..... get away with you......

Summer should be upon us, but we, like most of Europe are in the doldrums.  Not just because the sun isn't shining as much as we'd like, but also because of the unsettled times ahead.  For the time being however lets pretend it's business as usual.  We are half way through our 2016 workshops (our last was another super Silver Yoga led by our flexible soeur , Lizi Bolton), and with a quiet couple of months in store we are looking forward to Celia Pym's Knitting, Darning and Mending from the 21st-27th September.  Celia Pym is a leading London-based artist, knitter and darner specialising in visible repairs - she quite literally celebrates 'wear and tear.'  “I love seeing damage and holes,” Celia says. “Making mending invisible doesn’t make sense to me: things happen, stuff changes, holes appear. Let the darning grow into the old bit so that the garment can be seen to change and age.”  Having trained as an artist with a background in sculpture, she learnt embroidery, tapestry, silk painting and other textile techniques as a teenager.  “I use textiles because I love the way they feel,” she says. “I love the repetitive processes involved, the way colour works, and that colour can be a thing, a line of yarn, a block of cross-stitch, a ball of wool. I also use textiles because they lend themselves to pattern making: in the construction of knit or cross-stitch or darning, there are grids and rows that link together, and you have to teach your hands to relax, to settle, to lead the making." Celia has exhibited at the Royal College of Art in London and beyond, but it was an old jumper originally belonging to her great-uncle that sparked Celia’s interest in repairs and darning. “I was overwhelmed by the care invested by my aunt in mending his sweaters, and the way the different bits of mending looked together, how the holes gave clues as to how the sweater was used.” If you share Celia's passion for much used and loved clothing and textiles, we still have a couple of places available on her workshop and we would be delighted if you could join us at what is a particularly beautiful time of year for these parts.  With the kids' holidays over, fares cheaper and the general atmosphere much more relaxed and inspirational whilst still buzzing with brocantes  and marchés it's the perfect time of year.   For those of you visiting from afar who can squeeze in a few more extra days, we are hosting another wonderful Gigspanner Concert on Friday, 18th September, just days before Celia's workshop.  Staying here you will have an opportunity to meet and mingle with Steeleye Span's fiddler, Peter Knight, his musicians Roger Flack and Vincent Salzfaas. Bring a partner and we'll give you a special deal. For more information we recommend you  take a minute to watch the video below to the very end - it just gets better and better. Gigspanner were invited by BBC Radio 3 to perform at the Shakespeare 400 Celebrations in Stratford-upon-Avon as part of the ‘Shakespeare and Music’ concert, highlighting Peter's virtuoso fiddling as well as the superb guitar work and Afro-percussion from Roger and Vincent.   Tickets can be bought on-line below.   5 things to check out this month: UK's Craft Magazine is celebrating its Summer Issue with drinks, music and craft show in Central London next week.  Email to accept invitation. Keep an eye on one of our favourite online shops for vintage European goodies, Dee Puddy.    The Festival of Quilts, 11th - 14th August, NEC, Birmingham, England is still a month away, but you can buy tickets online now. There will be over 300 exhibitors offering essential supplies, international artists/crafters and a display of over 700 competition quilts. Advertised as the ultimate quilting experience.   Thanks to our current favourite knitting workshop leader, Åsa Soderman, I have finally found the gorgeous navy blue cashmere yarn I have been searching for many a year!  It comes from a Belgium company, Pascuali and I can't wait to start on my next knitting project.  This yarn comes in half a dozen other great colours, and I have marked their Alpaca Fino, 100% alpaca wool for something a tad more wintery. With changes on the horizon, for everyone including Les Soeurs Anglaises, we are planning a really special project for next year (our 10th Anniversary) with Toy Maker extraordinaire, Robert Race. We're not going to say too much at this stage, but if your curiosity has been tweaked let us know and we'll keep you to the minute with developments.

Book tickets now   Weddings these days need to planned months, if not years, ahead so if you (or someone you know) hasn't yet chosen the perfect venue, our wonderful studio space and accommodation might be just the ticket.  Another soeur, Carol Temple, of Simply French Weddings recently organised and supervised another wedding celebration at Les Soeurs Anglaises and  feedback has confirmed what we have long believed…..that it is the perfect venue for a smaller, more intimate celebration (40-90 guests) offering stylish celebration space and accommodation;  and with Simply French Weddings taking all the stress and strain out of what can easily become a demanding and tense occasion, what’s not to like? In October we are joining forces to offer a long weekend to couples so that they can experience the comfort and beauty of LSA's venue, whilst familiarising themselves with the superb and friendly services that SFW  offer (styling, taster menus, champagne & wine tastings, hairdresser, make-up artist, photographer, music, etc.).  Included in the price of the B&B weekend we’ll also be providing a short taster workshop for DIY wedding favours and decorations.   And should a couple decide to hold their Big Day here, the weekend B&B charges will be deducted from the final cost of the event.   Contact Carol directly for a chat or more information and availability: T +33 (0)5 53 91 19 92 M+33 (0)6 95 05 13 02 carol@simplyfrenchweddings.com

... march deals…...

