The Ropewalk in Barton had really developed since the last time I was there, and now there was a lovely cafe too. Saw some fantastic arty gifts in the shop and picked up a few new ideas, lovely brooches, bags, ceramics etc.
The course was run by Wendy Chan and there were just 7 of us so you did get personal attention which was good. Wendy started us off with a traditional cup of Japanese green tea in the most lovely tea cups. We then set about our first fabric, origami style project of a little bird or crane as it was supposed to be. With hindsight I picked the wrong fabric to make the bird from, I chose some silky, difficult to sew fabric and it was tricky to fold, stitch and form the bird shape so my result shown here is a bit odd looking. We all decided that making it from cotton would be easier to crease and shape.
We then moved on to the next project which was a little daffodil shaped bag cum pouch, which traditionally would have lavender, pot pourri or even sweeties in it to give as a gift. I had more luck with this and was quite pleased with the result. Wendy had fat quarters which you could buy if you hadn't taken your own fabric and I bought the selection you see here as they were so pretty and appropriate for the gifts we were making.
Time seemed to pass really quickly after lunch and I just had time to start one other project which was a little brooch but I haven't finished that yet.
I came away with the instructions to continue on that.
It was a really great course and the venue was excellent, thoroughly enjoyed it and can't wait to try more of this Japanese style sewing of gifts.
2 comments:
lovely work! Best of luck for tomorrow - hope all goes to plan
x B
Thank you dear thing. Will have to catch up with a proper email when I've got these exams out of the way.
All the best.
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