Indigo Dyeing classes in Wellington, New Zealand

Here are some photos of students work from some of my indigo dyeing workshops. These are great classes and mostly held outside so there is great ventilation! In the next two months I have three workshops booked. I only run these classes in the warmer months so book in now if you are interested as it will be a whole year before they are offered again.

If you are interested in enrolling please click on the links.

Saturday 25th February 9-3pm. Tawa College, Tawa, Wellington.

This class will focus on shibori using multicoloured fibre reactive dyes as well as indigo.

https://www.tawacomed.co.nz/Course,Indigo-dyeing-Shibori...

Saturday 18th March 10-4pm

Shibori using indigo at Hutt Art Society Rooms, Lower Hutt.

https://www.huttart.co.nz/copy-of-classes-3

Saturday 25 March

This is a class run by Kapiti Quilters. If you are interested in joining them and you are not a member the price is $60 ( it’s subsidised for members). If you are interested in this class let me know and I can give you the coordinator’s contact details.

Textile Classes in Lower Hutt , New Zealand.

 

Hi everyone

I'm teaching multiple classes at the Hutt Art Society rooms in Lower Hutt. There are very few places which offer evening and weekend classes in the Wellington area since a previous government removed subsidies for adult education. So Sue Swann (Embroidery) and I (surface design, quilting, bookmaking)  started offering classes at the Hutt Art Society Rooms. Each year we have expanded and this year have brought in a number of new tutors. Here is a copy of our newsletter.

Welcome to 2023

We have a variety of classes and new tutors for you this year.  Whether you're a beginner or whether you want to take the next step in your stitching journey there are classes we hope will interest you.

Classes for the first half of the year are on the Hutt Art website already.  More classes will be added over the next few months for classes to be held later in the year.  I'll send out an email as new classes are added.

 As well as ourselves we have classes planned with the following tutors;

• Mary Self - Mary is teaching a beginners stitch class as well as a couple of classes that will develop your creativity and teach you new techniques, 
• Cherie Gurney - Cherie is teaching a piece that gives you the opportunity to use those precious scraps in your collection and create something memorable,
• Katherine Pepperall - Katherine has created a wonderful doorstop incorporating native New Zealand clematis flowers in reticella,

Coming Up later in the year

• Anna Hicks - Anna is preparing some classes from her "Mending and Design" series and
• Marilyn Moran - For those of you who requested a class in needle felting, Marilyn is designing a small creature to tempt you to 'have a go'. 

Heads up - there are a couple of groups starting at the end of February and a shibori dyeing class in early March, so don't delay in getting enrolled for these classes: 

• A monthly stitching group on the 4th Sunday of each month  - this group is for those who need a bit of help getting an old project restarted, want help with a new project or just want to stitch with a group of like minded people - it's a great way to keep a project moving.
  
• Design your own "Kutch" Dowry bag.  This group will also meet monthly and by the end of the year you will have learnt a bit about the design process, some new stitching techniques and have a handy little bag.
  
• Clare is holding an indigo / shibori dyeing  day in early March, so be quick to enrol for this popular class and create some interesting fabrics for other projects.

Class Samples

If you'd like an opportunity to see the class samples for the classes already scheduled, the class samples will be on display in the Huia Gallery (Hutt Art) from Tuesday 31st January - Sunday 12th February.

Exhibition - Indonesian Textiles

There is an exhibition of Indonesian textiles at Hutt Art from Tuesday 31st January - Sunday 12th February.  The textiles are ikats and batiks and they all use natural dyes for most of the colours.  On Saturday 4th Feb at 2pm there will be a talk about the dyeing processes as well as looking at the rituals associated with their production and the meanings of some of the patterns. If you're interested in textiles this is not to be missed.

Attached is a poster for the upcoming classes, and a poster for the upcoming Indonesian textile exhibition.  Please feel free to forward this email to anyone who you think may be interested in the classes or the exhibition.

Enrolments are via the Hutt Art website

https://www.huttart.co.nz/copy-of-classes-3

Regards

Sue and Clare

www.huttart.co.nz

textile.hutt.art@gmail.com

A New Venture - new textile classes in Wellington.

 I've been teaching textile classes at Nancy's Stitch Studio in Wellington for quite a few years but the shop has recently changed hands and at this stage the owners are not ready to run a big list of classes. So three of us are starting to run classes at the Hutt Arts Society Rooms in Lower Hutt (New Zealand).

You can have a look at the classes in more detail by going to the Hutt Arts website.

My classes are 

Boro - making a layered, stitched fabric panel.

31st July 10-4pm.

Monoprinting.

Monoprinting on fabric or paper to make fabric for quilting or papers for bookmaking.

Saturday May 29th

10-4

Machine Quilting

Learn how to prepare a quilt for machine quilting then draw with a sewing machine. After machine quilting a sample, you can then colour the design in , using fabric pens if you wish.

Sunday July 18 10-4

Bookmaking

Learn how to make at least 5 different styles of sewn books.

A new decade 2020

I'm finding it hard to accept that I turn 60 this year. Surely a 60 yer old person should be tidy and have their creative life a bit more organised than I do. I get carried away creatively and don't mind that I'm working in a disaster zone. I think I spend most of my life tidying up the mess I made the previous day. I also have about the slowest computer available at the moment since it hasn't been able to update to the latest operating system. I'm waiting for a new one to be delivered. So this blogpost is taking rather a long time to load photos ad its been a long time since I even posted here as I find computing very frustrating at the moment.

