Handmade legacy!

All images copyright the artist (listed below)

Montage created by Tina Francis from Web images

Those of you who read this blog on regular basis (thanks pals!) will know that my bespoke stitching only uses second hand wool, I am as much interested in the story behind who owned the wool as I am in the new piece I create.  Some of my second hand stitching has been used to create the tapestry needlepoint kits that I sell but of course these kits contain new wool! Taking a look at my stand neighbours at The Handmade Fair there seems to be a common theme of tradition and memory woven into our practices, lets take a look at the people that will surround me at the end of September.

Firstly The Littlecote Soap Co. founded by Elaine Stavert 12 years ago after a life-changing move from a London television career to a farm in the heart of the Buckinghamshire countryside. Inspired by the surrounding countryside and her favourite things in life, each ethical range is made from traditional recipes with exclusively designed perfumes that are quintessentially English with contemporary twists. This all sounds a bit like the good-life and yes it seems that it is because one of the ranges is based on gin and tonic!

Bobo Stitch has a very special piece of history in the making as the company is named after their daughter Olive, see their site for the full story. Whilst the kits used traditional cross stitch the patterns created are really something quite special and heirlooms in the making.

Speaking of tradition the work by Chachoulie concentrates on recycling the rich embroidery of Palestine, a country that has a rich heritage in cross stitch. The national dress of the region is defined by its embroidery and each dress tells a story with its colours, patterns and shapes, revealing not only which village the wearer is from but also her marital status.

Rima set up her company to showcase her creativity through the cultural identity of Palestine and to keep the folk craft of the region at the front end of fashion. 

Onward! How will you have the time to visit us all! The powerhouse that is Puntobelle design all their own fabrics and then use them to create really useful products, I am particuarly looking forward to the Travel Wallet which will set anyone,s holiday off to a great start. Some of these patterns are already design classics and so will be around for a long time!

Whilst Puntobelle use their own fabrics for their designs Creative Quilting bring you fantastic fabrics for all your quilting needs. Set up with just 5 bolts of fabric in 1989 the shop now boasts 2000 bolts! Hopefully a good selection of them will be making their way to the fair. A huge amount of quilting knowledge will be there for the taking on this stand, don't miss out on asking for advice if you want to start working with fabric.

There is a Norwegian saying about if you want to sing you will always find your song which I was reminded of when I read how printer Sarah Hamilton describes her work which revolves around colour for her the colours must sing which I can appreciate being a tapestry artist! Sarahs prints have a Scandinavian feel but are also based on her love of 1950's fabrics and among others Eric Ravilious and Georges Braque (a Tina Francis favourite). Sharing a stand with Sarah will be another print maker called Gabriela Szulman whose work is inspired by the nature of memories, over the years she has saved family photographs and printed ephemera from the 1940s and 1950s to create beautiful collages which are now being used for a new range of scarves that will be launched at the fair.

Using family memorabilia is taken to the next level by The Hutton Emporium who will be exhibiting work from members of the Hutton Family. This exciting mix of styles and practices will be great to see, I will be trying to find a link in the styles! Emma Hutton is a jeweller who adds history to her pieces by giving them a worn and cherished look with different pattination techniques.

After a long day at a show I like to sit down and look at something really beautiful for a while before I start to pack away and this time I will be looking at the fantastic hand painted and naturally dyed wools of Watercolours and Lace. I am very interested in the way that a naturally dyed wool can bring immediate texture to any piece especially as some of the dyes are from right here in the UK.

Phew!!

So there we go just a few of the stands in the West Tent that I will be sharing my time with from 19th to 21st September. I will be blogging more soon about other stand holders that I know whose work is nothing less than fantastic.

Happy Stitching!

Tina

Learning as we go

Tina Francis Tapestry 2014

Being a lover of a well designed brochure it is a joy for me at this time of year to sit back and look at all the night school classes that are available, it reminds me of my night school days in London making a stained glass window for a chip shop and completing my City and Guilds in technical drawing amongst other things! Living in the Jewellery Quarter I am thinking that a jewellery class of some description really must be on the cards this Autumn. 

I wouldn't really be here without the night classes I attended in Brighton where Cath Bristow taught me how to print and Kim Thittichai taught me how to develop an idea. So now it's my turn to run some workshops which I am very excited about, I hope to have more in the future so watch this space!

Firstly I am running a workshop at Farfield Mill in Sedburgh on 5th October.  It's a day long class as we will be creating two samples using my old favourite second hand wool! The morning will see us stitching a small sample using all the random wool's in my stash and in the afternoon we will print onto tapestry canvas and use stitch to highlight, take a look at the image at the top of this blog. 

Secondly at Knitting and Stitching Show at Alexandra Palace I will be running a short one hour session yet again using the wool from my ever growing stash to create tapestry stitched brooches.

