Report on the 12th March 2011 Japanese Textiles: Then and Now talk

Our guest speaker was Lynn Hewitt who is a past President & long time member of the Quilters' Guild of NSW Inc. Lynn has been visiting Japan since 2002, when she and Jane Gibson were invited by the city of Nagoya to represent Sydney and the Quilters' Guild of NSW Inc at the International Quilt Fair. Since that first visit Lynn has been back 5 times, including twice as the tour leader for quilting tours. Apart from her own visits, Lynn's original interest began through her daughter, who learned Japanese and went there on a school exchange - thus beginning a series of return visits firstly by school children and then followed later by adults, a number of whom have become good friends with Lynn and her husband Ted.

Lynn began her talk with a PowerPoint presentation showing a map of Japan to highlight the various areas where textiles are produced. As she progressed through the talk, Lynn described the different textile types and their production. She also explained the origin of the Kamon crest which we are so used to seeing in quilts today and how Sashiko was used to patch and mend garments. (A fireman’s outfit was made of many layers stitched together and when needed was doused with water to protect him from the fires). 

After discussing design elements of Japanese textiles and how, for instance, different plants symbolise the different seasons ( Spring - plum and cherry blossom, Summer- iris & a flowing stream, Autumn-chrysanthemum and Winter - bamboo leaves), Lynn went on to tell us about Yuzen dyeing. She explained how it is done, how it can take up to 4 months for the design to be transferred, and the different elements painted - hence the high price to be paid for many of the beautiful Kimonos we see (that is unless you are lucky to get to a second hand market or a quilt show, where a number of people from the audience later told us they has picked them up for a song).  Lynn then spoke about how the indigo dye was produced and how some cloths are dyed up to 150 times to get the pattern and colour desired. She showed us examples of the different Shibori dyeing techniques as well as some images of amazing quilts made using indigo fabrics

After her very informative talk Lynn showed many examples of the textiles she had described earlier. She then went on to show some of the quilts she has made using her Japanese fabric. Some of it was most unusual, one piece purported to be woven banana leaf, but she couldn’t actually confirm this as her Japanese didn't stretch that far. But it was an interesting piece to see!

Following Lynn’s talk and her showcase there was a great ‘Show and Tell’ from the audience ranging from amazing fabrics picked up in the backstreets, kimono and yukata garments, and of course lovely quilts made from Japanese fabrics.

 

 

 

The Rajah Quilt on display in Canberra 17 March to 31 July 2011

The National Museum of Australia in Canberra will have the  Rajah quilt, sewn by convict women as they sailed from England to Tasmania in 1841, on display as part of their exhibition "Not Just Ned: A true history of the Irish in Australia". The exhibition runs from the 17th March to the 31st July 2011. See http://www.nma.gov.au/exhibitions/irish_in_australia/ for further details.

2011 Australian Quilt Study Group Seminar

The 2011 Australian Quilt Study Group Seminar will be held in Melbourne this year on November the 5th and 6th. The Seminar is being hosted by the Victorian Quilters Inc. Quilt Study Group. Details about the event should be available in April on their website - http://www.victorianquilters.org/index.php?act=viewDoc&docId=24

"Japanese Textiles Then and Now" with Lynn Hewitt

Join us with Lynn Hewitt in the Ambassador Room at the Burwood RSL, Shaftsbury Road, Burwood at 2pm on Saturday the 12th of March.Lynn will be showing pictures and samples to illustrate some of the history of design and textile traditions in Japan.

Lynn has made many visits to Japan enhancing her collection of Japanese textiles on each trip. She will share her collection and knowledge of old japanese textiles and tell us about the influence contemporary Japanese cottons have had on her quilts and clothing. Bring along your own antique Japanese textiles for show and tell and, of course, those wonderful quilts you have made with Japanese quilting fabrics.

9th October 2010 talk by Alan Tremain on The Quilter's Guild of NSW Inc. Scholarship and Textile Conservation advice

In 2009, Alan Tremain received a $2,500 scholarship from The Quilters' Guild of NSW Inc. to contribute to the cost of his visit to USA earlier this year. As documented on his application,  Alan’s main aims of the scholarship were to finalize practical applications for a quilt conservation, restoration and preservation thesis, knowledge acquisition to create a feasibility study for the establishment of an independent national quilt judging standard, and to observe and document quilt museum management, storage and exhibition principals. He wanted to interview prominent quilters as well as those involved in the historical preservation of quilt history like the creators of Mormon Trail Centre in Nebraska. As well, his aim included reintroducing Australian Quilt making to key museums, institutions and resource centres in America thus fostering greater exchange and interaction between our guild and exhibiting museums and quilt groups throughout the USA as we approach our 30th year.

 Alan's major purpose for the trip was to attend a nine day Nancy Kirk quilt restoration workshop in Omaha, Nebraska. He researched and acquired quilts, quilt tops, fabrics and patterns with a focus on the American Mid West. He also wanted to view quilt collections held by individuals and in both state and local museums in his travels.

