..... sew much patching .....

There's never been a better time to join us for a last-minute-workshop and it's really not too late.  We've just checked out Ryanair and end-of-season flights are being offered at just over £30 each way from Stansted or East Midlands to Bergerac where we, of course, will pick you up and drive you through the late September sunshine to this amazing area of France.  We're very keen to make Celia Pym's first visit with us a rip-roaring success so we''ll even throw in a free night's B&B if you need to stay an extra night.   CELIA PYM's Mending, Darning and Knitting Workshop Wednesday, 21st to Tuesday, 27th September 5 Days / 6 Nights As one of our favourite workshop leaders, Julie Arkell, says:  "The early days of autumn bring many pleasures. One on the top of my list would be a workshop with Celia Pym at Les Soeurs Anglaises in the French countryside at a particularly beautiful time of the year.  Celia's work is amazing, and the opportunity to work alongside her, discovering her techniques and sharing stories about the history of textiles and their repairs, in such beautiful surroundings, is an experience hard to miss.  I feel very envious of anyone who is planning to join this event at one of my favourite venues." While invisible mending is keeping tailors and seamstresses busy around the world, Celia Pym – a London-based artist, knitter and darner — specialises in visible repairs. Using white yarn on a blue Norwegian jumper and yellow on a pair of blue jeans, Celia’s handiwork celebrates wear and tear.  Finding solutions other than throwing away clothes isn't just environmentally friendly. “I love seeing damage and holes,” Celia says. “Making mending invisible doesn’t make sense for 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.”   Through ‘The Catalogue of Holes’, an ongoing project that she began in 2007, Celia mends strangers’ clothes. Recording the items through descriptive ‘mend slips’ and sometimes photographs, has led to exhibitions at the Royal College of Art and beyond. “I find it is a way to get to important conversations quickly, with strangers,” Celia says. “As we look at and examine the garment and discuss work to be done, all sorts of stories come out. Sometimes the most important part is talking about their sweater's history.” Book now for Celia's workshop (we still have 2 places available) and we guarantee you'll not only get lost in the art of giving new life to beloved items - clothes, haberdashery, household fabrics - you thought were beyond repair, but you'll also have an opportunity to slow down, enjoy the fabulous space, light and atmosphere of early autumn in South West France before the winter months set in.   Autumn at Les Soeurs Anglaises won't come around again for at least another year.    And if October seems like a better time to get away from it all, one place has also become available on Claire Wellesley Smith's Weekend Workshop here from 7th-10th. Don't tarry if you can join us...... Katie x "Don't chase the butterfly.  Mend your garden and let the butterfly come!"

..... 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

....rich stitching.......

How lucky were we to have both Janet Bolton and good weather here last week!  A brilliant opportunity to open all the doors and let the creativity pour in, led by this wonderful, gentle teacher.  The last of the ladies left yesterday and Les Soeurs Anglaises now feels a tad too quiet for its own good, though it does give us a chance to recharge our batteries and bring the place back into ship-shape order for our next workshop, with Julie Arkell, coming up at the beginning of June.   Janet will be returning to Les Soeurs Anglaises in 2017, probably sometime in May or the beginning of June, and we're taking names already so let us know if you'd like your name to be on the list.

 

6 THINGS TO SHARE THIS MONTH:

• If you had your eye on Julie Arkell's workshop, TOYS, starting here on 3rd June, but left it a bit late to book a place, you might be pleased to hear a place has become available as a participant has had to drop out.  We can offer you a £150/$237 discount off the normal price (£1750/$2758) for a single occupancy, standard twin room - which should be enough to cover your Ryanair flight here from the UK - or if you can organise it with a friend, and don't mind sharing, you could split the discount for a shared room (£1350/$2128 each).   If you need any more information regarding booking please contact Susie directly as the booking form has been removed from our website for this event.  Incidentally, this year Julie's workshop dates cover the now celebrated local monthly brocante which is almost worth ta visit to south west France all by itself!
• We now have only one double en suite bedroom still available for our long weekend fundraiser in July, Fete de Boogie Woogie, in aid of Women for Women International,   If you're a fan of great food, vintage wines and superlative live music, then this will be the perfect combo.  We were absolutely delighted that one of our artists, Deanna Bogart, who is popping over from the States especially to perform at this event, has just won yet another coveted award for her sublime piano and saxophone playing.

Deanna at the 2015-BMA-Awards-Performances last week, Memphis, USA

• You may not be aware that between workshops, and when time permits, we run an occasional B&Bs, and we had the pleasure this week of welcoming back Dee Puddy and her husband.  Dee hosts her own seriously chic website where she sells irresistible, hand-picked, vintage finds and covetable goodies from both the UK and the continent - her on-line shop is a must-visit.

