Whats On - quilts and Textiles in NZ

Auckland Patchworkers Quiltfest 2011. A Nautical Calico Christmas. It is this weekend 4,5,6th November at North Harbour Stadium, Albany, Friday 10-5, sat 10-5, sunday 10-4pm. Merchants , show etc. Free parking.
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Fabricabrac
5th November
St Anne's Hall, Newtown

Fabrics, buttons, beads, lace, scissor sharpening, Mary Potter Hospice stall selling donated fabrics.
www.fabricabrac.co.nz
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Wine Country Quilts 2012 exhibition. 23-25th march 2012. Pukeora Estate, Waipukurau Open 10-4pm daily. $5 entry. You can enter the exhibition if you live on the east Coast from Hicks Bay to Cape Palliser.
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Other stuff that has arrived
Fibre and Fleece exhibition Opotiki. 6-8th July 2012.Anyone can enter the exhibition and fashion show, $20 entry. Lots of categories but everything has to be 90% natural materials (wool, cotton, stone, fur etc). For further information or to get an entry form contact Opotiki Information centre infocentre@odc.govt.nz or 073153031
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The Great Kiwi Icon Challenge.
Create a wall hanging of kiwi icons.
A2 sized quilt, feltwork, embroidery or other textile. Must be original. Entries to your local Bernina shop by 15th January. Forms at Bernina shops.
2 entries will be chosen by each Bernina shop to go forward to the main competition. Prizes are sewing machines for Best of show and Most humorous.
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Mini Symposium
Patches of Tasman
www.patchesoftasman.co.nz/

I really enjoy the mini symposium  as it is much easier to keep track of friends as they are so much smaller than the main symposium.

There are lots of classes by NZ tutors. Dates are 12th - 16th April 2012

There is also a competition 'Patches of Tasman'. Maximum size is 1m in any direction. See the website for details of how to enter.
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Costumes
If you would like to see some of the costumes the Costume Construction class at Drama school made this year, they are up on display in the foyer of the drama school this week and next week along with the models made by the student designers. We also made costumes for 'Love's Labours Lost' which is the graduation show for the 3rd year actors. On till friday. $5 for students and $25 for adults.
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Exhibition
Beneath the Southern Skies
http://fiberartcalls.blogspot.com/2011/07/beneath-southern-sky.html
Beneath the Southern Sky
Deadline: 25 January 2012 (ONLINE)

Beneath the Southern Sky
A traveling exhibition of contemporary textile art
Curator: Brenda Gael Smith
Confirmed venues:
Craft and Sewing Show, Auckland: 15-18 March 2012
Australasian Quilt Convention: 12-15 April 2012
Textile Art Festival: 9-11 June 2012

Size is 40X100cm banner shape.

cherry blossom in NZ

Check out the incredibly blue sky behind the blossom. We get beautiful days at this time of year interspersed with horribly cold days like yesterday. In Japan the cherry blossom was incredible but the sky was usually grey in the background which I only realised when I took these photos.

I got my latest copy of new Zealand quilter and I'm very excited because one of my quilts is on the cover. It is very different from the dyed and painted quilts that I usually make - this one is made of lace doileys.

Arohanui

In between making costumes for the two plays which are coming up for Toi Whakaari, I have also been helping out a bit with the costumes for a show called Arohanui. It is a Maori musical with dancing, singing, traditional martial arts and poi. It is a great show, I really recommend it and I really enjoyed the chance to see the final tech rehearsal, dress rehearsal and opening night as it gave me a chance to see how changes to the lighting made a real difference to the mood of the show.

I don't have any photos of the costumes which I was helping with,  but here is a Youtube 'taster' from the rehearsals and if you get a chance to see this show I encourage you to go and take any visitors you have staying, with you.

Arohanui  and Youtube clip

There is one more show in Wellington then it moves to Auckland for a week.

Textile Whats on in Wellington

I am going to have a stall at
Tawa Art and Craft Expo 9-3pm, Saturday 8th October

Tawa Comunity Centre to show some of my costume work and quilts. I will also have some merino wool scarves and cards for sale.

Other


Minerva gallery - a selection of small quilts inspired by New Zealand landscapes.

Kapiti Coast Quilters Spring Show in the Memorial Hall, Pehi Kupa Street (turn right at the lights by the railway crossing into Elizabeth Street, and Pehi Kupa Street is next left.  Open from 9.00 am - 5pm Saturday 1st and Sunday 2nd Oxtober as part of the Arts Trail.

19th November - Fabrications- Horticultural Hall, lower Hutt
http://fabricationsnz.blogspot.com/

Quiltfest Levin 9-4pm.

