How to - cross stitch

Posted on

18 Aug 2009

Begin by making the bottom half of the stitches, up at A down at B, up at C, across the row. Then return along the row to make the top half. Stitches can be worked individually or in rows but all top stitches must face the same direction.

Tags:  learn sewing stitching

How to - back stitch

Posted on

18 Aug 2009

Bring needle up through the fabric, one stitch ahead of the starting point. Go down through the fabric one stitch behind, then out again one stitch ahead. Continue in this way.

Tags:  learn sewing stitching

Liz Scobie

Posted on

17 Aug 2009

Not every couple can work together but husband and wife team, Liz and Neil Scobie, seem to have found the secret. Combining his talents with wood and hers with textiles they’ve built a thriving business based on their own picturesque property, allowing Liz to travel near and far to share her skills with others.

Based in a rural setting just 20 minutes north of Coffs Harbour, Liz and Neil’s home is also the base for their two separate studios which make up Bucca Creek Wood & Textiles. Liz trained as a textile and design teacher in the early 1970s before retiring from full time work in 1980 to raise her children. During that period she began working more earnestly on her textile art, focussing particularly on creative machine embroidery.

In the early 90s, in what she thought was a one-off, Liz decorated a series of painted timber platters that had been turned by Neil. They were enormously successful and in the years that followed the duo collaborated on many pieces for special exhibitions and produced a range of painted platters, bowls and screens which have sold in galleries throughout Australia and the USA.

Today Liz has managed to return the focus to her textiles and has become a sought after teacher as well, leading classes both at her home base and beyond. “Students come to us from all over Australia and the only promotion we have is word of mouth,” she says. “Neil runs classes too and sometimes couples will come and one will do textiles with me and the other will do wood with Neil. Recently we have devised combined workshops where one can go off and make the lamp base and the other can be with me and make the shade, for instance.” She also teaches gifted and talented workshops in schools.

The Scobies are interesting pair, having taken the daring step of completely opting out of paid employment while their children were still at school with the aim of making a living from their artwork. Neil’s work involves both creative woodturning, plus carving, designing and making custom made furniture for private clients and select galleries. Liz continues to work on collaborative pieces with Neil, incorporating fibre with timber in their floor screens and still does the decorative paint work.

Neil is also a professional teacher having trainied as an Industrial Arts Teacher in the early 1970 s, then teaching in NSW high schools for 20 years. “We both think that initial grounding has helped us enormously in our subsequent ventures,” says Liz. “We always say it taught us how to learn. We’ve been able to acquire new skills as we’ve needed them.”

By teaching 13-year-olds to 76-year-olds, Liz says she is constantly inspired. “A Year 8 child is very creative and enthusiastic but has no skills. An older woman might have a lot of skills but may have grown inhibited. They require very different approaches. I am constantly learning from the students. Honestly, I would be very surprised to come out of a workshop without picking up a new skill somehow,” she adds.

Inspired by the nature that surrounds her plus the textile arts of traditional cultures - the colour, the texture, the embellishment - Liz is a prolific photographer, often taking extreme close-ups of textures she will later try and interpret in her work through fabric and stitching. “I am the one photographing the bark on the ground while out walking,” she says.

“Currently I love merging paintwork with textiles. I am applying much that I have learned from painting on wood to my work. For instance, the Heritage House class I will run at Be Creative By The Sea (see below) this year is done on stretched canvas. The background is painted with a texture medium then painted with paint. The houses are made with raw edge appliqué and machine embroidered."

Away from her teaching, Liz’s personal work mirrors this same development. “Most paint finishes you use on traditional mediums can be used on textiles,” says Liz. “You probably wouldn’t call them traditional quilts, the ones I do. They’re probably more suited to galleries than quilt shows.”

Like her students whom she finds are more and more strapped for time, Liz too is looking for more opportunities to carve out “time to play” as she calls it, where she can renew her own creative juices. Not content to just be the tutor, she tries to attend at least one workshop herself a year. In 2008 she studied under Gloria Loughman (see www.glorialoughman.com [glorialoughman.com]) which, she says, was perfect because it took her right out of her comfort zone. “Gloria is so neat and precise compared to me,” says Liz. “She’s a great teacher and a lovely woman. I think you need to keep studying under other people to develop as a teacher.”

Our creative teacher profile
Liz Scobie

Her specialties
Creative machine embroidery
Painted & decorative finishes

Where she teaches
Her own studio at Bucca Creek Wood & Textiles and around Australia

Find her at
www.neilandlizscobie.com [neilandlizscobie.com]
Email: info@neilandlizscobie.com

Tags:  embroidery liz scobie painting woodwork

Margaret Conlon

Posted on

17 Aug 2009

A quilter for around 30 years, Margaret took up quilting when her airforce husband was posted to Penang in Malaysia. “I met another airforce wife while there and she’d been quilting for a little while. I just loved the work that she did... I haven’t stopped since,” says Margaret.

“My earlier quilts where all hand done. But with the changes over the years and the equipment that is available these days I do most of my quilting on my home sewing machine. But I still love to do hand quilting.”

Margaret works in the craft section of Spotlight but her main job involves teaching quilting classes on Tuesday and Saturday nights. “They have been quite successful and I am now into my third term,” she says. She also works as an integration aide at a local school.

You can find a Quilters Wall Hanging project by Margaret Conlon from Spotlight’s Braybrook store under 'Art for your walls' or the 'Quilting' collections.

Tags:  margaret conlon quilt quilting teach wall hanging

A global view - Destination: Zambia

Posted on

13 Aug 2009

“I was lucky enough to recently travel to Zambia in Africa to see how women in developing countries are undertaking training in sewing & tailoring as a means of social & economic development.” - Janine

Janine Nutley from Spotlight’s Kawana Waters (QLD) store recently travelled to Zambia in Southern Africa. One of the world’s poorest countries, around 51 per cent of Zambia’s population is reportedly living on less than one dollar per day.

“The program I visited, on the outskirts of the capital, equipped young women within the community with the tools and training, as well as the incentives through sewing, to become self sufficient, and improve their day to day lives,” says Janine.

“I was really impressed by the spirit of the women in the community, their passion and sewing skills, workmanship and ability to learn new techniques in often challenging environments. It was truly absolutely amazing.” This is not Janine’s first trip to Africa.  In 2007 she travelled to Uganda to see machines in use from Spotlight’s Stitch in Time programme.

“Africa has a colourful variety of fabrics to offer a keen sewer like myself,” she says. “In Zambia I saw unique hand dyed and hand painted fabrics and beautiful printed and woven cottons.  There was no shortage of earthy tribal prints - some more like works of art than fabrics you would create garments with.”

Janine says she found many similarities between herself and the women. “Even though we’re from such contrasting environments, it’s nice to know that whether you are sitting in your sewing room at home in Australia or sewing in a small community area of Africa, we get the same sense of satisfaction we take out of our handiwork.”

Tags:  africa quilting groups sewing machine stitch in time

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