Wearing my Hieke

This year I have again been studying raranga and we started the year making hieke which is a type of Maori  rain cape. The base underneath is made of jute string which is what we beginners started with. The top part is mainly shredded harakeke (NZ flax) and the bottom is New Zealand flax which has rolled up into tight straws called pokinikini. In the background is an example of harakeke, the plant that we use to weave baskets and make these sorts of cloaks.

Pake (pronounced packay)

This is the second cloak we made this year. Mine was the only bright blue one though. String is made from the the interior fibres of the flax leaf. I dyed mine with dyes suitable for cellulose fibres. There are pokinikini at the bottom of the fibre strings.

These two years of learning Maori weaving have been very exciting and have taken me away from quilts and textiles. I have learned a lot about weaving, Maori language  and about New Zealand. 

Ailsa Craig Quilt and Fibre festival

In mid May a group of New Zealand quilt tutors will set out for Canada to teach at the Ailsa Craig Quilt and Fibre Festival.  An exhibition of quilts made by the tutors were sent off a few months ago to take part in a road show to promote the festival, then the 100 quilts from around the country were sent off last week in a huge parcel along with challenge quilts with the them "New Zealand through Our Eyes".

I'm starting to think about which quilts to take with me. It's a choice between having enough clothes for the festival and for 3 weeks travel in Canada afterwards, and having a good selection of quilts for people to see in class. Maybe I don't need clothes!

I'm teaching my Spiky Trees class . Here are some of the quilts I've made in the past. Past students have made quilt tops of plants such as Aloe (South Africa), grass trees and palms (Australia), agapanthus and cacti (in the UK). Its always interesting to see which pictures people bring with them to use as inspiration for their quilt top.

The New Zealand Cabbage Tree (Cordyline Australis)

Cordyline Australis

New Zealand Lancewood

New Zealand flax bush (Phormium Tenax)

Spinnifex on a New Zealand beach (our sand is grey )

Another class I'm teaching is based on utility quilts. In Australia these are called 'wagga quilts' this is probably because the quilts were often backed with flour sacks from the Wagga Wagga flour mills.
Wagga were made from discarded clothing often covered with a final layer of cretonne curtain fabric. When the top layer of fabric is removed, the layers of clothing can be seen. A childs jersey, a mans overcoat, a wool skirt - anything to keep warm. They are like a history of a family in discarded clothing.

I've used this layering of clothing to signify 'layers of lives'. Sometimes I embroider genetic symbols on top of the clothing, sometimes I have screen printed on the fabrics. I often use this method of laying out fabrics or clothing as a background and then add something else on the surface.

3 layers of lives quilts displayed as 'genetic history' cloaks

Granny Smith (using doilies and household linens as the background)

Layers of lives (inspired by the book 'the seven daughters of Eve'

Wagga quilt over printed with genetic information

layers of kimonos (after the Tsunami in Japan)

crossover wagga/japanese boro

Layers of Lives - white office shirts (and DNA image on the surface)

The final classes I'm teaching are to create simple kono (baskets).In New Zealand we would weave with harakeke (NZ flax). This is not available in Canada so we will be using willow bark. I'm going to try and take a bit of harakeke with me so people can see what it is like.

The way we cut the harakeke leaving the three central leaves

two kono (square baskets)

a selection of 4 and 2 corner kono

I understand that the two weaving class are full but there are still spaces in the wagga and spiky trees classes. If you are interested in my classes but need more information, please don't hesitate to ask questions and I'll try and explain anything that doesn't make sense. 

I look forward to Ailsa Craig Festival and hope to see some of your there.

Nga Mihi (regards)

Clare

Raranga Exhibition - Te Wananga o Aotearoa Porirua 2018.

Raranga (weaving) exhibition, 2018.

Potae (hats)

mostly kete timata

mostly kete pikau (backpacks)

ipu putiputi (flower arrangements, kete, wallhangings)

Learning to weave Harakeke part 2.

The course at the Wananga is nearly over, we are currently having our exhibition and our opening was last night. The course is 10 months long and counts as full time but most people are able to work full time as the classes are 5-9pm on a Wednesday and once a month there is a full weekend of 5pm friday to 2pm on sunday. Most new skills are taught on the full weekend.

here are a few of the kete I have made in the second half of the year. I have been exploring the use of dyes and weaving with flax that has been harvested and prepared then boiled and dried for 4-6 weeks before dyeing and weaving. I'm still getting used to the amount of time the flax needs to be soaked to get it flexible enough to weave with. Too wet and it dries with gaps, too dry and it cracks while I'm working with it.

patterned kete pikau (backpack)

patterned kete Timata

Patterned kete timata with 4 plait shoulder strap

kete pikau with patikitiki pattern (the flounder)

kete pikau with patikitiki pattern (the flounder)

kete pikau with patikitiki pattern (the flounder)

Kete porowhita with whakapuareare (holes)

kete whakairo (fine weave) with holes

kete whakairo

kete porowhita

the poster for our student show