Yesterday I ventured to London to The Knitting &
Stitching Show at Alexandra Palace...
...where I nearly went into craft overload! There is too
much to condense into one blog post, so today I’ll focus on the stitching side
of the show, in keeping with Stitching Sundays. Yarn love will follow!
I boarded a train nice and early with a very dear friend, had
my compulsory chai tea latte from Starbucks at Waterloo (part of my “letting go
of real life” routine every time I arrive in London for fun) and hopped on the
Tube to Wood Green.
Interestingly, as the Tube came nearer and nearer to the
destination, the ratio of female passengers carrying crafty-looking shopping
bags and wearing colourful, artsy fashions increased substantially...snippets
of conversations about sewing and craft kit drifted through the car...and seated
across from us were two older, colourful ladies who we figured were us in a couple
decades (and I’m sure some young gals standing by the door were thinking the
same about us!).
We were already having fun and we hadn’t even arrived! Ah,
how a little “me” time works its magic.
What a show! Inspiration hit as soon as we crossed the threshold
And skyrocketed as we wandered through the exhibition
Within ten minutes of arriving, we were seated at Rowandean Embroidery’s Make & Take
table...
...trying our hands at embroidering over organza. We were supplied
with a pre-printed fabric square, then given free rein to choose organza scraps
and colourful threads to layer on with easy stitches.
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| Pinning on the base organza square |
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| Layering the tiny organza scraps |
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| Adding the stitches |
The long, straight stitches for the flower stems secured the
organza to the fabric. How do ya like those French knots? I learned some good tips,
which I will share very soon...
This took about half an hour, then we bundled up our
projects to finish at home.
Here is my finished piece – with my feeble attempt to take a
photo in the in the grey light of a rainy English autumn day (I really must
find some tutorials for taking photos during dark winter months, or everything
will have this dull cast until spring!)
We walked and walked, admired and shopped
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| Threads galore! |
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| Liberty love |
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| I love the 3D birch tree |
I bought this fabulous spring-loaded embroidery hoop – no tugging
fabric and tightening screws here!
I bought a little cross stitch kit from The Cross Stitch Guild.
It is high time I learned to cross stitch (all that counting
and following of a pattern intimidates me!). I was so keen to buy about half a
dozen beautiful, complicated cross stitch projects here, I’m a sucker for
natural linen tones and soft thread colours, but luckily my friend encouraged
me to start with a beginner’s kit and work my way up. I tend to put the cart
before the horse with a lot of projects...
In addition to all the exhibitors selling their wares, the show
highlighted artists’ work with threads and yarn.
I was very intrigued by these mini galleries, and it set
this exhibition apart from other craft shows I’ve attended. It was wonderful to
see the crafts on a contemporary, truly artistic level.
One mini gallery showcased historical and modern crewelwork.
Unfortunately, photography wasn’t allowed, but I was able to speak to a woman
who was working on a piece of crewelwork, and after our conversation I was
inspired to try my hand at it!
This little kit is from Sue Hawkins – her beautiful stall was chock full of tapestry, cross stitch,
crewelwork, stumpwork...all in subtle shades and lovely fabrics.
And speaking of stumpwork, our favourite little stall, from
the Embroiderers’ Guild, enchanted us with the most delicate stumpwork flora
and fauna from this book
I was gutted that photography wasn’t permitted, because
these were the most beautiful, perfect, delicate stitches I found at the show.
The woman who created them was there, sitting at a table with tiny stumpwork
acorns and leaves that I very nearly begged to take home! So I simply must buy
this book and learn to do stumpwork.
Hmmm, I really am living up to my tagline, aren’t I? Life is
most definitely one big WIP...
Thank you for reading my very lengthy ramblings today - time
for a nice hot cup of tea!
Chrissie x
