bird's nest of spun silk

 

I really enjoyed meeting members of the Retired Teachers' Group in Staplegrove, when I went to give a talk on the History and Art of Rag Rug making yesterday. Lots of great questions and also  memories of rug  making. I talked a bit about the use of hessian as a rag rug base and how important hessian has been locally. One woman said that her husband had worked for The West of England Sack Hiring Company. There is an fascinating account of the history of sack hiring businesses ('Sacks for Hire' by Reg Wilkinson with lots of reference to The West of England) here:

 

http://wantage-museum.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/Sacks-for-Hire.pdf

 

Today I visited Calway House in Taunton, to show people the contents of my sewing basket and talk about/invite memories of sewing and mending. One gentleman said that his Grandfather would buy a tangle of spoilt fibres known as a 'bird's nest' from one of the silk mills in Taunton for 6d. This nest of fibres he would carefully untangle, and the gentleman's Grandmother would use the silk to crochet fine doily mats. After the session, recalling how his Grandmother had shown him, he crocheted some chains with me, using my old button hook.

 

http://www.leopardantiques.com/object/stock/detail/233

 

 And from another  person, a tip from the wartime; of how to make the equivalent of strong 'elastic' bands, by cutting off the tops of stockings!

 

 

Nynehead Workshop with the Wellington W.I.

 

I don't know whether it was the glass roofed Orangery at Nynehead Court that effected a bit of a growth spurt, but members of Wellington W.I. who came along to my Hooked on Flowers workshop, cultivated some particularly spectacular blooms today...

Jan working on her second bloom

Karen's rose

Jan's flower
 

Sam's flower

 

What is always really exciting for a workshop leader, is to see people run with your ideas and take them to another level and this is what happened today; double layered shirring no less(!) and the inspired re-use of some pyjama's piped seams to great effect (see flower below). Several of the women commented that Rag Rugging is a 'forgiving' craft and seemed to enjoy the fact that this allows you to get straight down to the creative nitty gritty of getting a feel for the fabrics and seeing their potential with a new pair of (Rag Rug) eyes. One women said as she was leaving, that she was taking home a new passion, which made me feel so lucky to be doing what I'm doing - it's very rewarding.

 Annabel's flower in progress



 

All aboard for some narrow boat rag rugging!

Last weekend I did some Rag Rug sessions with 'Spirited Away' guests, during Float By Boat's 'October Off-grid' weekend. Fantastic fun - great company.

 

 

a florist's felted bloom

Don's proddy and dotty mini-rug

 

hand sewing the back of the corsage

 

Pete's petals

 

 

Nourishing food....

 

  

 

 

Also nourished by peaceful meditations afloat

 and gentle solitary walks along the towpath,

and an entertaining walk full of laughter,

 in the company of my cabin mate Sarah!

 

crab apples along the towpath

 

I never sleep so well as on board a narrow boat moored in the middle of nowhere!  

early morning mist on the canal

                                            

 I've come home with a new favourite poem too

 (Carol Ann Duffy's 'Prayer' read by Tor before an evening mediation).

Fetlocks and a Bishop's Mitre

While visiting a care home in Tiverton last week, to do a rag rug session, I met a woman with the spirit of adventure in her eyes. She told me that as a young girl she had swum around the Isle of Wight and how the shire horses on her parents farm would only allow her near their fetlocks when they needed cleaning, rather than the male farm workers.

Horse, Derbyshire Dales

As for the rag rug session, I don't know why, but my rugs seemed to induce much mirth! Several of us had tears in our eyes by the end of the afternoon. One woman thought my braided bag would make a splendid bishop's mitre and demonstrated, modelling it at a rakish angle.

flower show at CreaTIV!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Great group at the CreaTIV Hub this afternoon. Every one worked really hard and grew some amazing rag rug flowers. There was one moment when I asked people to hold up their first bloom to show everyone else, and I actually got goose bumps! It's so exciting seeing peoples' first creations and how everyone produces something completely different from the rag bag!

 

 

 

 

Took this snap at Taunton Flowers Show yesterday

Inspiration for rag rug flowers I reckon.

rag rug hooking en plein air!

I shall be demonstrating rag rug hooking en Plein Air, this Friday (1st Aug) at The Taunton Flower Show - the oldest flower show in the country which is held inside the beautiful and extensive Vivary Gardens. I 'll be joining artist Norman Steel, somewhere near the bandstand. Come and find us!

 

 

 

 

 

Visited the gardens today and took photos. Going to base my design on the decorative ironwork of the bandstand and the planted border around it. Like the idea of capturing a bit of summer to spread out over winter's hearth. Visitors can come and watch work in progress, ask questions and have a go themselves if they wish!

 

 

rag rug demonstrating at Killerton Spun

Killerton Spun
Saturday 19 & Sunday 20 July, 11am-5pm

 See exciting demonstrations of dying, felting, printing and spinning techniques, all inspired by plants and the landscape around us. You'll also be able to browse stalls selling a wide range of textile creations and products.

 

 

I shall be demonstrating rag rug making at this event on Sunday July 20th and publicizing my forthcoming workshops which will be at:

 The Walronds, Cullompton (24th July)

and CreaTIV in Tiverton) (Aug 2nd).

(I used to work as a conservation assistant at Killerton which is where my interest in rugs developed)!

 

 

 

flower delivery

 

 

I'm delivering a small felted vase of my rag rug flowers,

(felted vase made by Magpie Heaven) to

Waldrons

 in

Cullompton today.

 

 

 

 

They will be displaying them there to advertise my forthcoming Hooked on Flowers workshop on 24th July. For further details and to reserve a place, please contact Waldrons on:  

Telephone : 01884 33394 or Email : info@walronds.com

 

gramophone needles and blobs of wax

Today, as I was showing a group of women some French knitting that my mother did when she was a child, one lady told me that her mother had made her a French knitting dolly from a cotton reel into which she had hammered gramophone needles instead of nails, each needle dabbed with a blob of wax over the end.

Every time I share sewing experiences with women who grew up during wartime, I am told of experiences that prove necessity to be the mother of invention, and my own creativity feels challenged, in a positive way. Today's shared memory of French knitting, put me in mind of the early pins that were headed with a seed or blob of sealing wax. For pins as we know them with proper pin heads have only been manufactured since 1840. There is an interesting article online about the history of pin making:-

https://www.cs.arizona.edu/patterns/weaving/webdocs/lb_2010_15.pdf