In the state of Nebraska, Alan spent time at the Durham Museum in Omaha, the Mormon Trail Centre in Pleasance, the International Quilt Study Centre and Museum and the University of Nebraska State Museum in Lincoln. He then travelled to Golden in Colorado where he visited the headquarters of Primedia, publisher of many quilt magazines, and viewed their QNL cover quilts exhibition, visited many historic houses, viewed a quilt at the Coors Brewery made from their ribbons and had access to some of the quilts in the Rocky Mountain Quilt Museum's archives by helping them move to a new location. With Judith Trager he was also able to view some private quilt collections in Boulder. When he visited nursing homes to track down old quilts and their stories from their owners, he was lucky enough to be given some quilt patterns, quilt tops and fabrics.

Alan also took advantage of his time there to buy some quilts, quilt tops, Mountain Mist patterns, 1930s diecut quilt kits, cheater cloth fabrics from the 1940s to 1960s, quilt blocks and a number of feedsacks, all of which he showed us. We were very interested to see the crimplene quilt made from blocks of crossed tulips that was given to him by an 85 year old ex-dressmaker he visited in a nursing home.

For those interested in increasing their knowledge of old quilts, Alan recommended the Barbara Blackman “Clues in the Calico”  e-book, “Quilts of the Golden West” and the “Fabric Dating Kit Book” by Cindy Brick, and the Quilt Study books that have been published for each state in USA. For removing stains slowly in textiles, Alan uses the Herbon Prewash Stain Remover which is available from health food stores.

Alan gave advice on the care, conservation and presentation of lace items, items of clothing, quilts and quilt tops that had been brought along by the workshop attendees.

As a result of his trip, Alan has increased his store of research notes and photographs, and hopes to contribute to a national standard for quilt research.

Quilt Study Group of NSW Goes Hi-Tech - August 14th at Powerhouse Museum

Karen Fail and Irene Manion

Irene Manion is passionate about fabric and stitch, and all the textile work she showed the Quilt Study Group of NSW at the Powerhouse Museum on August 14th exhibited her desire for perfection, a keen eye for design and her perseverance with detail that left me in awe.

Irene is a Visual Arts Teacher and has been for the past 20 years. Nothing could be more wonderful for students than to have a practising artist for a teacher who continues to experiment and investigate new techniques in her textile art. We were certainly impressed with her array of technique swatches – some which worked and others that didn’t.

In the 70s Irene experimented with batik designs trying to capture the landscapes in the Blue Mountains. This led her to develop a complex multi-layered dying and waxing techniques. Examples of this early work were breathtaking and made it hard to believe that only batik techniques were used. The detail was wonderful.

Over the last ten years, Irene has changed direction and is now using modern technology in her textile work. She incorporates dye sublimation prints of images she has developed from her own digital photos and drawings. These are modified in programs such as Photoshop and Illustrator. She then has these images commercially printed onto fabric and generously provided us with a list of suppliers should we decide to experiment in the same way. We even had an opportunity to transfer print one of Irene’s images onto fabric for future use. Some of us even managed to get three images onto fabric from one print.

Once Irene has the image she wants, she uses computerised machine embroidery or free machine embroidery to enhance the digitally printed surface. She had many examples for us to look at but most impressive were the lorikeets, a beautiful wall hanging with birds in flight and at rest. Irene showed us a few of the printed fabrics which she rejected, again demonstrating her determination to get exactly what she wanted. Eventually the background fabric was ready with fewer  birds than had initially been planned so additional 3D birds were added. These were embroidered, padded and backed before being added to the background. We were quite in awe as we appreciated the work and time investment for this.

Irene very generously brought along her most recent work, which was part of “A Conversation with Rain” exhibition at Fairfield Art Gallery and Museum earlier in the year. Everyone spent at least some of their time examining this delightful work carefully.

Fabric and stitch, it seems can come in all guises and Irene Manion has certainly mastered the use of modern technology in her textile art and inspired some quilt study groupers to expand their horizons.

Report from Karen Fail.

Annette Gero 4th December 2010 lecture on Inlaid Quilts

As winner of the 2009 Quilters’ Guild of NSW Inc. Scholarship, Annette Gero will be talking to us about her research in Berlin on Inlaid quilts at the Guild's December meeting at Burwood. Annette helped curate and learn from a major quilt exhibition in Berlin, which was the world’s first on woollen inlaid patchwork.

Inlaid patchwork quilts? Remember the 1776 quilt which Pam Holland reproduced? This quilt uses a technique little known today, but which was used 200 years ago. This technique is known as inlaid or Silesian piecing. The technique itself may be indicative of the origin of piecing.

You probably all know that Annette has acquired one of these quilts - the House of Commons Quilt (with all the people in the centre) - which was made by the same technique. Due to her ownership of this quilt, Annette was involved in the Berlin exhibition. She will show us slides of the other inlaid quilts that have been found and tell some of the amazing stories behind them. Some of these quilts are also in Annette’s book, 'The Fabric of Society', which will be on sale after the talk.

The talk will take place as part of the Guild meeting which starts at 1pm on Saturday, the 4th December 2010. The venue for the talk is the Burwood RSL, 96 Shaftsbury Avenue, Burwood, NSW.