2018 - bring it on!

Happy New Year from the Common Threads Textile Group members.

Margot's last post highlighted all that Common Threads' anticipates in the coming 12 months and beyond.

So I thought I'd share with you a little more on the Bradford Textile Society competition for 2018 - http://www.bradfordtextilesociety.org.uk/design_competition.html

The sample pack arrived; better than a box of chocolates.

After a quick wash of selected samples, the order went in.

I've gone for the 2/8.25 worsted spun, the 1/8 woollen spun, the crochet yarn and some wool top. The 2/8.25 has washed up to be 'loftier' than I would expect, and the 1/8 more flat.

I managed to pre-felt a couple of layers of the wool top in the Christmas-New Year gap. Not yet too sure how this might be incorporated into any of my designs but it felts well so that option if possible.

Much of 2017 involved the renovation of Hogsnorting Villa; the tiniest of detached cottages in the village of Blythburgh close to the Suffolk coast. It needed stripping back to its very bare bones. The process revealed layer upon layer of wallpaper that reflected the time and taste of its previous occupants. Estimates are that the cottage was very much a self-build affair probably dating back to 1810. Documents we received as part of the sale get us back to 1893 when the cottage and its land passed from James Crimmen (the mortgage holder and wine & spirit dealer who live in The Manor House, Southwold) and Robert Hunt of Blythburgh (and tenant farmer) to Sir Ralph Barrett Macnaghten Blois of Copfield Hall, Yoxford. The Blois family were noted landowners in this part of Suffolk dating back to the 1700s. On Sir Ralph's death in 1950, the cottage and land was sold to Anna Freud, for whom there is a north London address. It is now the Freud Museum; Anna was the youngest daughter of Sigmund Freud. The Freud family continue to maintain their connection to this part of Suffolk. The Jill Freud Theatre Company is based in nearby Walberswick and is reknowned in the region for its 'summer season'. Her daughter Emma Freud, and husband Richard Curtis, are frequent visitors. In 1967 Robert and Beryl Stringer purchased the cottage and land from Anna. Robert was a tenant farmer in the village. It was Robert who gave Hogsnorting Villa its name - what else would a Suffolk pig former call his home! Both lived there until their death. Having bought the cottage and its garden from their only son' who lives next door; it's now our turn!

I digress, alarmingly! We've done everything sensible to keep the character of the cottage but it desperately needing dragging into the 21st century if only for health & safety reasons - stooks of dried straw between the joists as insulation is never a good idea. I tried to document its life as walls and ceilings were removed. I became fascinated with the wallpapers. So much so, they have become the inspiration for my Bradford Textile Society competition piece. The intention is to use the designs for some key interior pieces.

They are not the best of photos. I managed to retrieve a few pieces before our enthusiastic builders banished them to the skip, but not my favourite. This was found under the ancient light switch in the living room. It's not clear when electricity arrived in Blythburgh. I'm guessing sometime after 1926 and the establishment of the Central Electricity Board.

The grey and deep blue have a 'weaverly' quality that appeals. Above that is a thick layer of penicillin pink distemper, then a quite delicate coral-coloured paper with a scrolled design. Finally, Beryl's very practical linen-effect paper painted magnolia.

At the moment, the two weaving yarns would suit the lightly textured magnolia layer, the crochet yarn dyed blue for the raised vertical ribs and a single Shetland that I had spun at the Halifax Mill with fleece from the Abacus flock in Mentmore. Off to the dye pot and the sketchbook!

Back from the dye pot....

I have an ancient Roy Russell dye system from back in the very late 70s/early part of the 80s.

100g of yarn, in 1500ml of water and 50ml of pure blue dye which was simmered until it took pretty much all of the colour. I popped some tops in to make use of the little dye that remained.

And some early work in the sketchbook...

...scrunched layers of tissue with watercolour applied; PVA glue 'piped' in a plain weave pattern, left to dry, then applied to watercolour paper and a colourwash applied.