A Textiles Winter at The Heathlands Project

Detail: Winter by The Heathlands Project Textile Group 2016/17

I wrote recently about 'Dr. Who's New Scarf,' one of the projects my Thursday morning Textile group at The Heathlands Project had been working on. They enjoyed working together on this project so much that they decided to work on another group project. The group decided they would like to make a textile hanging to give them a chance to experiment with some different textile processes. We started the project in late November and the chosen theme was winter.

Using our designs to select fabrics

Layering fabrics

Working on black rather than white paper to create designs

As before we started designing on big sheets of paper with everyone working together to share ideas. We decided that we wanted the piece to be about winter but we wanted to be able to display it at any time so we chose to avoid anything too Christmas like. We also decided to chose a colour scheme of cool blues, white, silver and black.

Paper snowflakes to use as stencils for printing

Making stencils for screen printing

Screen printing

We used the hanging as a chance to try some different techniques, including screen printing, working with de-colourant cream, applique and embroidery. Everyone had quite clear ideas about what they wanted to do so we decided that everyone would make an individual panel and that we'd also make a joint panel including elements of everyone's work. We made each panel roughly A3 size so that we had a nice big area to work on.

Design created using de-colourant cream, fabric pastels and stitch

Screen printed design with stitch

Appliqued design

It was really interesting seeing people develop their pieces over a period of several weeks, experimenting with different materials and techniques. Some of the group were quite new to textiles and some very experienced but everyone worked hard and produced some great results. It was helpful for people seeing each other doing different things and I think this inspired the group to be a bit more experimental and try new things rather than all doing the same thing.

Polar Bear panel

Mountain panel

Pattern Panel

When all the patches were finished I stitched them together and added a backing and some hanging loops. Now we just need to find a home for it!

Igloo Panel

House and Snowman panel

Snowflake Panel

The finished hanging

Dr. Who's New Scarf

Dr. Who's New Scarf (detail)
The Heathlands Project, 2016

Over the past few years I've been building up the Textiles department at The Heathlands Project and it's now a popular and busy section. The members have really developed their skills and ideas and have been creating some very beautiful and inspiring work. Our timetables change every few months (with the members choosing which sections they want to work in) so my groups change and whilst some members always like to pick this section others like to try it for a while and then have a change. When the groups changed last year my Thursday Morning Textiles group decided they wanted to make work together.

Working together on large pieces of paper to create designs

Working together on large pieces of paper to create designs

Design ideas and notes

For their first project they decided that they wanted to use felt and we had a varied range of inspirations; space, flowers and rainbows. We began by covering the table with paper and everyone started to draw their ideas and designs onto this paper. This gave us a starting point for our felt piece which was made over the course of several weeks.

Laying out the base

Laying out the base

Starting to add the background

We began with a base of natural white fleece (because it's the cheapest!) and then built up the background with dark colours of merino fibres; black, dark greens and blues and purple. We worked in layers to make a strong fabric and it was good to see the more experienced members helping out those who were new to felt making.

Making the background

Making the background

On top of our base felt we used bright colours of merino and a bit of silk to create designs based on our original drawings. At this point the design of the piece really started to come together and we began to get an idea of how the final piece would look. Then the hard work started; rolling out the felt. As we were working on a big piece but there were quite a few of us we worked in teams to roll the felt until all the fibres were felted and holding together. Once again I was impressed at how well the group worked together, encouraging each other and cheering each other on.

Building up the design

Building up the design

Building up the design

Once the piece was fully felted and rinsed out we wanted to give it a title, as the piece was long and thin and definitely had a spacey feel we decide to call it Dr. Who's new scarf. The group worked so well together on this project from start to finish. I encouraged the members who'd done felt-making with me before to lead on a lot of the sessions and it was great seeing them take responsibility and explain how to do things. The group enjoyed the process so much they decided to carry on working as a group and create a winter themed hanging, more on that at another time.

