A Day Fusing Fabrics.

The first of this year's Day Schools at the Lytham St Annes Branch of the Embroiderers Guild was spent fusing fabrics to make birds, butterflies and other wondrous creatures, led by Nikki Parmenter a member of one of the Cheshire Branches. See previous posts here, here, here and here.

Here are a selection of photos of  'Works in Progress' on the day, kindly sent to me by another member so that we can all enjoy seeing the lovely items made by members who attended.

What glorious Butterflies! In purple sheers with nets of gold and sequins that are further embellished with free machining, above and below, a beautiful Blue.

These are quite large, the wing span being about 6 inches across.

Next up, a selection or shoal? of Sea Horses, in lilacs and blue green colourways. Who doesn't  love a cute sea horse?

This one above, shows the process of making. Sheers and other fabrics were laid over a foundation or base fabric and covered with net. Then the fusing took place using a heat tool ( aka soldering iron) just touching in places to fuse/glue the materials together.

Not sure if the design would have been drawn onto the base fabric and then sewn over once the fusing had been done or whether they were fused around a template? (If you attended please let me know, then I can amend this post).

Here is another lovely sea horse in deep blues and reds embellished with long sparkly beads. Not that easy to sew on, I can tell you!

How about making a Seaside Wreath to adorn your door or a wall in the house? After all, what could be more fitting as we live by the sea?
Here the maker is trying out various elements to place on her wreath around the Fish to make him/her feel at home :-)

If you don't fancy making a sea creature or butterfly, how about making another friendly visitor to our gardens? 
What do you think about these wonderful Birds?

Look at the detail on the Blue Bird, above. Lovely colours and sparkly bits and just look at the wire feet - so life like. Loving the big eyes. 
This gorgeous Purple Bird, below, looks great with his purple eye to match his feathers. Gold sequins add sparkle to his breast.

I think that you will all agree, these are very fine specimens indeed. Great job everyone! Thank you to all the members who allowed their work to be photographed for our Blog, Thanks to the photographer and a Big Thanks to Nikki for teaching such a fun and inspirational class.