TEXTILE ARTS  CRAFTS  KNITTING  STITCHING

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4th February 2012 – A taster session on Japanese Patchwork followed a Talk by Janet Hancock on Tambour beading

Well, that was the title of Janet’s talk but this was just the icing on a very interesting cake! We heard of Janet’s schooling and training in every possible embroidery skill and her first job (with Hand & Lock) which involved not only tambour beading but several other machine and hand embroidery skills which, until today, had been a total mystery to me and, I suspect, to many others present. Ranging from HM Queen Elizabeth, Princess Ann, Princess Diana, Norman Hartnell and Catherine Walker to Alma Cogan, Barbra Streisand, Lulu and Liberace, names were casually dropped into the talk followed up with pictures just to prove the point. Imagine being able to point at one of the iconic fashion photographs of Princess Diana and say that she contributed to that garment! 

After a very hasty lunch the hall was rearranged with chairs round tables so that we could get on with our taster session on Japanese Patchwork at which almost everyone present had a successful go. Meantime members took it in turns to try their hand at tambour beading which is accomplished with a tiny pointed hook being pushed through the fabric which is in a frame. A string of beads is held under the fabric and the hook is manipulated to pick up the thread in front of a bead on the string and pulls it in a loop up through the fabric. The hook, complete with loop, is then moved on a short space before going down through the fabric and picking up the thread behind the bead and pulling that up through the fabric, and so on. Thus the beads are trapped against the fabric underneath and there is a neat row of chain stitch on the top which is of course the back. A lot of patience and practise is required. 

In stark contrast to January’s meeting there was very little on the Show and Tell table. One item of particular note, though, was a wonderful teddy bear and another – although its producer was wearing it rather than put it on the table – was Emma’s coat which was awarded a spontaneous round of applause! 

With the threat of imminent heavy snow, the meeting finished a little earlier than usual. 

41 members attended the meeting and there were three visitors.