POP Jann Haworth Exhibition at Wolverhampton Art Gallery

Some friends visited this exhibition at the weekend at Wolverhampton Art Gallery and said it was very interesting - if you're into textile art definitely worth a trip. The felting workshop on 6th Feb is full but the exhibition is on till April.

26 Oct 09 - 10 Apr 10

Hollywood-born artist Jann Haworth (b. 1942) is among the few women associated with the Pop Art movement of the 1960s. Her sewn cloth soft sculptures refer to typically American Pop themes such as fast food, film stars, cheerleaders, cowboys and comics, as well as to her experiences of living in England during a period of cultural transformation.

Developed in partnership with the artist, this exhibition is the first UK solo show of Haworth’s work in a public gallery since 1972. In 1968 Haworth won a Grammy award for her work as co-designer of The Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band album cover. POP Jann Haworth contains behind the scenes photographic images of the making of the Sgt. Pepper album set as well as Old Lady I, the life-size sculpture that first appeared in 1967 as a Granny on the album’s photo montage cover.

The artist has restored several works expressly for the show, offering a rare opportunity to see Haworth’s early soft sculptures alongside more recent pieces including giant charm bracelets and corset canvases. Wolverhampton’s own still-life sculpture, Donuts, Coffee cups & Comics (1962) will be on display alongside other donut sets, for the first time since it was acquired for the Pop Art Collection in 2008.

Jinny Beyer at Houston Quilt Market 2009

Jinny Beyer has worked in conjunction with RJR fabrics for many years and her Palette is a fantastic basics range to have in your stash - the Snowbirds quilt (above) is a great example of how the whole range of 150 fabrics goes through the spectrum. Back in 1996 Jinny visited The Cotton Patch and at a lecture to 200 quilters in the Solihull Civic Hall (subsequently remodelled as John Lewis at the Touchwood Shopping Centre!) described how to use the palette effectively.

At Quilt Market Jinny described how you can use any 8 fabrics that are next to each other in the Jinny Beyer Palette and create an interesting quilt that has the essential ingredients of a "Deep Dark" and an "Accent". She demonstrated this by showing quilts that did not have these features and asked the audience to vote on their favourites. Consistently the result was that the quilt with those ingredients was favoured even though the majority of the other colours were there.

She also showed that a quilt that has a co-ordinating border does not have to have fabrics within it that are absolutely identical to the fabrics in the border. In fact interest is created by the eye creating the "leap" itself!

Finally the kind of fabrics that don't jump out at you as being "gorgeous" in their own right can showcase other fabrics. For example, I'd never pick khaki as a colour for a quilt but if you look at the vibrant quilt above you can see how the khaki actually highlights the vivid purples, reds and pinks and makes them come alive and stand out.

Colour and selecting fabrics for quilts can be daunting for many people. Playing with colours and using tools and experience of others to guide you can be a real help- why not check out Jinny's website with her tips on colour to give you some ideas for experimenting and going outside of your normal palette. Most importantly have fun - design walls are a great way to see how fabrics can work together - pin an old flannel sheet or the Clover Design Wall to a wall and stand back from it to see the effects of different fabrics. A more computerised approach is to use software like Electric Quilt - EQ6 to play around with colour combinations at the touch of a mouse button!

2009 Roundup

A dramatic start to 2010 - a blanket of snow covers most of the UK and for those of us who have a sizeable commute to work that means enforced incarceration at home! A good opportunity to do those things I don't have time to do when I'm at the office then such as a roundup of 2009 and postings of some of the photos that never made it even as far as the editing room let alone the metaphorical editing room floor (digital photography has eradicated such terms...it would have to be consigned to bits and bytes of the recycle bin I guess).

And what a year it has been - lots happened at The Cotton Patch with more people joining us. We took on Alison, in late 2008, to help with the backoffice and stock. Bucking the trend of the rest of retail in 2009, craft and especially patchwork and quilting, has just continued to grow in popularity. The media picked up on the "Make do and Mend" theme and Kirsty Alsopp's program "A Handmade Home" became very popular, sparking an increase in interest on the web and our blogs. We took on Rob in October 2009 whose job focuses on warehousing, stock and fabric cutting which eased things as the busy season really took off in November and on the run up to Christmas. It doesn't seem to have stopped since September. We're looking forward to our newest member of staff, Lorraine, starting with us - she begins in January 2010 on web order processing.

The Festival of Quilts just gets bigger and better and this year was definitely busy - moving around the stand on the first day was certainly a challenge! Amy Butler, Kaffe Fassett and Marti Michell all proved as popular as ever and with the addition of Sandy Chandler who demo'd the Curvemaster foot it definitely drew the crowds. Hopefully curved piecing no longer holds its traditional fear. Drunkards Path could be winding its way through to a quilt show near you soon!

In October we visited Houston for the Quilt Market - the show for retailers which precedes the Quilt Festival (equivalent to our Festival of Quilts). The great thing is that the quilts for Festival are hanging in the same hall so if we have time we get to see all the wonderful exhibits - this year we managed to stay on the Sunday night after the show. There were some wonderful ones and here are a few of my favourites.

The information provided on this quilt - The Lone Star is by an unknown quilter from around 1845. It is hand pieced, appliqued and quilted. Inset panel prints surround pieced diamonds. The panel prints from around 1815 have been cut in half diagonally and reassembled without interruption of the design. The diamonds of the design include many rainbow prints, French and English chintz, Indiennes prints and other prints typical of that era. The centre is fussy cut.

