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Our February speaker was Dr Susan Kay Williams, Chief Executive of the Royal School of Needlework, who kindly returned to Lockeridge to give the second part of a talk about colour which she started in July 2018.

This talk Susan entitled Poo, Poison, Science and Serendipity and I am sure I was not the only one to be intrigued by what was to come.   She is a great collector of fabric and thread sample books and we found it fascinating to see how her research over the years has shown the development of both natural and synthetic dyes.  I never realised that guano was collected and used to make a yellow dye and that green, which was made with arsenic, became very popular in the early 1800s.  This material put the weaver, the maker and the wearer at risk and we were shown a sketch published in 1861 by Punch which was entitled the Arsenic Waltz.    
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Credit – A skeleton gentleman at a ball asks a skeleton lady to dance; representing the effect of arsenical dyes and pigments in clothing and accessories. Wood engraving, 1862. Credit: Wellcome Collection. CC BY 

In the early 19C Michel Chevreul, a French Scientist, did research into colour. Initially his colour wheel showed 72 colours but he went on to explore an even wider range of hues ranging from loud to soft. A chemist, William Perkin, was attempting to find synthetics quinine. He did not find that but discover the first synthetic colour, later named mauve. This colour became a favourite of both Queen Victoria and Empress Eugene.
​Credit: Image below taken from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michel_Eug%C3%A8ne_Chevreul

​​Susan concluded her talk by bringing us up to date by talking about the invention of procion dyes and the production of synthetic indigo for making denim. She showed us colourful images of dresses from the catwalks of Mary Quant to those worn by Diana Ross and interior designers like Sonia Delaunay.
​Credit: Image below taken from Dr Susan Kay Williams’ presentation

Dr Susan Kay Williams has written a book entitled “Colour in Textiles” which is available on Amazon

​Report by Ros

​Pamela’s interest in Russia started at a young age when her father worked in London near to the Russian Shop and bought home books and artefacts as presents.  She went on to learn Russian history at A Level and in 1973 her husband was posted to Moscow for 6 months.  At this time she was doing a 4 year City & Guilds Course and had the fortune to meet the Textile curator of the Museum in Moscow.  Pamela introduced her to art quilts which started in Russia about this time.

​The first evidence of metal thread work was found in Russia about 1592 and Pamela showed us a photograph of the Stroganov family shroud (below).  Similar work was being done in England at this time.  In the 17th C the aristocracy wore long beards, flowing gowns and coats but overnight this changed at the time of Peter the Great.  Beards were shaved off, the old style was banned  and western court dress was worn.  Merchants’ wives continued to wear traditional dresses made of silk and exotic imported materials.  Embellishments were worn on the end of plaits but when a lady married she hid her hair away.   Examples of textiles fortunately survived the Russian revolution where as a lot of paintings did not.   The blue court dress below was worn by the last Tsarina, Alexandra Fyodorovna.  It was made by the Atelier of Olga Bulbenkova in the late 19th-early 20th C

​In 1903 a ball was suggested for pre and post revolution costumes and Pamela showed us photographs of the wonderful variety of outfits which were worn.  

​Nowadays gold work is now mainly found in the church costume.  Torzhok, a town between St Petersburg and Moscow is full of monasteries and a school of  gold embroidery.  Girls are taught the basics of reading, writing and arithmetic and then they continue to the embroidery school.  Below are some examples of items Pamela bought at the school and on her travels in Russia.

Thank you Pamela for a most interesting talk about a subject I knew little about!

​Report and photos by Ros

Our Christmas “bring and share” lunch is always an enjoyable event and this year joint chair Clare Russell and Ann Smith started by presenting Kay Francis with some flowers as a thank you for her many years of service on the committee.  

​After lunch our surprise speaker was Lt Col Neil Stace who was a runner up in the 2015 series of the BBC Great British Sewing Bee.
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As a bit of fun, Neil and a friend joined the sewing group at Primary School and his interest in stitch developed from there.  He talked about various tours of duty in Afghanistan, Bosnia, Northern Ireland and explained that there was always down time which had to be filled which is why he included a sewing machine along with his kit.  Neil sees himself as a soldier who sews and an engineer who does not need a pattern which is why he designed and made a wedding dress for his female driver in Bosnia. Another story that I particularly found interesting was during his second round of duty in Afghanistan in 2010 he had the challenge of re-introducing cottage industries to the local ladies which had to be done discretely through an interpreter.  It was so successful that after a couple of months the ladies had set up stalls in the market selling their crafts.

It was Neil’s wife who completed the application form for the Great British Sewing Bee and he had to go through a number of interviews and challenges before being accepted onto the reality TV programme. He showed us a little girl’s smocked dress, a boys waistcoat (made during children’s week), a ladies corset and a wonderful kilt which he often wears.  

Several of our members contributed to the Flags of Thanks challenge which Neil organised recently.  People were asked to make a 12 inch square of gratitude to the Armed Force Community.  About 1000 flags were made and displayed St Thomas Church in Salisbury in June 2019.  Eventually Neil wants to stitch these squares together to make in quilts, sleeping bags and ponchos for war veterans and he had a number of the squares and quilts on display.

Whether it be modifying backpacks in Afghanistan, repairing cuddly animals during tours of duty, making costumes for musicals, modifying clothes for Skiing for the Disabled or making bags with local primary school children, Neil’s sewing skills were there for all to see.  All through his talk Neil emphasised the importance he finds in relaxing and de-stressing through stitching and knitting and he talked about sharing his skills with others both in the military and on civvy-street.  He reminded us that soldiers during the Crimea, the First and Second Wars had done the same.

Thank you Neil for sharing these amazing stories and opening our eyes to a side of our craft  that most of us knew nothing about.

Thank you to Vernice for sharing the photo she took of Neil in Salisbury earlier this year and to Lindsay for her “Salvador Dali” photo of our Christmas lunch table!
Report and photos by Ros