional and contemporary textile art on a theme of architecture alongside other 2D and 3D pieces. And some of those 3D pieces will be buildings, so I thought they might need a bit of greenery to go with them. ARCHITEXTURE is being held at the Tithe Barn in Nether Poppleton, York, YO26 6LF.  More details here.

Boro inspired trees - front

I made some tree canopy patterns of varying sizes and then cut out the tree shapes.  The fabric I used was dyed calico and backed with some iron-on vilene to stabilise the fabric for embroidery.  On the front I added some scraps of fabric in a boro patched style and then stitched them on using a variety of different stitches - running stitch, cross stitch, fly stitch, star stitch, seed stitch.  I used different types and weights of thread.  On the back of all of them I just used a running stitch, kantha style.

Boro inspired trees - back

The second set of trees I made began in the same way but on the front I did a stitch that was like an irregular darn...

"Darned" trees - front

On the back of these trees I chose a particular stitch and filled the space, sometimes varying the size of stitch and sometimes not...

"Darned" trees - back

I machine stitched the fronts to the backs although you could handstitch them, then stuffed them will toy filling, added a trunk and potted them with some yarn for soil.  

Do come along to our ARCHITEXTURE exhibition to see  all the YES members' fabulous work.

Another Brick in The Wall

My Stitched Brick

I'm a member of York Embroiderers & Stitchers, who are a friendly group of stitch and textile enthusiasts of all levels of ability and experience. Later this year we will be holding our ARCHITEXTURE exhibition at the Tithe Barn in Nether Poppleton, York, YO26 6LF from 27-29 June 2025 (save the date!). As you can imagine from the exhibition title, there will be traditional and contemporary textile art on a theme of architecture alongside other 2D and 3D pieces. More details here.

  

Nicky's dyed fabrics ready to be stitched into bricks

As part of that exhibition members are stitching "bricks" which will be constructed into "The Wall" for the exhibition. Each "brick" represents whatever gives the person who made it, strength and stability and together represents the group's values of friendship, diversity and support. The fabric the bricks are made from was dyed by our chair, Nicky Brunger, so that the colours would be harmonious.

Stitched brick - work in progress

Of course to make a wall all our bricks have to be the same size and orientation so the finished brick must measure 8 inches by 4 inches, be in a landscape orientation with a 0.5 inch border without stitching. The stitched area was therefore 7 inches by 3 inches.  

Stitched brick - work in progress

At first I marked the area to be stitched with pins but soon realised some tacking stitches would work better!

Stitched brick - work in progress

I used a variety of stitches such as french knots, detached chain stitch (lazy daisy), ordinary chain stitch, straight stitch, back stitch, star stitch, using colourful threads and yarns in a variety of sizes.

Stitched brick - work in progress

I should say that before I started stitching I had ironed on some stabiliser to provide a better base for stitching (also provided by YES). You can see that the back is quite chaotic!  

I then added some calico to the back, stitched it together with right sides facing and left a gap to turn it through and then handsewed the gap.  And here is the finished stitched brick ready to be added to The Wall...

Finished Piece

My brick is covered in stylised flowers and represents a colourful, joyful world from which I get my strength and stability.

I'm looking forward to seeing the finished wall. I hope you'll come along to ARCHITEXTURE to see it too!

Mire Lee - Open Wound at Tate Modern Turbine Hall, London

Mire Lee - Open Wound

 

The current installation in the Turbine Hall at Tate Modern is Mire Lee's Open Wound (on until 16 March 2025).  The Turbine Hall is seen as an industrial womb in this installation where various "skins" - fabric sculptures suspended on chains - emerge from a machine coated with a liquid that drips from the machine's tentacles. Then they are moved to racks to harden before being added to the rest of the "skins" populating the Turbine Hall.  The installation is supposed to evoke images from both the textile industry and mining whilst also referencing the Turbine Hall's industrial past.

Mire Lee - Open Wound

The "skins" are drenched in a viscous liquid...

