Goodbye 11 Hello 12

2011 is drawing to a close and it has been a fabulous year. 

Sibling Menswear

And what a great way to end the year by embroidering for the stunning menswear label Sibling. An all in one suit for the mainline (left) and a gorgeous knitted swimsuit (below) for Siblings woman's wear label Sister.

Sister Womenswear

    

The classes are going very well with the last weekend in
February 2012 already filling up. The final class of 2011
was superb and I thought I'd keep you all in the loop with
 some photos of that weekend. Simone, Sam, Kenrick,
 Marie, Sophie all excelled as beginner embroiderers. 

Simone used embroidery and applique to make a
truly delightful cushion cover for her daughter.

Marie, Marie your moths are to die for!  Applied onto Harris
tweed in one weekend,this totally brilliant novice embroidery
was made into a stunning clutch bag.

All hard at work

Kenrick's cushion cover 

Kenrick looking very pleased with himself, as he should! He transformed an old, unused shirt into this fabulous cushion cover, notice button placket detail instead of zip.  An easy way to avoid sewing in zips for those of you who are as zip phobic as I.

Sophie already had illustrated onto her jacket in fabric
paints but the added birds embroidery have given it new
lease of life, depth and texture.....  eat your heart out Maharishi!

Denim bird detail was made from Simone's first
practise samples of embroidery, nothing goes unused.

Detail fo cushion cover, mixture of hand chain stitch,
machine embroidery and applique000

Fear not tricky fabrics, Sam embroidered
directly onto knitwear with great results.

This course was a joy to teach!!! Thank you.
 Great chat, a very good laugh and
wonderful, inspiring embroidery. LLx

Hooray – The Laura Lees Embroidery Courses.

Weekend freehand machine embroidery courses in Islington with Laura Lees.

Have no fear if you’ve never embroidered before.
From the highly skilled to the complete novice, the courses cater for all.

Overview

We will start with an introduction and demonstration. A goody bag of scraps and fabrics will be provided.  We will then select and design the options for your embroideries.  This can take the form of an embroidered cushion, bag, wall hanging or customizing a bag, hat, jacket or any other form of textile.  I will break the weekend into two sections.

• Saturday 10 - 5pm
• Sunday 10.30 - 4pm

Sat am; introduction and demonstration
Sat pm; selection of item (cushion, bag etc) designing and prep.

Your designs will be quickly realized through sewing. By the end of Saturday students will be well on their way to creating their chosen item.

Sun am; Continuation of embroidery
Sun pm; Completion and informal presentation of finished work.

The presentation is, of course, optional.  It is merely to get people talking about their newfound skills and a chance to absorb what they have achieved by way of discussion. This will happen over a glass of wine or a beer so we may toast our newfound skills.

What to make


As the course is completely open to interpretation... the choice is yours.  I have found the  best results come from a students personal interests, ie, customizing their own denim jacket, shoes, guitar straps and so forth.  I will be on hand to show how to make things from scratch, such as making a cushion, wall panels, shopping bag, clutch bag, the list is endless.  Customizing has always been my forte and I will show you the tricks of the trade.  


The ratio of sewers and non-sewers is around 50/50...many of the non-sewers have embarked nervously on a piece of embroidery which they said was for practice only and by the end of the weekend have referred to it as their art pieces. 

The location is clean, safe and has tea and coffee making facilities. Set in the heart of Islington there are plenty of restaurants and bars to choose from for your lunch however, to maximize your time on the course, you can bring a pack lunch.

Materials

Various fabric and scraps goody bag provided. Please bring fabric scissors. A domestic machine is not expensive and, if possible, it’s best to bring your own. Embroidery foot can be bought at all good haberdashers and fit most domestic sewing machines easily.
After extensive research the most affordable domestic sewing machine is a John Lewis JL125 for around £129.00 and a Darning foot for around £11.00, machine depending.   
However, if you do not have your own sewing machine, there will be a couple of machines on site for everyone’s use.

If you have any textiles, threads, ribbons, anything that inspire you, please bring them along

Price

£90 for the weekend. Payable in advance. 10% discount for students. Please send all enquiries and bookings to embroideryhouse@live.co.uk.

Dates 2011

July 30/31

August 27/28

Sept 24/25

Oct 29/30

Nov 26/27

Dec 03/04 (make your own  presents Christmas Special)

Year past, year to come.

It may appear to some folk that I’ve done sweet FA for the past year. In actual fact the other week, four weeks after giving birth to our second child, I was embroidering a dress belonging to Courtney Love (see photo below). Prior to that I was embroidering for the Museum of Everything, My Sugarland, designing limited edition t-shirts for lingerie brand Freya and making bespoke embroidered bondage wear for Coco De Mer.

And all of this to a relentless backdrop of bitching, moaning and griping.

No, not fashion!

Suffice to say barfing for 9 months solid, no bevvy with a belly full of baby is absolutely no fun for anyone.

Out of those projects Coco De Mer was a lovely challenge. It was pure joy to work with Sam Roddick. Taking bondage wear out of the ‘obvious’ dark leather arena. Creating a more fashionable approach with dual functionality was the key. I embroidered denim bondage cuffs, beautiful leather rose eye masks and tongue in cheek tourettes nipple pasties (with tassels). One for granny’s stocking?

Oh yeah, and I embroidered a big ‘ladies bit’ for Julie Verhoeven as part of her November 2010 show.

So that’s the previous 9 months, what of the next 9 months? Well, aside from collaborations, commissions and the like, I will be running bi-monthly weekend embroidery courses in Islington. Subscribe to this blog and be the first to find out exactly where and when.

Smashing

LLx