Luscious Layers at InStitches Studio, Wokingham

My next workshop will be my 5-day Luscious Layers workshop at InStitches from 12th to 16th October and there are still a couple of places left.

Luscious Layers is designed for students who have worked with procion dyes before, maybe done a bit of screen printing, fabric painting or mark making but are struggling to get ideas out of their heads and onto fabric. It is a ‘design’ workshop rather than a ‘techniques’ workshop although we don’t follow a set path as I honestly don’t believe that there is a single design process that works for everyone. Instead I get you started then work with you one-on-one to turn your idea or source of inspiration into a coherent collection of fabrics that can be cut and used together, or into pieces of complex art cloth that work just as they are or can be used as a basis for stitch.

We start with a pragmatic discussion about types of inspiration and what we might or might not take from them, along with the advantages / disadvantages of working in a figurative or abstract way. (If you want to create a realistic copy of your inspiration on fabric you are in the wrong workshop!). Because this is a workshop with me, we then focus on finding the ‘right’ colours for your project - it’s how I start when I’m developing a new series.

We then start sampling - different techniques, different combinations of techniques, using masks on our fabrics before adding further layers, adding more colour with dye, taking colour away with discharge agents, adding detail with textile inks - whatever works for you and your source, or sources of inspiration. Some of your samples will be little works of art, some will work as part of a collection of fabrics, others may end up in the bin (or as a quilt backing if you’re not quite ready for that step. Some students ‘sample’ all week, others use what they have learnt from sampling to create art cloth or coherent collections of fabric. Some may even start to cut and collage or stitch …. as I said, there is no one ‘process’ that fits all.

It can take time to develop your own unique creative voice or creative process but I have designed Luscious Layers to give you a little nudge in the right direction!

You can find out more details about the workshop and the InStitches studio here. (And Hazel keeps us very well feed - her pea and tarragon soup is legendary and her cakes are yummy.)