The finished piece

Dr. Who's New Scarf (detail)
The Heathlands Project, 2016

Dr. Who's New Scarf (detail)
The Heathlands Project, 2016

A Beautiful Backdrop

A post that I wrote some time ago but didn't get around to publishing. We made this backdrop for a performance in late 2014. Better late than never...

A Beautiful Backdrop

A Beautiful Backdrop

Up at The Heathlands Project we run a wide range of activities, including art, music, I.T, catering and sports. We also like to encourage different groups to work together both within the project and outside of the project. Recently Cumbria Community Gamelan has been based up at The Heathlands Project and a group of our members have been involved in creating a performance involving a story they'd written inspired by local places and legends and music they'd created using the Gamelan (a beautiful Indonesian percussion orchestra.) This group asked my textiles group if they'd like to get involved making something visual to go with the performance.

Sun detail

Standing stone detail

After discussing various options such as making puppets, costumes and scenery the textiles group decided they would like to make a large backdrop for the performance. They listened to the story and then worked together to draw out a design that incorporated all the important places in the story. These included a lake, an island with a fortress, a ring of standing stones, a waterfall and a magic hill. We decided that as it was a myth the Gamelan group had created we would use a range of different textured and coloured fabrics to create a magical landscape for the backdrop.

The main pieces laid out

Sky detail

Felt for the standing stones

Once the guys had completed the design we chose the different fabrics we wanted to use and I cut out the pieces and stitched them down, with a lot of help from one of our lovely volunteers. We used a range of sparkly Indian fabrics to add to the magical feel. We also layered up fabrics and used patches for the lake and the sky to add a sense of movement. I also got the guys to make two large sheets of felt for us to make the standing stones out of.

Lake and flower detail

Fortress detail

Felt sun and sparkly clouds

Once the main pieces of fabric were stitched down the guys added some embroidered flowers and felt balls to add more surface interest. We also added some clouds and a felt sun and some funky felt sheep and fish. The finished backdrop was then used when the Gamelan group performed at The Salvation Army in Carlisle just before Christmas.

Sheep detail

Standing stone circle

Single standing stone

Sunshine by The Heathlands Project

Sunshine, 2015 by The Heathlands Project

The Heathlands Project's 2015 quilt is completed and down in Birmingham for this years Festival of Quilts! Despite my best efforts at being organised it was, as usual, a bit of a rush to get it finished in time but we did so all is well and the members are already looking forward to getting it back and hearing the judges comments.

Quilt details

Quilt details

Quilt details

I wrote before about this quilt and why, despite the stresses,  I like doing a big project like this with the group. Seeing everyone's work come together to create a coherent group piece is a really satisfying thing. One of the reasons it's always a bit of a rush to get finished is that I like to give the guys as long as possible to work on their individual patches. This of course means that there's less time for me to put it together but I love seeing all the different patches and how each individuals character shines through.

Laying out the patches

I wanted to create this year's quilt in a slightly different way to previous years. So, once I'd collected all the patches I laid them out on a base cloth, filling any gaps with sunshine coloured fabrics. I wanted to keep the edges if the fabric raw to add a bit more texture.

Quilt sandwich

Quilting on the sewing machine

One of the members of the textile group was really keen to help with the construction so along with one of the members of staff he made a 'quilt sandwich' of the layer with the patches, the wadding in the middle and a plain back cloth. They then worked together on the sewing machine to quilt these layers in place, fixing the patches as they went.

Adding the binding

Once all the quilting was done it was time to finish the edges. I wanted to have a go at binding the edges this year, previously we have worked on more of a bag like construction with the quilting being the final step. One of the comments we've had from some of the judges in the past is that we could do with a bit more quilting, which is why we took the approach mentioned above.

The binding and back of the quilt

By this point we were very short on time so I took the quilt home to finish off, doing the last bits of quilting, the binding and adding a hanging sleeve before parcelling it all up and sending it down to The Festival of Quilts. It was interesting doing the binding. I quite like the look and it's different to how we've normally done it. As usual I am not totally happy with the finished piece as it is not as nicely finished as I would like but I find generally when it comes back I can appreciate the good things about it more!