Jean Littlejohn Talk and Class

Another busy weekend involving lots of textiles.

We had a great evening on Friday at Leamington Embroierers Guild where we had Jean Littlejohn to deliver a talk and then a day class on the Saturday.

I'm sure a lot of you are aware of Jean Littlejohn and her close work with Jan Beaney. So to start here are a few photos of her work and samples - she was very generous and let us handle these and take photos.

And her sketchbooks were great.  I had serious sketchbook envy.

And here is the result of my day.  Her suggestion to our group was to use one stitch - twisted chain stitch.  

To make a back ground of this in a thick thread or wool, on a cotton fabric with an open weave with a very large eyed needle - a number 14 Chenille needle. 

 And then Bond a Web and foil was added

 And then more stitching.  

I bound some of my threads and I think this helped knock back the gold which was a little brash.

We then got to play with an embellisher.  Never had a go before, but found it very easy to use.

I sewed a variety of threads onto soluble fabric in cross stitch in varying sizes.  Then I went to the embellisher and worked from the front and the back.  Then I added some more crosses in different threads which I really liked the effect of.

And here is our show and tell. 

I think I can say we all had a great day. Jean is an enthusiastic textile artist and it was great to be able to see the work in detail rather than just in a book.  If you get the chance to attend one of her classes - go.

Take care all and I hope you have a great Bank Holiday Monday - it might even be sunny.