Maori Art Market, Te Rauparaha Arena, Porirua
6 — 9 October, 2011.
Thursday 6 October, 2011: 9.30am - 6.30pm
Friday 7 October, 2011: 9.30am - 6.30pm
Saturday 8 October, 2011: 9.30am - 7.00pm
Sunday 9 October, 2011: 9.30am - 4.30pm

Pataka art and craft market
 10-4pm on Saturday 8th October

Tawa Art and Craft Expo 9-3pm, Saturday 8th October
Tawa Comunity Centre

Reticella Lace

Costume Showcase is over and it is less than 8 weeks till the course is over for me. It has been a bit of a roller coaster ride and it seems like I only started yesterday. We have 2 shows to complete costumes for in the next few weeks. They are 'The Putnam County Spelling Bee' and 'Love's Labours Lost' then it is all over and we all need to look for work.

 While working on the costume for Showcase I have become interested in lacemaking. I have been taking lessons with a local teacher and have completed several very very small and very simple samples of bobbin lace. Unfortunately I don't own any bobbins or a cushion so it makes it difficult to actually finish anything larger than a half a book mark but I am finally getting the hang of the basic stitches. I wonder if I could get a few people and make lace with rope and use people as the bobbins? Sounds like the perfect drama school collaborative project :-)

Although I am learning bobbin lacemaking I keep finding photos of reticella lace which I really like.
http://lace.lacefairy.com/Lace/ID/ReticellaID.html

Reticella lace is made by stitching over linen threads. The Duchess of Dunfermline's ruff was probably made this way.









In her Ballyhoo Blog,  Carlyn Beccia gives a Adobe Illustrator tutorial on ruffs.

Here Cal Lane shows his lace sculptures
 
  

The Countess of Dunfermline final photos

This is Crystalyne Willis, a design student at Toi Whakaari who was the model for my costume.

This is the original picture which is held in the Dunedin art gallery. The photographer was taking pictures in the foyer and I managed to sneak in a shot, unfortunately the only shot was with the model facing the opposite direction to the original portrait, maybe I can flip it in photoshop some time.

Onstage it looked like this. The background is Dunfermline Abbey and the music was a Northumbrian small pipes tune with a walking rythmn which I liked.

I was very pleased with the background, lighting and how the costume looked. It was a great night.

Above, the Countess uses her cellphone whilst waiting for her cue and  with the Kings Guard. Outfit  by Oliver Black. The model is Leroy who is a drama student at Toi.

Costume Showcase, Toi Whakaari

Yesterday was Costume Showcase, thank-you to all the family and friends who came along. The 2 shows were sold out by Tuesday which is great (although not so great if anyone left it too long to buy a ticket). This post is a photo essay of the order which the garments are put on.

 The above item is the shift or chemise. It would have been worn to keep sweat off the more expensive dress. It is easily washable. It is a very basic shape with a gusset under the arm and a drawstring at the neck.

 This is the corset from the front and back. I made it out of some fabric I found in Warehouse Fabrics in Wellington ages ago. I don't really know the fibre content.

 Then the bumroll gets put on and this holds up the back of the farthingale which holds the skirt out and slightly tilted. In the photo the skirt is very tilted up at the back but this maybe because the Countess is sitting.

 Then the farthingale which is made of mattress ticking fabric. The Farthingale is the predecessor of the ballet tutu I'm told.

 Then the petticoat which is made of 2 layers. The top layer has gathers and the bottom layer has box pleats. It is really heavy and stops the skirt from caving in when the wearer walks around.

 The dress. This was made as separate bodice and skirt. I started with the skirt because that seemed easiest and then did the bodice when I had learned a few more techniques (such as boning a bodice and making the pattern fir the wearer!) The patterns are all screenprinted with 'Bright Gold' ink from CCG in Auckland. Bright gold is a metallic gold and this glittered in the theatre lights. The sleeves were the hardest bit. They have an under sleeve which is slit at the front so the chemise shows through, then they have a pleated puffed top part with a narrow ribbon like hanging sleeve and epaulettes. I had to do some incredibly carefully placed screenprinting to get the patterns in the right place.

 Then the ruff and cuffs. The ruff is made of very fine  screenprinting mesh which is printed with cream opaque screenprinting ink.  The cuffs and lace around the decolletage is printed onto silk organza. The reason for the different fabric is that the ruff needs to be washable as theatre makeup gets onto it and it is the wrong shape to wash and iron easily. Tudor/Jacobean washer-women used to unpick the stitching them wash them and remake them. The cuffs are organza to be more see through and can be more easily washed and ironed.

Above is a detail shot of the bodice showing the buttons which I made by hand. They are thread wrapped around a single bead. Then they have plexi glue on the spines and gold foiling on that and a single rhinestone in the centre to make them glitter.

 This is a nice shot of the ruff showing the screenprinted 'lace'. This didn't show very well on stage but looks good close up.

Then all the jewellery. I used bead caps, op shop brooches, $2 shop pearls, wire, beads (thanks to my cousin Sue for quite a lot of these). There is a lot of glue involved in making these jewels.

Lastly she gets her fan which is made of a wooden spoon handle, a base which I cut from customwood and the design was cast in a mold I made in the Special Effects class.

The next post has the final costume