Colour + Cloth
January 2022 Event

Sharon Thomson

A three-day series of workshops and display of quilts. Colour + Cloth is a celebration of creativity, love of colour and joy of working with fabric and stitch. 

Tutors will include Shuji and Alison Yamazaki from Wabi Sabi designs in Canberra and popular local tutors Jennifer Corkish and Sheena Chapman. Our quilt display will focus on the colour-filled work of Sheena Chapman. 
 
The display of Sheena Chapman’s Vintage Inspired Improv Quilts spanning her career as quilt collector and teacher, promises to be a riot of colour. Alongside Sheena’s quilts will be many made by her clever students. The exhibition is open to all and viewable with a gold coin donation, the quilts will be hanging inside and outside our store for the full three days of the event. 
 
If you have a weekend spare, you could join Sheena’s Sunday workshop and learn how she takes her inspiration from vintage quilts and uses colour in her highly improvised style of working. Undertake some basic Improv exercises using your own fabrics or the kits we’ve prepared OR make a start on a block or blocks for Sheena’s popular and accessible Floribunda Quilt.
 
Shiji and Alison Yamazaki continue the colour filled, preloved theme using vintage Japanese kimono fabrics to in a one day workshop to make a pretty and useful Hanabukuro Blossom Bag AND a Chiku-Chiku slow stitched brooch OR join our addictive and productive two day indigo dying workshop with Alison & Shuji. Indigo vats are on the go for two days and you can explore many different shibori techniques to colour your cloth.
 
Last but definitely not least. Popular and endlessly creative teacher Jennifer Corkish joins us again for a one day workshop focusing on embellishment with stitch. Learn how to colour your cloth with stitch and stamps to make one of a kind mini textile art works. Jennifer specialises in providing plenty of direction to anyone new to creative stitch embellishment but also has the skills to allow more experienced makers to have fun exploring and playing with the techniques and materials. 
 
The event will run Friday 21st Jan , Saturday 22nd Jan and Sunday 23rd Jan
 

Colouring in with Stamp & Stitch with Jennifer Corkish – Friday 21st & Sat 22nd January

Join Jennifer Corkish for an exciting two days embellishing fabric with stitch. Your class fee will include a full kit so that you can just turn up and stitch! Jen will provide a block printed panel which is your ‘blank canvas’ to colour and embellish with stamp and stitch. You’ll also find some stamp carving rubber, threads and a needle in your kit.

You will learn to carve your own stamps to create additional patterns in the background of your panel or you could embark on a piece of your own design. This class is all about creativity, experimenting and having fun. 

Jennifer will cover a range of stitches that are good for filling areas, some stitches that are well suited to emphasizing outlines and a handful to create texture. Jennifer also will cover ways to add non fabric items like shells or paper to your composition. You will end up with a frameable artwork or a piece that could be turned into a bag or pouch or a block that could be the start of a much larger quilt project. 

One day/Two Projects: Hanabukuro Blossom Bag and Chiku Chiku Stitched Brooch with Alison and Shuji Yamazaki

Friday 21st January 2022 All materials included

Hanabukuro Blossom Bag  – This traditional Japanese bag is a quick and fun project . The blossom shape and sweet blossom-end ties combine to highlight beautiful Japanese fabric. The kit uses vintage kimono silks for a very special gift to a friend or yourself. Once you have the knack, this pattern can be made again and again in different sizes.

Chiku-Chiku Stitched Brooch This brooch is a lovely introduction to freestyle chiku-chiku stitching. It honours the mottainai ” too good to waste” – principle of Japan by reusing vintage kimono linings and wool kimono pieces. Learn a range of simple stitches which you can also use for visible mending and other slow stitching projects.

String Piecing fun with Sheena Chapman – Sun 23rd January

Sheena’s quilts are a fantastic blend of old and new, traditional and improv. We call it ‘Vintage Inspired Improv’. Sheena’s quilts are refreshingly colourful, fun and fast to make. Some quilts are Sheena’s contemporary take on a vintage quilt from her collection and some quilts are designed in response to the fabric she’s working with. Once you see them you will be dying to make them all!!

Sheena has a number of improvisational techniques that she characteristically employs in her quilts and you will learn these in class. Once you’ve mastered these you can go on to create your own ‘Inspired Improv’ heirloom. Sheena also employs special, sometimes unorthodox, time saving techniques that all total fabric addicts will appreciate. Stay tuned for the list of quilts on offer make during the weekend. (or if you are a previous student of Sheena’s and you have a class UFO you’d like to continue on with get in touch and we’ll see if it’s suitable to go on with on this weekend. 

Two Days Indigo Dying with Shuji and Alison Yamazaki Sat 22nd & Sun 23rd January 2022 $300 pp

The cost includes a kit of 1 x cotton handkerchief (45cm square), 2 x soft sarashi cotton scarf (36cm x 160cm), and 1 x linen/rayon blend scarf (45cm x 200cm) . Plus 2m of PFD fabric for the second day.

People will learn how natural indigo is made in Japan and ten or more shibori techniques.  You will also learn what you can make in your future projects (bags and quilt tops etc) with indigo dyed materials.

No requirement list.   Just walk in a class and enjoy the workshop.  People will have free access to natural indigo vats, aprons, gloves, irons + ironing boards and resists (clamps, wood resists, PVC pipes, marbles, rubber bands, Arimatsu shibori threads, needles and scissors).  We recommend participants to wear old clothes and shoes in case of splashes. 

Great Photos from last year’s Indigo Dyeing Workshop at the bottom of this blog post.  

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Colour keeps us energised and alive!  

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