Forthcoming meetings

Friday 29th April 2011 - Meeting at Mickleover community centre, Mickleover, Derby. 7.30pm to 9.30pm A talk on making clothes and items from recycled materials by Mig Holder. Charge for non members and visitors will be £3 per person. No charge to members. Saturday 14th May 2011 - Workshop at Hazelwood Village Hall, Hazelwood, Derbyshire. 10am to 4pm. This will be a spin-in bring along your latest spinning project to work on. Patricia Ackroyd will be joining us to give a short talk about 'The Campaign for Wool'. Friday 27th May 2011 - Meeting at Mickleover Community Centre. Show and Tell, bring along your finished card woven bags. It is also the evening when we present the Guild Challenge - 'What can we do with a shrunken jumper'!

Indigo Dyeing Workshop with Pam Keeling

Saturday 9th April 2011 - was a most excellent Indigo dyeing workshop led by our own Pam Keeling.

Pam brought along some of her beautiful indigo dye samples for us to look at and she talked us through how to obtain some of the lovely interesting dye patterns.

She made the whole process seem very easy and the results speak for them self.

We stared off indoors but the weather was so lovely outside, that seemed to be the best place to do the dyeing. So we move all the tables and equipment outdoors.

Here we are mixing our indigo dye bath under Pam's keen supervision.

Stuart Groom set up a very impressive washing line for us to use and it was soon filled with blue dyed fabric and yarn.

Here you can see some of the interesting patterns created by the stitching and the different objects that were tied into the fabric.

Everybody had great results from their dyeing that day and we all look forward to seeing what each of us will do with our dyed fabrics and yarns in the future.

I am sure there will be some members who will be turning up to meetings in pretty blue summer skirts and tops!

AGM Meeting and Guild Competition

Friday 25th March 2011 was the Derbyshire guild's AGM and annual guild competition. The results of the competition and the election of new guild committee members will be posted shortly.

Nuno Felting with Jeanne Roberts

Saturday 12th March 2011 workshop - Was a real treat, Jeanne Robets a fine arts textile artist took us beyond the basics of nuno felting to show us some of the tricks of the trade. She can be seen here, centre, with some of her beautiful felted wall hangings. The workshop was very well attended as always and I can say that everyone had a very good physical workout on that day. Felting is not for the weak and frail. But the end results were worth all the effort. Everyone made beautiful nuno felted silk chiffon scarves seen here below.

Spinning, Weaving and Dyeing in the 1500's

Friday 25th February 2011 - We had a most interesting talk by Alison Coates on Spinning, Weaving and Dyeing in the 1500's. Alison came along in full costume, she can be seen here in traditional dress as a poor widow in the 1500's.

Her undergarments are made of woven, handspun linen; she has a linen smock and a linen coif on her head. This is for respectability and it also helped to protect against fleas. She explained that she is wearing undyed wool, as a poor widow in the 1500's she could not afford the dye. Only the very rich would wear bright colours like rich greens, reds and jet black.

Alison is part of a group who re-create the life in Tudor times at Kentwell in Suffolk. Her talk and slide show was very interesting and gave us a glimps into a past life.

Woven Bags

Saturday 12th February 2011 - Anne Warwick led a workshop on weaving a yarn holder bag on card. The workshop was once again well attended. Each member was given a template and set of instructions for making their cardboard loom. The morning was spent cutting the card and warping it up ready for weaving.

There were some very enthusiastic people who by the end of the workshop had completed their bags, like Cath here...well done! But for those who did not we hope to see them completed and presented at the meeting on Friday 27th May.

Here's a selections of beautiful bags in the making.

The Ashford Day with Richard Ashford from New Zealand

Another brilliant Ashford Day, lots to see and lots to say.
Richard Ashford with his wheels, Janet Phillips with her deals.
He said how the company started with toys,
And wooden things all made by the boys.
He told of the spinning wheels, described with clarity,
That they couldn't sell, so they all went to charity.

He talked about fliers, ratios and things,
That went over our heads, flew away with wings.
Then Kate Sherratt got up from a back row chair,
Showed us how to spin fancy yarns with a flair.
If we had problems David Herring was there,
To give us advice on the wear and the care

And then we all stopped and had lots to eat,
The food was plentiful, a really good treat.
Then Kate went up to one end of the room,
And showed us a new way to warp up a loom.
Some of us got some more spinning done,
Yes, another good time of Ashford Day FUN!

Poem by Catherine Housley.

The Derbyshire Guild would like to thank the Staffordshire Moorlands Guild for inviting us to a great Ashford Day. Their hospitality and food was fantastic, we all had a real good time!
Our thanks also go to Richard Ashford, Kate Sherratt and David Herring for making the day most interesting and informative. Thanks to, for the free samples of fibres and 'The Wheel' magazine. It was great to see the new products that will be for sale at this years Woolfest. We would like to wish Richard and staff a safe journey back to New Zealand.