Julie Arkell - ONLY TWO SPACES LEFT! Julie will be returning to Les Soeurs Anglaises from the 1st to the 7th of June 2016 to lead another of her immensely popular workshops here, this year entitled, "Birds on a Nature Table". Participants will be encouraged to bring nature books, a favourite shell, dried flowers as well as any other nature find they love, all of which will be used to populate their unique nature table. Julie Arkell is one of the UK's best recognized contemporary folk artists working in papier-maché and mixed media. She combines these with stitch, knit, ephemera, and vintage fabric and papier maché to produce her own distinctly personal and sophisticated "creatures". Everything is produced by hand using knitted adornments, curious accessories, ribbons and found objects. The results are magically creative and appealing.  Her work has been exhibited at the Crafts Council of Great Britain and the Contemporary Applied Arts, and is collected in the UK, USA, Japan and Australia. Her 2 bestselling books,"Home" & "Away" are published by the Ruthin Craft Centre. We have only two spaces left so book now to avoid disappointment! We're offering 10% off if you sign up by March 10th! Fiona Rutherford (31 Aug - 6 Sep) 15% OFF! Tapestry weaving has a rich historical tradition of storytelling. It is a craft that takes time and Fiona's workshop with us, Tapestry Weaving, is about learning, playing, and exploring your creativity at your own pace. Over the course of the five day workshop participants will be helped to discover their own personal tapestry "story", returning home with a little woven magic with a taste of France. You will be using lightweight wood frame looms and a vibrant range of Fiona’s Swedish cotton and linen yarns to weave beautiful colours and shapes on a small scale. Whether you are new to tapestry weaving or you want to take time to expand your ideas and weaving technique further in a creative environment, Fiona will guide you through the steps of how to create a tapestry, mounted and ready to take home. Sign up with a friend and you both get 15% OFF! Åsa Tricosa (30th April - 1st May 2016) 15% OFF! Swedish born Asa Soderman is widely celebrated as a problem-solving knitter and designer, and over this 2 day Masterclass (her first for us and this part of France), she will be demonstrating how to tailor beautifully crafted, top-down garments using the ziggurat technique, with special attention to all those details that make for an expertly finished garment. Participants will consider intricately constructed pockets, advanced hems with unusual pickup techniques, stitch patterns and quirky design details.  They will be guided through the process of incorporating bust darts, waist and sleeve shapings as well as  the clever use of colour - in fact, the weekend will be packed with inspirational knitting techniques. Book by 10th March and get 15% OFF

.... our christmas competition......

We love Christmas! and we thought our newsletter readers might like a little seasonal something to warm up the festivities,  so we have put together a mind-jingling competition with a few ’made with love’,  handmade prizes for the first 12 people who reply to us with the correct answers.  Judging from how popular our previous competitions have been we hope this will get some of you into the festive mood.   We have 12 of our hand-made lavender pillows (which can also be used as pin-cushions) made entirely from up-cycled remnants and filled with textile scraps and fresh lavender from Les Soeurs Anglaises' gardens  - the scent of summer to lift  the cold mid-winter. (And if you're a Selvedge blog follower there's an extra treat!)

  

So, here's how to play ...........:

First visit our website, then

1. You will find a letter of the alphabet in red, at the bottom right hand corner of several (but not all) of the website pages
2. Go through the pages, collect all the letters and put them together to form the seasonal sentence we're looking for
3. Finally go to our contact page, fill out the necessary and write "Christmas Competition 2016" in the subject line.  Don't forget to add your answer and postal address to the message so we know where to send the prize if you are one of our lucky winners. 
4. Clue:  Sometimes known as The Bethlehem Magi

Answers should reach us by Saturday of this week (19th December 2015) so don't leave it too long.  But if you're pipped at the post, we also have a few other handmade gifts to give away to the runners-up

Good Luck!

For those of you who aren't into competitions however, here are a few things of interest that you might enjoy over the Christmas break:

101 Cookbooks:   Always offering delicious recipes made from whole, natural foods and inspired by ingredients that interest the author, Heidi Swanson's, life, and travels, always beautifully photographed.   This week's post is full of easy-to-make, festive biscuits;  her newsletters are really worth subscribing to.

Manteau Noir:   For our Australian friends, but with an appropriately French name and style, this shop in Victoria comes highly recommended and judging from the on-line boutique it sells just the sort of garb we love.  There's a sale on at the moment so it might be a good time for our antipodean friends to stock up for the cooler seasons ahead.