Mire Lee - Open Wound

Detail of a "skin"...

Mire Lee - Open Wound

Not sure whether this was the "skins" drying or being prepared to enter the machine...

Mire Lee - Open Wound

We are told Open Wound is supposed to remind us of a deserted construction site with "an atmosphere of futility and melancholy, where something has started to wither " whilst the "skins" are also supposed to "suggest an eerie solidarity".

Elsewhere in Tate Modern, I liked these by Petrit Halilaj.  These were large winged insects - moths - drawn to the lights.  He made these with his mother, Shkurte, using Kosovar fabrics and carpets. He wears them as costumes during performance pieces and often produces moth themed work. Apparently Halilaj used to chase moths around the house as a child.  His family home was destroyed in the Kosovo War (1998-99).  His work is bound up in memory and nostalgia... 

Petrit Halilaj - Do you realise there is a rainbow even if it's night!?

Petrit Halilaj - Do you realise there is a rainbow even if it's night!?

Petrit Halilaj - Do you realise there is a rainbow even if it's night!?

And the Catbus, which was part of Monster Chetwynd's installation - A Tax Haven Run By Women...

The Catbus is a character in Hayao Miyazaki's film, My Neighbour Totoro.  I wanted to climb aboard but it didn't look like that would be welcomed!

There's always something of interest at Tate Modern and apart from the special exhibitions, it's all free.  

Acaye Kerunen: Neena, Aan Uthii - PACE, London

Acaye Kerunen - Aleng 2 (I am Beautiful)

On a recent trip to London I took some time out to see the Acaye Kerunen exhibition: Neena, Aan Uthii (translated from Alur as - See me, I am here) at PACE (close to Regent St & Liberty's).  I first saw Acaye Kerunen's work at Unravel at Barbican, London - check it out here.  

Acaye Kerunen - Aleng 2 (I am Beautiful) detail

Acaye Kerunen is a Ugandan artist who works with local artisans to source natural materials from her country, which they dye, weave, braid and crochet.  She then turns them into sculptural assemblages.

Acaye Kerunen - Ouganda 2

The works represent the Ugandan environment as they can only be made from what grows.  The traditional work of women, rather than being made into everyday items, is presented as contemporary art.  The sculptures link human labour and the natural world and provide an alternative platform for traditional women's skills.

Acaye Kerunen - Ott Ker 2 (House of Reign) vessel & Yoo Leng (The Path is Clear) on wall

The passing down, through generations, of these artisanal skills suggests a collective memory is at work here.

Acaye Kerunen - The Reckoning

Acaye Kerunen - The Reckoning (detail)

Acaye Kerunen - Yoo Unen (The Path has Revealed Itself)

Made of such materials as bark cloth, raffia, banana fibre, sisal and palm leaves, dyed with natural dyes, they are very colourful and tactile...

Acaye Kerunen - Kaka Lengu (Place of Beauty)

I thought this was a great exhibition. It's on until Saturday 15 February.  It's not very large but well worth a visit.

Cordage & Structures with Alice Fox at West Dean College, Bloomsbury Campus, London

 

Alice Fox's Cordage Structures

I recently went on a short course at West Dean College's Bloomsbury Campus in London which is quite near Kings Cross Station (handy for me).  The workshop was led by textile artist, Alice Fox and we were taught to make cordage from repurposed materials.  Once we had made some cordage, we were also taught how to make some simple structures.  It was great fun although very time consuming.

Here is some of the cordage I made from recycled fabric, a plastic bag and some newspaper....

Cordage from fabric, newspaper and a plastic bag

I also made some cordage from tissue paper which is easier to make than cordage from newspaper...

Tissue paper cordage

These are my newspaper pots...

Coiled and stitched newspaper pot

Looped newspaper pot

And these are my woven structures...

Flat woven fabric cordage

Woven pocket from fabric cordage

We also had a go at some random weaving which I did with some detritus from the beach...

Random weaving with synthetic rope from  the beach

I'm looking forward to making more!