Empress Wu Designs with Wilma

Live in the sunshine, swim the sea, drink the wild air. ( Ralph Waldo Emerson) … I chose this quotation as a theme for last weekend’s workshop at the Newcastle Creative Embroiderers and Textile Artists Retreat. The air was “wild” with inspiration, activity, enthusiasm, fun, friendship, colour and creativity – such an invigorating atmosphere for all who love working with textiles and fibres. The talented textile artists, Jan Clark and Trevor and Beth Reid were also tutors at this retreat. I had a wonderful group of women in my class who created dolls from found objects, polymer clay and upcycled fibres and fabrics to produce really imaginative and meaningful creations. We each started with a quotation to inspire our work and from then on, there were no restrictions … a stick in the garden will never be looked at in the same way and a shapely bottle will never find its way to the recycling bin again. Here are a few images of my students' creations.... very satisfying to see such

Were you excitedly waiting for a glimpse of THE wedding dress last Friday? Lace has been an old time favourite for brides, and royal ones are obviously no different. However, I was very interested to  find out more about this special lace dress - ... The skilled embroiderers of England’s Royal School of Needlework (RSN) contributed their technical embroidery expertise to create the bespoke lace on Miss Catherine Middleton’s wedding dress, veil and shoes and enable Sarah Burton to achieve her artistic vision for the bride The lace design and process was influenced by traditional Carrickmacross lace which originated in Ireland in the 1820s. Carrickmacross lace uses an embroidery technique called appliqué – the lace is worked by applying organdie fabric to a delicate net background and edging each motif with fine cord-like thread. Sarah Burton sourced a series of lace motifs to create a unique design, applied by the RSN and arranged to fit each part of the dress perfectly following her