Saturday 13 September 2008

Quite a week!

Well, I can safely say that the Staff Festival last Friday changed my life. Why? Well, as I was walking around the Arts & Crafts market section thinking 'I can do this too', I didn't really take it that seriously, but now things have changed somewhat. After talking to DH about it a bit, we decided that I may as well try and 'go pro' as it were and, after all manner of last minute arrangements, I started at Harrogate College last Thursday on their C&G level 3 embroidery course. It takes 4 years to do the complete cert and diploma, but I may only have 2 years at college, so will have to do the rest by distance learning, (i.e. at least twice the price for less personal attention!!!), and I wouldn't mind still doing the level 2 stumpwork course as well, but we can look at that later. I felt I needed more training and experience before I could really design and sell things, so this should help enormously.

So, much to my surprise, I am now a City & Guilds student! Here are the things I did at the first class. The first year is devoted mostly to doing the Design for Craft module and the samples needed for assessment. Basically, you do the art and design work, then adapt it into stitch straight away. In year 2, students do their 4 big pieces. Year 1 seems to be quite a learning curve and so I hope to be able to do something alongside it in year 2, but that's a way off yet. We did shells and sea creatures, so I did this drawing of a shell, (from the real thing - I don't like working from photos, they're so flat!), and then made a start on this stitched piece. I didn't get very far with it as there's really only so much you can do in a 5 hour working day, esp. with intro stuff as well. Anyway, the first design section is concentrating heavily on line work, so here you can see the outline of the shell couched in Anchor Pearl Cotton #5, the white with the gold thread running through. Some classmates thought I'd couched in gold and over-complimented it, but I couched on in one strand of plain white stranded cotton taking care to not cover the gold thread in the process. I plan to do the top bits of the shell one in white and one in gold and really go to town with linear stitches in the shadow part, leaving the shell itself mostly as outline. Might put in a few flecks of brown here and there. I hope to get some more work done on it over the next few days and certainly to have it finished by next week's class. Mustn't get behind as there's a lot of work!

Here's the hardanger cushion sewn up and modelled on my mum's sofa this afternoon. She has bigger cushion pads than ours here, so I went to her place to get a good photo. Will give it to its new owners tomorrow afternoon.=)

9 comments:

Terry said...

City & Guilds is great fun, I enjoyed it when I did that course but the only problem I had was with my bad back sitting around for so many hours, good luck with it I had toyed with going back and doing the stumpwork course but my local college is no longer doing any Embroidery so its not an option any more

Susan Elliott said...

City and Guilds!! I've heard of this but don't really know too much about it. I'm delighted that I'm going to learn so much more through your blog. Congratulations on your decision -- I really loved your painted shell (My Mom had a thing for shells). I can't wait to see what you come up with next...

Glad you gave credit to Mum's sofa for the role that it played in today's performance.

Nic said...

Good luck with the City and Guilds - I've seen some impressive work generated by people on these courses so I can't wait to see yours - you definitely have the skills!

I'm with you going to craft exhibitions - I always think 'I could do that' and don't buy anything, just come away with ideaas - which of course take ages to come to fruition! :o) - but I think it's positive that we have accurate opinions of our abilities, so many people think 'I couldn't possibly do that' and that's why so many needlework shops and designers are going out of business :o(

Front Range Stitcher said...

How exciting! I am delighted you're embarking on this new endeavor and I'll be watching with great anticipation! Congratulations and good luck.
Madonna

Anonymous said...

An exciting new venture for you - good on you for taking the big step forwards :) Your cushion looks awesome finished too :)

Veronica said...

Good luck with your new course. It sounds like so much fun. Your work is already very advance so I have no doubt you'll handle it beautifully.
Lovely pillow sitting on your mum's sofa :)

Von said...

How terrific for you! I've heard of the C&G courses and look forward to seeing your progress in the course!

Kate said...

Congrats on your new endeavour! Your shell design looks brilliant, as does your cushion. Stunning stitching. :)

Love to Stitch 99 said...

That is great, you doing the City & guilds as you really love embroidery so why not learn as much as you can while you can :-)

Love your finished pillow.

Pierrette =^..^=

 
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