Gallery Tuesday 5th April 2011

As you probably know by now Gallery Tuesdays

@The Gallery Dereham is always busy and creative.

There are many different projects in process.

Barbara has nearly finished her Cherry Wall Hanging.

This week it was machine quilting and making bias binding.

Now it's sewing the bias on the back, some

hand quilting round the cherries and the leaves,

label and hanging sleeve.

I think it is a really lovely wallhanging.

I say it again " made out of scraps!".

Well done Barbara!

See more Cherry quilts and quilting on my website

by clicking the Cherry image on the right.

Diana's Dresses

Mrs Peggy Umpelby had lots of samples but the ones which were

the most intricate were those on Diana's dresses.

Peggy often made up several samples for the designers and Diana

for them to chose their favourite.

The top sample is from one of her famous State Occasion dresses,

the sample was magnificent, no wonder this became one of

Diana's favourites.

These lower samples were from the 'Elvis' dress as it was called

because of it's raised 'Elvis' type collar.

designed by Catherine Walker and beaded by Peggy

and her team at S.Lock Ltd.

The dress was beaded with thousands of varying sized pearl beads.

The right hand sample is beaded in a quilting/embroidery pattern called

'vermicelli'.

The border which was the hem of the dress has three lines of

bugle beads which is then wrapped stitched with crystal beads.

A lovely way to finish a piece, a technique I think I

would like to use in the future.

See the fantastic You tube video of Diana's dresses.

Wedding Dresses

Peggy still works for Fashion Houses,

beading from her own home in Norfolk,

although she told us she had really retired!

It was very apt with Prince William and Kate's wedding this month

Peggy showed us some wedding dress samples and pictures.

This is a section sample of a recent wedding dress.

the layering of the beads to form flowers are beautiful.

Peggy's Husband sources all her beads and motifs for her from

around the world. Often taking days to find the right ones.

click

Creative Beads for a supplier they use.

Peggy beaded Princess Diana's wedding veil

using over 10,000 3mm pearl sequins.

See this really good article about the dress which mentions Peggy here

www.trindadad.com

View this amazing video to see how some tambour beading is done.

Queen's Dressmaker

Mrs Peggy Umpelby has been beading The Queen's dresses

for over forty years. Mrs Peggy explained that the dresses

come in pieces or lenghts of fabric which then have to

be beaded. It is Peggy's skill at where to bead the beaded design

so that the shape and form of the body and design will look their best.

Tambour Beading is always worked on the reverse of the fabric.

The beader doesn't see the front as they work

often feeling the design as they go.

Peggy explained that it is easier on the sheer fabrics to see! the design

and that a 'pounced' pattern is often put on the

heavier fabric such as taffeta

so it can be followedThe sleeve section above and includes cutwork.

It is one of a pair which replace ones on one of

The Queen's favourite dresses.

See Hardy Amies Royal Exhibition

(use the scroll button on the right of the wedding dress photo on Amies

site to read the information)

and then watch the video which includes some of

Mrs Peggy's work

click

www.hardyamies.com

Royal Dress Maker

On Wednesday evening I went to my local Embroidery Guild meeting.

Mrs Peggy Umpelby talked, shared and showed us some of

her amazing tambour beaded samples and work.

She has been part of the royal dressmaking team for over forty years

and has a personal Royal Warrant for her work.

"Mrs Peggy" as she is known by many works with designers such as

The Emanual's, Hardy Amies and Catherine Walker

to mention a few, producing amazing beaded creations,

which many of us have seen

in press photographs.

Mrs. Peggy uses a tambour needle which looks as fine and is as

sharp as a fish hook.

Mrs Peggy demonstrated her technique on a piece of lace

( a sample left over from Diana's dress!)

with 4mm Pearl sequins!!!

She told us about her favourite pieces and some of the

stories behind them.

We were able to touch and admire her beading close up,

Beautiful!

See more photographs in The Queen's Dressmaker

Visit our Guild website for more information

www.kingslynnembguild.wordpress.com

Watch this amazing video for an insight to the work.

Card Making, Fritillaria

On Wednesday morning I went along to Kim's card making class

@The Gallery and we learnt how to take a flower stamp

and make a card from it. I was fascinated how we all started off

with similar stamps and by choosing different colours and methods,

we all came up with completely different cards.