Empress Mills:   The website is simply choc-a-block full of yummy haberdashery and handcraft supplies and offers.  Based in Lancashire, UK, this is a second-generation, family type business with chatty, interesting and unpretentious newsletters and an excellent service!

Dionne Swift:  Read a fascinating interview with this inspiring textile artist and learn a bit about how she sketches and sketchbook to produce a finished artwork. www.textileartist.org is a great site to subscribe to generally!

The Weekend Artist:  Last but certainly not least, for those of you who have mentioned they are interested in writing workshops rather than the textile variety (but also anyone who enjoys great poetry), here is a brilliant book by Reg Starkey, one of our participants at the Roger McGough workshop several years ago. Coming soon from the Poundshop Poet, this is definitely something to put on your present list!  

        

Katie

..... with winter on our heels.....

.... and cooler temperatures outside, we at Les Soeurs Anglaises think there's a lot to be said for staying indoors and catching up on some of the little sewing jobs that have been accumulating over the warmer months.  Inspired by the current work of two of our Weekend Workshop leaders for next year, Claire Wellesley Smith and Jessie Chorley, but also by the exquisite Japanese mending of Boro, we're working on our patching & darning skills using textiles. We've been trying our hands at repairing damaged knitted items, too, but more about that in our next newsletter!

A soft, old linen shirt patched and re-patched.. Favourite shirts, sweaters and vintage clothing that perhaps have seen better days, and are now in need of some tender loving care, become not only wearable once more, but also something to wear with pride and pleasure (and not a few compliments!).  In Claire's fascinating book, Slow Stitch; Mindful and Contemplative Textile Art, she mentions that in the UK alone, ".... we send 1.2 million tonnes of textile waste, much of it good quality, to landfill or for incineration every year."  A staggering amount  by any standards.  If we wear clothes that we hope reflect our personalities then these much-cared for items say more about us than any throw-away garments from the likes of Walmart or Primark; ".......garment production that involves the cheapest and most flexible labour in some of the least regulated workplaces in the world".  If there is a common thread (excuse the pun) in our choice of workshop leaders, it is their celebration of, and respect for, heritage, memory and the hand-made. Here are a few examples of rescued clothes that we love and that might otherwise have ended up in a land-fill site. Compared to metal or stone, of  course the lifespan of textiles is much shorter, but with love and attention is it considerably longer than our consumerist zeitgeist would have us believe.  Personally, we prefer to hand stitch repairs, but sometimes the zigzag stitch on the sewing machine is just too tempting. go to this fascinating blog to see how they darned in Medieval times              New Skirt made out of old fabric with a multitude of patches.            Hand-stitched Boro jacket Elbow patch on a recently found shirt at our local brocante, bought for pennies and patched with other vintage offcuts. Children used to be taught a myriad of beautiful  darning techniques - a stitching art in itself.  This darning sampler of 1814 is by Martha Woodnutt and was stitched at the famous Quaker Westtown School, Pennsylvania. It is worked in cotton on a linen/wool mix and is a perfect blend of painstaking needlework and practicality.  5 Day / 6 Night Workshops   Julie Arkell   Birds on a Table   1st  to 7th June       Anna Kristina Goransson   Felted Form and Function    22nd to 28th June     Fiona Rutherford  Tapestry Weaving   31st August to 6th Sept     Celia Pym   Knitting, Mending and Darning    21st to 27th Sept       Weekend Workshops ASA TRICOSA  Knitting Masterclass  30th April / 1st May  ROSALIND WYATT  Stitched Calligraphy  27th - 29th August JESSIE CHORLEY  Embroidered & Appliquéd Illustrations  27th - 29th August CLAIRE WELLESLEY SMITH  Dyeing and Stitching   7th / 8th October

Book a place now

It's been a long time coming, but to paraphrase the words of songster Sam Cooke, a change is definitely on it's way here at Les Soeurs Anglaises.  

We have finally uploaded our new website with all the workshop dates for 2016, and what an eventful and stimulating year ahead we have for you.  As usual, there will be our 5-Day/6 Night textile related events spaced over the summer months; one is to be led by returning favourite, Julie Arkell, the other three by new artists/crafters whose work we have long admired: Anna Kristina Goransson, Fiona Rutherford, and Celia Pym.  All three are mistresses in their field of excellence and we expect workshops to fill quickly. 

To stir things up a little, in 2016 we will also be hosting a new series of Weekend Workshops, for those of you who would like a taste of what we have to offer but whose busy schedule or travel arrangements don't allow a full week away. These are for a limited number of participants and will be taught by popular, past LSA Workshop leaders whose work and teaching we have particularly admired.  We suggest you check out their pages on our website, and trust you will find the possibilities as tempting as we do.

You'll find a lot more detail and information on our newly designed website.