   

• If you're coming to Åsa Tricosa's workshop, Seamlessly Clever, in October (or would like to) and you live in Germany, you can have a taster of this ebullient and colourful knitter at the Yarn Festival, Berlin Knits coming up in a day or two.  There's also a "Meet the Designer Cruise" where I'm sure you'll find Åsa sporting one of her scrummy designs as the day cools - and if that doesn't tempt you to join us for Åsa's workshop here then you're obviously not into knitting.....
• As a great fan of West Dean short courses, near Cirencester, UK, I was interested to hear that Canada has its very own version called Halliburton Highlands.  One of the talented ladies at Janet's workshop, Sandi Luck, actually teaches fibre arts there, but there are a kaleidoscope of other short workshops to tempt you if felting isn't your thing.
• With all the property to rent available now in this beautiful part of France, choosing somewhere to holiday that lives up to its publicity is often a lottery, so we thought you might be interested in one that we personally think is the perfect place to stay!  Situated not far from Les Soeurs Anglaises itself, in the picturesque village of La Tour Blanche, La Maison Des Ramparts has recently been completely renovated to the highest standard and is super comfortable and tasteful.  Situated in the heart of the village and with all mod cons, (and with brocantes nearby every weekend over the summer) there's really nothing negative to say about this very special little house that sleeps 4.   Contact Suzy for further information and availability.....  

….christmas quiz day four…….

Congratulations all those of you who guessed that yesterday's beautiful book cover, stitched with her own dyed threads, was made by Claire Wellesley-Smith.   You can see much more of the exquisite colours she dyes her found and re-found fabrics - which she then uses to create intricate hand-stitched collages - in the equally beautiful photographs taken of her work and posted regularly on her blog. 

We are so looking forward to Claire leading her first workshop for us in May of next year, Slow Colour and Stitch.  It's going to be a cracker.

But as we push on to Christmas, here is

This workshop leader has more energy and talent than there are squares in this gorgeous quilt.  She'll tell you that her greatest passion when assembling fabrics is colour, but her checkered career in the arts has given her an especially infectious delight in re-inventing  textiles of all shades - both beloved and neglected - and then sharing her multifarious skills with all those who love stitch. 

..marion fits the bill....

Our final workshop of the season, Knitting: Chapter and Verse started this morning and it was back to the drawing board for 12 enthusiastic and energetic Marion Foale fans from as far afield as Chicago and   Germany.  

The idea of learning some professional knitting tricks from one of the fashion industry's icons was more than even Julie Arkell, another regular workshop leader at Les Soeurs, could resist.

Marion's scrummy stitch samples which show how she calculates the requisite sizes, wool thickness, needles and for a particular design.

Julie working out, with Marion's help, exactly how many decreases she needs to make for the skirt of one of her creatures. 

Participants concentrating on the tension squares which will indicate how they proceed with the projects and exercises Marion has given them.

Plenty of end of the first day questions......

Luckily, Carol arrives with supplies to feed the hungry knitters.

... and then there was Julie.......

One thing we have discovered over the past few years is that when Julie Arkell joins us to lead a workshop there is never a dull moment!   So nothing new then at this year's, Bring a Story, Tell a Story, Make a Story.

Twelve participants travelled in from all over the world (though mostly Australasia this time, it seemed) on a sunny afternoon in June for five days of the Arkell treatment.  Before long they were cutting and stitching and sticking and papier mache-ing to their hearts' content, collating their memories and putting together their own "stories".   

Happy stitchers finding their own space and time

Silent concentration bathed in sunshine

A quiet moment for Julie beside the pool

Scouring our secret brocante for treasures

Julie and Bronwyn showing off their finery before dinner

Marie demonstrating her story-telling techniques

Our very own maison de maitre illustrated by Kelly 

The beautiful prayer for the hares, created, styled and dressed by Tracey

Julie admiring Anna's rabbits

Breakfast time at Les Soeurs

Getting ready for the Show and Tell on the last day

.... haring along...

The clock is ticking, Spring has sprung and there really is only one week left until Billie Jean Spille choses the most creative representation of Les Soeurs Anglaises' Hare from all the wonderful submissions.  The winner will get a free place on one of our workshops next year (not including transport and where we have space) so get stitching, knitting, drawing, whatever it takes, to win this fab prize.  

Here are a few prancing hares to give you a glimpse of the competition.  Remember, it's not skill so much as imagination that we're looking for (though fine execution doesn't hurt).

Mary Stanley

Nateish Willman

Janet Middleton

Holly Kjerulff

... hop to it......

Only a little time left to send us your favourite hare!  At the end of this month our local talent, Billie Jean Spille, will be choosing what she considers the most interesting and creative facsimile of lepus capensis from amongst the many wonderful and inspiring entered for our spring competition.

Let these inspire you before it's too late.  Remember, the first and only prize is a free place on one of workshops next year (where we have places available and excluding transport costs).

sleeping hare by Mister FINCH

from Tutseetoys on FlickR

Remember there's still time to send us a photograph of your contribution.

And here is a work-in-progress that one of our followers is currently creating on a piece of our vintage hand-made linen.  If you're interested in purchasing some of this fabulous fabric we still have a few meters left.

A beautiful piece by the talented Martine Eckert