Tina Francis 2014

I love how second hand wool is always a bit knobbly creating it's own texture!

I have other workshops closer to home in the Autumn which I will put up on the blog and my website soon.

Finally if you have caught the learning bug then why not come along to The Handmade Fair where a full price ticket includes a choice of workshops, talks and makes.  There are some great names running workshops and seminars, if anyone goes to Kaffe Fassets can they please come along to my stand in the Marquee afterwards and tell me all about it it would be fantastic to learn from him.

Off now to look at the courses available here in Birmingham!

Happy Stitching!

Tina

Having a good look around!

Tina Francis Tapestry 2014

I've been concentrating on my Autumn designs over the last week and it seems crazy how fast this year is going, i seem to have almost kept to my blog schedule and have been thinking about the artists and makers who's blogs and sites I really look forward to reading and thought I would share them with you.

First off Kim Thittichai her blog can reached via her website and is a delightful mix of fantastic inspirational images and tales of her teaching travels.  There is a lot of inspiration here with colour and cake featuring in equal measure!  if you are thinking of taking one of Kims courses read through some of the blog posts to get a flavour of what they entail.

Carrying on with colourful inspiration Colouricious is a fantastic site to see what is new in the textile world and a great site for instructional "videos".  Whenever you have a wet Sunday afternoon take a trip to this site and watch quality artists showing you the latest techniques. Actually you don't really need a wet Sunday but I was just helping you out there!

The blog of my tapestry mentor Wendy Hope-Falkner of One Off Needlework always provides me with a sniff of country air and makes me smile.  Her kits are great especially if you want to start your kids young as she has a great range of small kits.

Staying with the Wendy theme, Wendy Ward of MIY Workshop writes about the classes she teaches at her workshop in Brighton and also fantastic sewing tips.  If you are just getting into sewing then a look at this site will leave you ready to buy the equipment needed and still have enough to buy the fabric to make a garment with.

I love a splash of colour on a Monday and so Bright Bazaar is a must visit for me. Always colourful, always inspirational and for me as a nosey parker always very interesting to see what people get up o at the weekend!

Finally a new site that has caught my eye this month is GD UK Style who pioneer eco interiors, I love the mix of style and artisan on this site its a great place to find something unusual and new.

I will write more about my fave shops in a few weeks which you may be able to go to now the summer is here.

Happy Stitching!   

Loving all your work

Tina Francis Tapestry - Images courtesy "Purple Heather"

I love to meet up with fellow textile artists and se what they have been doing so it was with a happy heart that I set off to meet Birmingham Embroiderers Guild on Saturday 5th July at the Birmingham Library where they hold a regular stitching session on the first Saturday of each month for anyone interested in coming along and stitching.

The wealth of experience and expertise around that one table was fantastic from new comers to genuine experts in their field.  The atmosphere was one of sharing and I loved being able to watch people stitch and get some tips!

In March I was invited by Kim Thittichai to run a daily workshop on the Freudenburg Vilene education stand at Fashion, Embroidery and Stitch at the NEC.  The class took bubble wrap, waste tapestry canvas, Pelmet Vilene S80/239 and Bondaweb 902 to create a printed background that could be stitched into or further embellished at a later date. It was only a one hour workshop and the work produced in that time was rather stunning see here for the full round up.  

I always wonder what people will do with their workshop pieces and so I was really happy to meet Heather at the embroiderers group as she had brought along her finished pieces which were fantastic, there are some sections of her work at the top of this blog.  I really liked how Heather had used line so sympathetically which had given the pieces a pleasing rhythm, take a bit of time to look at the before and after shots of her work, just smashing.

Tina Francis Tapestry, copyright Purple Heather

Tina Francis Tapestry, copyright Purple Heather

As you can probably tell I was so very happy to see this work and am looking forward to meeting up with Birmingham Embroiderers Guild again at their Summer Party on 14th July. 

Now back to the tapestry stitching ready for The Handmade Fair all too soon on the horizon!

Happy Stitching!

More Connections - Flax Triangle!

Tina Francis Tapestry copyright 2014

So last time I was talking about the craft leyline that seems to be forming in London over the weekend 19th - 22nd September in London and this time more connections!!

I am a member of The Slow Textiles Group and last Friday we launched a pop up shop focussing on geometrics, the shop is part of the current programme which ends with the launch of the latest geometrics book.  It was a great way to meet other members of the group and also to speak to people who love textiles and especially geometrics. I use only second hand wool in my art work and wherever possible all kits components are sourced here in the UK, I am trying to do my bit but after meeting Zoe Mill Burt or Seeds of Fashion I think I need to try harder!

