les soeurs anglaises: raystitch

Showing posts with label raystitch. Show all posts

Monday, 31 March 2014

... bags of fun...

We thought you might like to see how our "goody bags" are coming along. We'll be handing out these pouches, full haberdashery treasures, to visitors to our Raystitch Reception on Monday, 14th April. We still have a few places available throughout the day when you can meet some of our workshop leaders, so do please drop us a note if you are interested in joining us for one of the sessions.

Antique French linen lined in coating gingham

Lavender from the gardens of Les Soeurs Anglaises

Antique glass headed pins

READ ALL ABOUT IT!

If you're in the surfing mood, there's a great post about Les Soeurs Anglaises on Caroline Rowland's on-line 91 Magazine's delightful blog Patchwork Harmony.

Saturday, 15 March 2014

.. an invitation….

We're delighted to announce that Les Soeurs Anglaises are joining forces with London's prettiest, newest and most charming haberdashery, Raystitch, to run two dressmaking workshops over the summer 2015 down here in South West France. More about that later, but to celebrate our exciting collaboration we will be welcoming past and future participants to a reception at Raystitch's boutique in Essex Road, Islington on Monday, 14th April!

It promises to be a fun day in town with Raystitch offering a 10% discount to invitees on everything in the shop, as well as further discounts on Les Soeurs Anglaises workshops if you confirm an interest in joining one. Most of LSA's 2014 workshop leaders will be attending and you'll have a chance to meet and discuss with them any questions you have about their work and teaching plans.

We will also be announcing the winner of our

Jigsaw Patchwork

There will be three reception sessions throughout the day and it will be a great opportunity for LSA past participants to meet up with old friends. We're also looking forward to introducing ourselves to those of you who haven't managed yet to get to a workshop with us; this should be the perfect time to find out more about us and what we have to offer with the added bonus of simultaneously discovering the best place in town to buy all your sewing bits.

So if you're within striking distance of London and you'd like to join us for drinks and nibbles at some point during the day, please email us as soon as possible with your address and we'll make sure you get a personal invitation! Don't delay as numbers are limited.

And if you're simply curious to discover more about the kind of wonderful fabrics and haberdashery items that Raystitch sell, below is a photograph of a couple of pillow cases that LSA have made recently with two meters of their Eloise Renouf 100% organic cotton. It's a lovely soft Liberty lawn-like cotton but with up-to-the-minute patterns, and the result would flatter any bedroom. Not too girly, yet utterly charming and spring-like!.

Monday, 20 January 2014

… busy stitching...

Late winter and early spring is a relatively quiet time for Les Soeurs, as we look back at the events for the last year with a little more perspective and consider how we can make small changes to improve the experience for participants. As the snowdrops, aconites, narcissi and finally tulips begin to push their way through the cold earth, we still hunker down indoors and try to catch up with some sewing and knitting projects - some for the Maison de Maitre and l'Espace (our studio complex); others just to to keep us warm and stylish.

My latest creation is a gathered smock shirt; made with some wonderful fine cotton check, from a favorite on-line haberdashery, RayStitch. Sadly, I may have bought the last of the red, but they have other colours to amuse and inspire and it is a fabulous fabric to work with, incredibly soft and comfortable to wear and just the right weight under a wool cardie whilst it's still cold outside. It has a longer, scooped front with a shorter reverse with a button at the neck. I made the first prototype of this shirt in a floral silk I've had for many a year - great with jeans and jacket for that slightly more formal occasion.

flattering scooped front

Meanwhile, a project that Les Soeurs have been supporting since we first discovered them last year, is Comma Workshops which is the brain child of Kerry Larkin. In 2006, Kerry installed an art piece at the SAAW gallery in Philadelphia that explored fabric, typography, and storytelling. Wanting to explore this more, she went back to her roots and embraced quilting. From a family of quilt-makers, seamstresses, and upholsterers, Kerry is continuing the tradition with a fresh perspective and her company, Comma, is dedicated to bringing a fresh perspective to the time-honored traditions of quilting and storytelling. Crafting original poems and stories about life and adventure, her talented stitchers thoughtfully sew these stories into every beautiful quilt, producing functional heirlooms. Beset by floods last year, their workshop was temporarily shut down, but work continued regardless and we recently received a "thank you" pillow for our support of their KickStarter campaign.

Tuesday, 14 January 2014

…. a small step into 2014….

So, enough of grey skies and buckets of flood water. Time for a bit of colour and commotion to brighten up our lives, so here are a few of our favourite blogs and photos and websites to bring a smile to your face.