May Meeting - Claire Spooner

Today's talk had been billed as 'In miniature' but it turned out that it should have read 'Millinery in Miniature' as our speaker today, Claire Spooner makes bespoke millinery.
She also has an extensive collection of historical hats and it was a 'miniature' look at the history of hat making and styles that was the subject of the talk.

Claire with some of the many hats from her collection

Claire brought hats from the mid 19th century to the late 20th century and explained how the style of hat changed over time as the overall body silhouette changed with new fashions. As a practising milliner she was also extremely knowledgeable on construction techniques used within the hats and how this then helped the hat 'sit' correctly on the wearer's head. We learned (among many other interesting things) that Plumassier was a real word and was a skilled profession. This was a really informative yet light-hearted talk with Claire modelling many of the hats she had brought along.

Other announcements
The date of the branch AGM has been moved to the October meeting and will now take place at 1.30pm on Saturday 4th October 2014. (This is so important it also has its own separate blog post!)

The branch library is being rehoused into a new storage space at the Folk Hall. While this changeover is in progress, please keep any books you have borrowed at home.

Sue gave a report of the Embroiderers' Guild AGM at Wyboston and Kath gave a report of her recent meeting with Terry Murphy. Both these reports should be available to read if required.

The beach scene is progressing very nicely. Beach huts are nearly finished, but more people are needed. As a guide to scale, the logo on front of the branch programme should be used as the size of the head of the stitched people.

Sue is organising tickets for Regional day. This clashes with our June meeting. If you would like a ticket, contact Sue (phone number on the printed programme).

Stitch Club, our morning workshop will, from September, run alongside two more formal classes.
The first is a 5 session introduction to goldwork, the second is a series of masterclasses of crewel work filling stitches. Sheila G has further details.

If you want to knit a bike for the Tour de France coming through Yorkshire, the next meeting is at the bike shop in Micklegate 2-4pm on 10th May.

Textile Experimental Group has an exhibition at West Ayton Village Hall 10th and 11th May.

City of York branch revised AGM date

The date of the branch AGM has been moved (again). It will now be immediately before the October meeting on Saturday 4th October 2014, starting at 1.30pm.
As there is no longer an AGM in September, the September meeting will start at the usual time of 2.00pm

April Meeting - Ailish Henderson

Ailish Henderson, a textile artist from Gateshead, gave a very interesting talk about how she came to textiles from a fine art background. She was introduced to stitch by Julia Triston and studied for her City and Guilds with Julia and Tracy Franklin. She is now studying for a BA and teaching textiles.
She encouraged us to be more active in our observation of the world around us and to use this as a basis for introducing a personal story into our work.

Some of her work has recently been displayed in the 'In Dreams' exhibition at the Customs House in South Tyneside, where she took the personal themes of age and dreams to depict the emotions of life and to consider 'Where do you wear your story?'.

Child's dress - keeping her life in her pocket

A young woman's shirt wearing her heart on her sleeve

Two of Ailish's pieces from the exhibition which she brought to show us, with images taken from her blog.

Other Things
A reminder that the pieces being made for the Regional Competition need to be brought to the May meeting.

Folk Hall refurbishment - Storage solutions needed!

We wish to alert you to the fact that important decisions need to be made at our next meeting on Saturday 5th April. We have been informed that as a result of the refurbishment of the Folk Hall, our storage space is going to be severely curtailed. We will only have sufficient room to store the absolute essentials we require for meetings. This will not include the library or the sales table stock, the screens and exhibition equipment, and various other sundries we have stored there. If you are unable to be present at the meeting and have strong opinions or good ideas, please contact any member of the committee by email.

March Meeting - Rachel Lombard

We were especially pleased to welcome Rachel Lombard as our speaker this month as she had to cancel her original booking last year.

Rachel firmly believes that everyone has creative ability of some kind or another. Telling us of her initial, thwarted desire to study patchwork and quilting, Rachel related how she reluctantly took a creative embroidery course, and has never looked back!

It was a delight to see inside Rachel's sketch books, and she emphasised the importance of recording the journey from concept to stitch, and also the value of evaluating ones work along the way, and to reflect on completion.

As well as a most informative presentation, Rachel delighted us with an extensive display of her work.

Mirrors............

more mirrors, boxes, albums and sketchbooks.



Other Things

Yorkshire Branch at Leeds have invited us to celebrate their 80th birthday with them, and have invited us to their meeting at St Columba's Church, Headingley , Leeds on  June 28th. We have been asked to RSVP, so if you would like to go please could you let Stevie Rodgers know. the meeting begins at 11.30, includes lunch, and the afternoon speaker is our very own Diana Barrett.

Details of the Region Summer School and application forms are available from Stevie.

Ryedale Branch has an Exhibition In the Band Room, Farndale on Friday 11th and Saturday 12th April.  10.00am - 4.00pm.

The dates for York Open Studios this year are  4th,5th, 6th April and 12th, 13th April. Further details - www.yorkopenstudios.co.uk

(Lack of) Catering at the March meeting

We're sorry to have to announce that we have been advised by the staff at the Folk Hall that, because of the current refurbishment being undertaken at the venue, it will not possible to provide a catered lunch on March 1st. However, in a change to their usual policy, it will be acceptable to bring a Packed Lunch and eat it at the Folk Hall. Tea and Coffee should be available. For those who arrive without a packed lunch and are really hungry it is usually possible to buy food from the shops in the village. Morning Stitch Club and the afternoon meeting should be unaffected by the refurbishments.

February Meeting - Alice Fox

The Talk at the February meeting was given by Alice Fox and described her experiences during her Artist's Residency at Spurn Point and her newer work which has developed from her initial excitement in discovering and making marks in the natural environment.

Alice at work (image taken from her blog)

Of course, she explained it all much better than I can and her blog is full of examples of her work. Alice's talk was illustrated with many images and video of her time at Spurn Point and highlighted the unpredictability of the weather there. You obviously need many layers of thermals and waterproofs for a residency during a Yorkshire summer!

Throughout the talk Alice's enthusiasm, in discovering marks in the landscape and then creating marks on fabric and paper using found objects, shone through. Not surprisingly, these Coastal Perspectives have fed through into her more recent work finding inspiration in the streets of Saltaire and beyond. Alice brought along examples of her collographs presented as concertina books, sketch books and stitched pieces so we could see up close how she successfully integrates her found images into finished pieces. A really interesting and inspiring talk.

Other things

Booking for a dayschool with Jo Wilson to make altered books will open at next month's meeting.

The sales table raised over £100 to send to the Sreepur project 

Tracy Franklin has been shortlisted for the Embroiderers' Guild Beryl Dean Education Award

NELLI The New Earswick Less Loneliness Initiative is having a Hobby Craft Fair at the Folk Hall on 12th April and the branch will be having a stall. Volunteers are sought to help on the day.

There was an announcement from the committee about a branch entry into the Regional Competition. Shirley mentioned riding a carousel at the seaside. I'm intrigued but non the wiser. Further details at next month's meeting.......