I chose the lily or Fritallaria as it flowers in Spring

here and it is Mother's Day this week.

I made two cards, one for my Mum and one for my Mother in law.

Both cards are on their way now.

It was another lovely morning,

Thank you to everyone especially Kim.

Carol's Stained Glass Window Wall Hanging

Carol is working hard at this Stained Glass inspired

piece and it takes alot of patience.

I keep photographing each week and getting her

to hold it up against the window.

It really is coming on and is going to look spectacular.

Barbara's Cherry Wallhanging

This was Barbara's third week and I think this is a wonderful

wall hanging made out of nearly all scraps she had and the red border

she brought. Every cherry and leaf are different, just like nature intended.

I reckon it will be a quilt next!

See my Cherry quilts by clicking the Cherry picture on the right

of this post.

Stella's Wallhanging

Stella had been away on holiday so it was back to the

Gallery this week to finish some more of her

wall hanging. She was a bit despondent when she first arrived

as the wallhanging she thought didn't look anything.

( I posted a beginning picture of the wallhanging before).

Once it was squared off, some embroidery stitches added and

the black border, ( this is bigger than it needs to be at the moment),

Stella seemed a bit happier and was definitely happy

when her husband saw it when he came to collect her.

We often disregard a project in it's early stages because it

isn't turning out quite as we imagined. Persevere and follow

this serendipity it can lead to some wonderful outcomes.

Also if you are really stuck, leave it out where you can see it,

have a break and come back to it, often it will show you what to do next.

Of course you can also bring it along to Gallery Tuesday and have feedback!!!

or your local group or understanding friend.

So Stella's wallhanging is ready to put together for quilting next week.

I think her Grand Daughter will be really pleased.

See more of what goes on @ The Gallery

www.thegallerydereham.co.uk

Gallery Tuesday

Three in a row all having a break from machining this week as usual

there was lots going on from mixed media, wallhangings and making

waistcoats out of Alpaca.

Jenn with her Grandad

Jennifer loves being with her Grand Parents and I feel

very lucky for her she has such wonderful ones.

This is such a lovely photo of them.

Ladies Night

More Mandalas Cards

Kim's class finished at lunch time so I went over to the Bead Shop

in Dereham that sells all sorts of craft items and

brought some card and of course a few pots of the

wonderful shimmer paints and Embossing Powders. Yum!

I had the quickest lunch I think I have ever had and

started stamping and embossing in gold.

Kim had given a demonstration of this earlier,

I always use it on textiles and in moulding plastics

so using it on paper is just magic.

Then to cutting out and figuring out what lines to choose!

Not easy when you get confused what line is what

and there is no tutor to hand!

The best bit for me was painting with the

shimmer paints, so iridescent, beautiful.

Above, you can see my second finished card,

completed all on my own with encouragement

from Haydn and Judy the Gallery owners.

I am quite pleased and Thank You to

Kim for inspiring another creation.

To see more of my creations visit

www.art2inspire.co.uk

Card Making

As some of you know I like making and learning different things.

I often learn a technique or skill at a workshop and

this in a way adds to my mixed media work as an artist.

I always learn something and find it humbling to be an

student. Different Tutors have their way of

setting out and using equipment that you would otherwise

never come into contact with or you have been doing

something the same way for years and you are

shown a new or easier way to do it, wonderful!

I am going to Kim's (a tutor @ The Gallery Dereham)

scrapbooking class and she mentioned that she does

different card making techniques too!

So I went along on Wednesday and

look at what I started on! these Mandala tile cards,

the rest of the group were already doing theirs and

I really jumped into the deep end.

I just loved it, the stamping and cutting out of the different layers

and then building them up again.

The shimmer paints are beautiful to use and so glossy!

I will be doing more of these.

See more of what goes on @The Gallery

www.thegallerydereham.co.uk

Beading Evening Dresses

I have made evening dresses in the past but this one I brought.

I've done some alterations to it and this week

I have added some simple beading to the bodice and straps.

The beads are small glass seed ones that really glisten

and of course they are in one of my

favourite colours.

It's always nice to go somewhere you can where a proper dress!

I hope to show you show photos shortly with me in it!