The connection to the internet out in the sticks is notoriously slow (the words broadband and internet superhighway hardly fit here!) so I'll load some more tomorrow as the weather still looks bad for tomorrow.

Patchwork Retreats in France

What a great combination! Patchwork and Quilting, experienced teachers, a 19th century farmhouse and excellent food and wine!

Why not treat yourself to a relaxing week in South West France and allow yourself the time and space to enjoy your favourite pastime. Joan Crooks and Bridget Wright run the workshops from the renovated 19th century farmhouse which is set in 16 acres of unspoilt countryside. Bedrooms are en-suite, the heated swimming pool has a beautiful view across the valley, for the more energetic there is a gym but for most the option of relaxing with a new project or completing a UFO will be the best.

Joan and Bridget have got a fantastic line-up of teachers for 2010 and...if you book before 31st December 2009 receive a 10% discount!

From May to September classes Angela Madden, Dawn Cameron Dick, Anne Baxter, Patricia McLaughlin, Carolyn Forster, Anja Townrow, Jane Rollason and Penny Roberts and in 2011 Janet Bolton will be teaching in September. For the full details of this excellent programme and more about Hors des Brumes please visit their website at http://www.horsdesbrumes/ or email dixonwright@horsdesbrumes.com

We suggest you book now to avoid disappointment! Pricing is in pounds so no worries about the Euro to the Pound!

Sewing for Boys:part 4

Well I have finished the biggest project so far which was to make a bag. I have to say I am quite pleased with it. The outside fabric was Bright Buds Ivory from the Amy Butler August Fields range, whilst the inner fabric was the same one I used for the doorstop. This was a much more complicated task with two layers of fabric and an inner polyester wadding.

The handle strips were similar to what we had done with the doorstop but I was using a different machine again. A rather old Brother, which didn't have a foot pedal, but a variable slider. This took a bit of getting used to, as well as the auto cutter feature, and I was a bit disappointed with some of my sewing on the handles. Pinning the outer fabric with the wadding I was very concious after my earlier efforts to make sure everything was accurate and that the correct sides were going together. Sewing with wadding in place was a new experience as I tried to make sure it didn't snag on the foot.

We also cut the corners of the base so that the bag had a bit more body to it and stayed up. I think if I was doing it again then I would of used a better interfacing to add some stability to the bag as even with the heavy weight fabric it is a little light. Then pulling back through the hole left in the lining it was turned inside out and pressed on the seam to finish it off. Overall I am very pleased with the bag, a few faults here and there but my stitching was much better.

Lessons Learnt

Advice from the shop was Measure twice and Stitch once.

Make sure you have enough thread on the bobbin!!

Next week we are starting on a project of our own so I am hunting through the books in the shop for patterns!!

Reynolds Freezer Paper to the Rescue

The saviour. Not just for applique!

Here at The Cotton Patch from time to time we get slightly strange requests for the items that we provide and I thought I would tell you about one that occurred last week.

We had a phone call from English Heritage who were desperate to locate a quantity of Freezer Paper. There had been a leak in a building in Birmingham's Jewellery Quarter and a number of books and archives had been damaged and they needed Freezer Paper right away.

We were able to get the order together straight away and they sent a taxi round for it to be collected. Now my wife happens to be an archaeological conservator and explained that the Freezer Paper can be placed in between the leaves of the books or round the books themselves and helps to prevent them sticking together as they dry out. Also books that become sodden can be often quickly grow mould and one of the best ways of treating them is to freeze dry them to kill the mould, with the Freezer Paper again protecting the leaves of the book.

Sewing for Boys: part 3

For the next three weeks we would be making a doorstop and then, over two weeks, a bag. Because both of these would potentially be subject to heavy usage I chose two fabrics from the August Fields home dec weight fabric range. This should give both projects some stability.

Filled with 2kg rice and beans, this should keep those pesky doors open.

For the doorstop I chose the bright greeny blue of Coreopsis Spruce to contrast with our pale carpet and walls. The doorstop consisted of 6 x 6 inch squares with a strip for the handle. The handle was made by folding each edge into the middle and then pressing together. As Margaret at the shop pointed out to me, always have the iron on when making these sorts of projects or patchworking. I can't say that ironing is my favourite pastime. I am not flat so why should my clothes be but I can see the point here.

Then I sewed a seam up each side of the handle to secure it. It wasn't as close to the edge as I would of liked, but better then last weeks efforts. We then marked each of the squares with a dot inset 1cm from each corner. This would allow us to line up each of the squares. I was ultra cautious this time to make sure I was sewing right sides together.

It was then a case of sewing the squares together and gradually building up the shape of the cube. I need to work on my accuracy, but overall I was pleased with the result. A small hole was left in one side, so that the doorstop could be filled later and then the whole thing was turned inside out. I have now filled it with rice and pulses to weigh it down. I think all of us were surprised that we could construct a three dimensional shape using our basic skills. All in all our confidence is building as we move on the bag making...

Lessons learnt:

Use an iron to press seams, it works, I can see the point of an iron!!

Accuracy, accuracy, must practice.

Marking tools. We used a vanishing marker to make the spots to align our squares, the chalk I had borrowed for last weeks cushion would not have worked as well.