Mixed Media Still Life

Inspiration can come from objects you live with everyday, and setting up a Still Life to work from can be a brilliant way to practise your skills of composition, drawing and painting. In this two-part workshop first Laura shows how to create a consistent environment for your arrangement, and shares tips and ideas for objects you might choose and how to place them.  

In the second part Linda encourages you to try a ‘back to front’ approach of painting first, drawing second, using a combination of oil pastel, watercolour and soluble pencils. It’s great fun, and a fast and free way to record what you see – perfect for getting to know your still life subject.

Surface Design – Sponge Printing

Join Linda in this set of two videos where she demonstrates how effective stamping with compressed sponge can be. This technique is suitable for use on both paper and fabric, but in this class Linda will focus on taking the ideas into fabric and will make a cushion from her stamped fabric that has stitch and beading to enhance the lovely printed texture. 

Printed Patchwork Details

Join Linda in this set of two videos where she demonstrates how basic block printing techniques can be combined with traditional patchwork to simplify the piecing and create visually complex designs. We think these ideas can be applied to lots of different designs and will appeal to anyone who would like to add a really individual touch to their traditional quilt making.

Tyvek Embellishments and Beads

Join Linda in two videos where she demonstrates how to make useful and attractive embellishments for textile based mixed media work using a packaging material which is often simply discarded. You will probably already have most of the bits and pieces you’ll need to make the beads she uses for jewellery or to attach to hand made books as a decorative bookmark. Finally she distresses Tyvek to make fernlike appliqué motifs to upcycle an empty chocolate box.

Embroidered Kingfisher

Working from a photographic or sketchbook study as your inspiration, join Linda to use free applique to create a bird panel. Build layers with raw edged fabric scraps before using machine and hand stitch to add texture and detail.

Rubbing Transfer

We love making rubbings, they’re a great way to draw without really drawing. But have you ever considered how you can make transfers from your rubbings? In this video workshop Laura shows you how.

Page to Stitch: Painterly Poppies

So you’ve been working in your sketchbook and are really happy with the pages, but how can you translate that to fabric? In this two-part workshop Linda will show you how she creates a painterly study of poppies in her sketchbook then takes those pages as inspiration to create a quilted panel.

Inspired by Ceramics: Table Runner

Discover how Linda chooses a fabric colour palette for a summer table runner inspired by a collection of hand painted ceramics. Follow our lead and be inspired by your tableware to make a perfectly coordinating quilted table runner. She uses stitch and flip technique in a quilt as you go method of piecing. This is an ideal project for making use of many coloured scraps.

Customising Digital Print Fabric

Creating fabric design for digital print is just the start, once the fabric is printed you can still customise it using some of your favourite surface design techniques. In these workshops Laura shows how you can work with a digital print fabric to modify it with discharge dyeing and hand lettering.

Stamp and Draw on Paper and Fabric

Some detailed subject matter can be daunting to draw from scratch. In this workshop Linda will show you how it’s possible to use a subtle stamped shape as the base for your drawing. Take all the guesswork out of getting the shapes right and instead enjoy creating a design and drawing the details. Then building on the sketchbook work that Linda did using stamps and drawing, she demonstrates how it’s easily possible to translate those ideas to fabric to make a stitched piece.

Inspired by Boro

Inspired by the stitch and repair notion of Boro and other textile traditions from around the world, Linda is constructing a textile using scraps and lots of hand stitching. To make the process her own, she’s chosen to needle-felt the fabrics making a strong fabric that’s a pleasure to stitch. In the second video see how she turns that fabric into a stylish and practical tote bag.

Architecture as Inspiration

There’s much inspiration to be found in architectural sources. In this three part workshop join Linda to see how she worked from windows, grilles and other architectural features from a nearby church to create pages in her sketchbook filled with pattern and design information before interpreting the ideas into a stencilled and printed design on fabric.