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Friday 4 April 2014

Textile Show at the ExCel in London

4th April 2014

Had a really enjoyable day yesterday at the ExCel, a very impressive venue.....



....new buildings on the far side of the river ....



....on the right is the Dome and if you look closely just behind the big cranes is the Emirates Cable Car  crossing over the river, poor visibility due to smog!


We arrived at 10am and it was quiet so I was able to wander and chat to people about their work.....

Met Bobby Britnell...


.....and admired all the shoes made for her 'Hands Up For Uganda' project.....



....Bark Cloth has been decorated by many volunteers including leading textile artists and prisoners....



...the 'feathers' decorating these shoes were made by textile students-so beautiful.


Wish I could show all the shoes, so much variety in the decoration, machine stitching, hand stitching, printing, appliqué and beads etc.... 

...more info here..

https://www.facebook.com/barkcloth2artcloth



Some of Bobby Britnell's work on Bark Cloth....


...the baskets are made by people from the village of Kisaabwa and all money generated from the sale  of goods helps to improve conditions in the village. For more information and more detailed photos of the shoes go to...

 www.handsupforuganda.org

www.bobbybritnell.co.uk

...oh yes, I bought some barkcloth!


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Some wonderful work by various quilters....










I loved this one and my photo doesn't do it justice, lots of texture with stitching and printing and painting on hand dyed fabric...





...the colours in this were fabulous, hand dyed fabrics minimal appliqué stitching but so effective!



.....

I chatted to Christine Plummer for a while...


...she is a mixed media artist and her little handmade books were lovely, made from recycled paper and decorated with scraps of hand dyed fabric and threads and buttons. She explained how she backs the paper for the cover with Decovil -a Vilene product- the paper can then be stitched and decorated......




so I bought some Decovil to use on silk paper and perhaps my own hand made paper for a truly unique gift!

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Some work by Dionne Swift....


....I loved the simplicity of the shapes using industrial felt and basic shapes.

Dionne Swift was working on a free stitched machine picture and had a great variety of work displayed.

www.dionneswift.co.uk

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Exotic costumes from the Broadway My Fair Lady..

...head dress of feathers and dress embroidered and beaded..


...the red/yellow cape was made from layers of feathers


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Giant Knitted Book corner...

..a page about 8ft high with everything knitted in a variety of yarns....


....life size knitted display..


...another 'page'...


...this dragon was enormous, the front body was fabric but all the details, scales, teeth etc were knitted.



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Last few inspirational pieces....



..lots of simple hand stitches used to great effect...



...appliqued, quilted and hand stitched....




..and finally my other purchases....


...a Colouricious DVD on Transfer Painting and three beautiful blocks that I can't wait to try!!

:::

Today I am catching up on knitting, sewing and bunting letters and tomorrow a Craft Fair in Chiswick.

LIFE IS GREAT!!!












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