an independent group of creative textile artists and stitchers

from Durham and the surrounding area


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Galleries from Stitching Ideas and Inspirations

Durham Castle Exhibition 2023 | Winter Competition 2023 |Ushaw Exhibition 2022

Winter Competition 2021 | Postcard Swap | Stitching Inspirations

St Cuthbert's Pectoral Cross | Silver Hoops | Community Projects

TAS-2-Durham is now well established as an active stitching group. Our membership continues to grow, with new members bringing ideas and inspiration to our works. We are now working towards our 2024 exhibition which will be hosted by Ushaw Historic House, Chapels & Garden.

Our recent Exhibitions and Competitions include:

2023 Durham Castle, as part of their 950th anniversary.

2022 Ushaw Historic House & Gardens.

2021 Winter Competion

We are now inviting stitchers of all abilities who live in or near County Durham to visit one of our stitch sessions by pre-booking a place with our secretary: email Penny at tas2durham@gmail.com for more information.

Winter Competition 2023:

‘Inspired by Ushaw’ – a small piece of embellished textile art, suitable for hanging from a wall. The worked area must be no bigger than 20cm square (8 inches) using any techniques. Three categories based on observations from Ushaw Historic House, Chapel & Gardens:

Birds/Animals, Flowers/Foliage, or Tile/Architectural features

Birds/animals Winner:

Lesley Wood

Flowers/foliage Winner:

Jane Friesner

Architectural features Winner:

Sarah McGeorge

Follow this link to see a display of other entries from the Winter Competition 2023.

Durham Castle Exhibition 2023:

Fragments from History : 1st April to 30th June 2023 : Durham Castle DH1 3RW

Our creative stitched textiles exhibition for 2023 was hosted and inspired by Durham Castle The brief was to take any aspect of the history, people, and architecture of the castle and then interpret our ideas through stitch. Following a morning furtle around the buildings, background stories of mythical creatures, bishops, and other interesting people were unearthed, the history of architecture and decorative items researched and studied. Our talented members love a challenge creating unique works of textile ar using traditional hand embroidery, machine embroidery, contemporary hand embroidery and of course a wealth of mixed media.

Follow this link to see a display of works from the Durham Castle Exhibition 2023.

Ushaw Exhibition 2022:

Our first exhibition as TAS 2 Durham, Picking Up the Threads, was hosted by Ushaw Historic House & Gardens from June to August 2022. More than 100 pieces of work were on display during this period. The PDf version of the exhibition, with images of all the entries of work can be viewed from here.

A PDf document with details of the stitched squares from the Durham City in Summer Panel can be viewed from here.

Winter Competition 2021:

The theme for our first competition was inspired by the first face-to-face stitching session we held as an independent stitching group. Members were asked to create a new piece piece of work from two categories; a useful item or a decorative item, to include at least one hand-made button (Dorset, Yorkshire etc.), threaded wheels, bound or beaded rings and washers. As always the standard of work was very high. Helen's beautiful 3D vessel was voted the best decorative item and Denise's shashiko cushion (buttons on the back) was voted the best useful item.

Follow this link to see a display of works from the Winter 2021 Competition.

The Textile Postcard Swap:

Our first long term group project. Over a period of twelve months members created postcard sized textile art cards to swap with each other. Twenty four members completed the cycle creating four or five cards for each round. Our Sloooow Cloth group, of six members, each made one card to swap. The slide show below is a selection of cards from each of the themes.

  • Round One (April/May) with a theme of Complementary Colours.
  • Round Two (June/July) was based on Geometric Shapes.
  • Round Three (August September) limited us to Just One Colour.
  • Round Four (October/November) what else but use Colours of Autumn.
  • Round Five (December/January) took the theme of Winter (with or with or without sparkle).
  • Round Six (February/March) Welcoming Spring allowed members to use their own choice of theme and techniques.

All images reproduced with permission of the owner/maker and are copyright. Please do not copy without permission.

The full sets of postcards can be seen on the Postcard Swap Gallery page, and we are in the process of creating short videos from each round of swap, which can be accessed from these links:

Click this link for the Round 5, 'Winter' video of the postcard swap.

 

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Stitching Inspirations:

During the 2020 lock down, we used a series of monthly prompts to keep busy, stay sane and enjoy stitching small pieces of work. The gallery with the list of prompts can be seen here: Stitching Inspirations.

If you have completed work from any of the suggestions and prompts from 2020, please send photos to the TAS-2 WhatsApp group for sharing, OR please email Penny, our web page editor (tas2durham@gmail.com) with a couple of photos of your work with a short description of what inspired you and the techniques you used. We won't publish your full name, just initials to ensure you are attributed to the work. If your piece of work is the result of kit or a professional design or from a workshop/course please ensure you tell us the details to comply with current UK guidelines on copyright. For Example: "inspired by an on-line workshop by xxxx 2022 ".

St Cuthbert's Pectoral Cross:

St Cuthbert's Cross designed by Tracy A Franklin

Our friend and specialist traditional hand embroiderer, Tracy A Franklin, was commissioned to design and put together a pack of materials for a community stitching project. Tracy used the iconic symbol of Durham (St Cuthbert's Pectoral Cross) for our interpretation in stitch. The resulting works were to be displayed as part of a public exhibition to promote the art of stitching. However, Covid-19 scuppered the plans for a physical exhibition so this virtual exhibition was created in its place.

Click the gallery page of the St Cuthbert's Pectoral Cross.

Silver Hoops Project:

Display of silver hoop at December 2019 meeting

Using a silver hoop as the frame for a new piece of work the group were asked to design and stitch their ideas on the theme of silver.The hoops were going to be displayed as part of a public exhibition to promote the art of stitching. However, Covid-19 scuppered the plans for a physical exhibition so this virtual exhibition was created in its place. If you haven't shown us your finished hoop yet, please send some images to Penny for adding to this gallery.

Click the gallery page of the Silver Hoops.

Community Projects:

Members are active in community and collaborative projects. These links will take you to galleries of work from those projects:

The Needle Points North - the first collaborative project undertaken in 1996 and recently on display at the Great Exhibition of the North in 2018 and other locations in the North East during 2019.

The 100 hearts War Stories project - from The Embroiderers’ Guild UK commemorates the ending of WW1 (The Great War 1914-1918) 100 years ago.

2016 Celebrating Capability Brown - The Embroiderers’ Guild was one of many partners in a nationwide festival celebrating the 300th Anniversary of the birth of Capability Brown. During the course of 2016, more than 40 exhibitions were held throughout the country. Our gallery shows a selection of works from our members on display indoor and outdoor at Gibside Gardens and Chapel (Gateshead).

More recent community projects include 'We will remember them' (2020), '100 years of Suffrage' (2018), Kneelers for St Michael's Church, Howick, Northumberland (2018), and the collaborative '70273 Project' (2017).

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