Seeds of Fashion aims to plant the seed, grow the seed, harvest the seed, process the crop and finally use the resulting fabric to create garments.  All well and good I hear you cry but this process is not happening far away it is happening here in the UK more precisley in and around the allotments and spare spaces of London town!  We no longer grow Flax here in the UK on a commercial level but it used to be everywhere now I am not sure of the history but its production seems to have petered out when we needed land for food in 1950s but hey read the blog and find out the facts.  It is a fantastic idea lets cut out the airmiles and grow the clothes we need here in the UK!  The crazy connection here is that the seeds used for the project came from Wild Fibres whose studio is right opposite mine in the Custard Factory Birmingham.  I am hoping to work with Wild Fibres in the future to create a tapestry from UK grown fibres more soon!

So with my head filled with Flax and its uses I struck up a conversation with Vicky Putler from Thorody.  Thorody make the most fantastic screen printed linen homewares and accessories, their linen is woven in the UK.  We talked about provenance of the fabric and Vicky explained that she had wanted to try and grow her own flax to make the linen they print on, hold on a minute grow your own flax (?) you can see where I am going here with connection number two!  A smaller link is that Thorody live where I used to in London!

So I travelled from Birmingham to London, met someone who lived where I used to live she prints onto linen but hankers after producing her own fabric from the seed she met someone who does just that in London who got the ball rolling with seeds and advice from a woman in Birmingham - that is a full triangle of connections!

Phew!

Happy Stitching!

Looking ahead and the here and now!

copyright Tina Francis Tapestry

Well things are really hotting up with almost 4 days of continual sunshine here in Birmingham!  I love seeing how the city changes in the sunshine with all the open spaces being used for lunch and meeting up.

I have been enjoying the sunshine whilst working on future projects, it's always the way for me experiencing now but irons in the future fire!

If you are visiting the Lakes during the summer do not miss the fantastic Farfield Mill in Sedburgh. This place is home to really thoughtful textile exhibitions and is a place you really can spend all day at.  Heritage weaving looms, national and international artists and a marvelous cafe! From the end of August I will have some work exhibited there alongside some really world class fibre artists it is amazing how we all use wool so very differently.  More on this soon! 

It seems that there is some sort of craft leyline happening in London over the weekend 19th - 22nd September and I am preparing hard to be part of the magic! The Handmade Fair runs from 19th to 21st and is a new and exciting show, there are different entry price levels with the £29 ticket including a workshop, a seminar and a make session great value!  You can also buy an entry only ticket £12.50 which will enable you to visit the show without the workshops and with so many great stands full of some of the best makers around it will be a fun day out.

On 20th September do not miss The Great London Yarn Crawl  this event looks set to be a winner!  You enter in teams and visit different yarn shops on specific routes using public transport to get to them.  It is a bit like a pub crawl but with the only regret being spending all your money on essential wool for your next project! There will be lots of other crafts in the shops featured on the crawl and maybe even some tapestry by me!

Finally Craft, Hobby and Stitch International have a new trade show at Excel 21st to 22nd it's the first time they have staged two trade shows in a year and it looks set to be another great event, they really looked after me at my first trade show earlier in the year.

So that is a look into the future whilst I return to the here and now and stitch in the sunshine!

Happy stitching!

Tina

Geometrically yours!

Tina Francis Tapestry copyright

So it's been a while, I have been settling in to life here in Birmingham and have been loving every minute.  There is a lot going on here which can easily distract a tapestry stitcher!

It's all been a little geometric for me lately, some of my work will be included in the latest edition of Geometrics - A book of contemporary British Textiles produced by The Slow Textiles Group.  There is an exhibition that runs from 28th June to 19th July showcasing some of the best geometrics around and I will be there on 27th with examples of my work and kits for sale.  The above stitchwork will be available as kit alongside other geometric work in the pop-up shop.

Living in a large city has also been having more and more influence on my work and this is the latest kit I am working on - it is a real stash buster and does not need a huge stash to complete it.  People familiar with Birmingham will know where I got the inspiration for this one!  Check here

Tina Francis Tapestry copyright

This kit will be launched at The Handmade Fair in September with the pattern being available by the end of this week!

Living in the Jewellery Quarter means I discover more and more every day there are so many little streets and alley ways, it was on a little jaunt that I discovered The Pen Museum.  During the Museums Night event Transient-Art exhibited there and it was a great success bringing many people to the Museum that may not have visited before.  The Pen Museum are having their first Summer Fair on 27th July and I have designed a small pen related tapestry kit which will be for sale at the vent with all profits going to the Pen Museum.  It will be a great event so maybe I will see you there!

Tina Francis Tapestry copyright

Finally I have been featured in Craft Focus this month, you can find me on the back page going on as usual about all things stitch! The people at Craft Focus have really helped me with my move to selling to retail so thanks gang!

Until next time, happy stitching!