Following on the heels of India Flint's highly successful event here this year, and amongst the Weekend Workshop leaders we are hosting in 2016, is the inspirational dyer and stitcher, Claire Wellesley Smith - whose book, 'Slow Stitch: Mindful and Contemplative Textile Art' was published last month by Batsford and is now available on Amazon.

So many of Claire's thoughts and ideas touch a cord with us at Les Soeurs Anglaises, and the illustrations of her beautiful work are truly inspirational.  
Hoping to see you next year

Katie x

a taste of things to come……..

Whilst the weather has taken a definite turn towards cool, and the leaves are beginning to drop from the trees down here south of Paris, we have been busy putting the finishing touches to our 2016 Calendar.  Workshop leaders and their dates have been confirmed and the new website will shortly go live, but we thought our newsletter  and blog readers might like a little taste of things to come.   We don't want to give too much away just yet, but next year not only will we be hosting a number of favourite creatives to lead our regular 5 day/6 night events, but we will also be opening the huge oak doors of Les Soeurs Anglaises, for the first time, to the occasional weekend workshop (i.e. Friday evening to Monday morning), something that we hope will appeal to busy working women whose holiday options are limited and prevented them from joining us before, but who would enjoy some intensive creativity. Join us for one of our pre-arranged weekends, or better still, why not put together a group of your own - it could be to celebrate a bespoke event (a pre-wedding "makerie" or a special birthday?)  then choose  one of our popular workshop leaders to guide you through a creative process; add some date options, and we'll deal with all the rest.  All you have to do is organise travel.  We'd love to hear your suggestions and can't wait to get your feedback about our new  website, which should be live within the next week or so - we'll let you know exactly when. In the meantime, if you can name the creators of ALL the 9 images above, (clue: not all have lead workshops with us before!) we have one of our much sought after wrap-over aprons to give away as a prize.  Send the answers to me and mark them SeptComp. See some of you soon we hope…….. Katie

.... boogie nights........

Those of you who have been followers of Les Soeurs Anglaises for some time and have either been receiving our newsletters or following our blog, might be a little intrigued to learn that we are adding a string to our bow this year -  a musical fête!.  In the past we have held the occasional concert in our wonderful studio barn with its superb acoustics, but as we recently became sponsors of Women for Women International UK, a charity which supports women facing violence, marginalisation, and poverty as a result of war and conflict, it is with great pleasure that we have decided to host a Fête de Boogie Woogie in July of this year, to raise funds for them.

The highlight of the weekend will be an exclusive Gala Evening featuring renowned American and European pianist/saxophonist, Deanna Bogart, and sensational 20 year old German pianist, Luca Sestek, (both recording artists) at a gourmet dinner created and cooked by Sven-Hanson Britt, 2014 MasterChef: the Professionals finalist.  To quote Jonathan McAloon of The Telegraph newspaper, "When London chef Sven-Hanson Britt filled a glass teapot with consommé, you knew he deserved the Masterchef title. He has been by far the best throughout the competition, but in this moment he became the chef he was always destined to be."  

Accommodation, meals including the Gourmet Dinner and Buffet Sunday Lunch prepared by Sven-Britt, accompanied by great wines, vintage Champagne and Dessert Wine tastings, continental breakfasts and other meals, plus local transport is included in the price (fares to and from France not included); as well, of course, as all the wonderful, live Boogie Woogie music both at the Gourmet Dinner and at the public concert by the musicians the following evening at the nearby town of Riberac..  

Meanwhile, we are currently sponsoring a year-long WfWI training course in South Sudan, where two of the Les Soeurs team were born. As a business run by women, we are delighted to be supporting such a worthwhile charity as Women for Women International, which offers women survivors of war the training and skills to ensure a sustainable future, and our aim with the Fête de Boogie Woogie is to raise £20,000 for them to continue their work helping  women survivors of war to rebuild their lives.  We would particularly welcome any of our past participants, newsletter and blog readers who might enjoy an exceptional combination of great music, food and vintage wines, and it could be the perfect opportunity to introduce a partner or friend to our celebrated venue and hospitality whilst supporting such a worthy cause.  But be warned:  We can only accommodate a limited number of residential guests so don't leave it too late to book if you want to be sure of being a part of this special weekend.

There is more information about the Fête de Boogie Woogie, the artists, and incredible food and vintage wines that we will be serving, on our website but do contact us directly if you have any questions.  (Tickets for the Saturday night concert only will soon be available on Eventbrite.)

Katie

... lovely article

For those of you who don't subscribe to the UK's Embroiderer' Guild Embroidery Magazine (and you really should as it is truly one of the most considered, interesting and intelligent journals around for anyone interested in textiles and textile art), there is this month a lovely article about yours truly, Les Soeurs Anglaises.  Thank you Jo Hall of all your kind words;  we loved having you here and delighted that you found Rosalind Wyatt's workshop last year so inspiring.