Teabags!

October’s Scunthorpe Embroiderers’ Guild meeting was a brilliantly packed full day workshop with Fran Holmes based on teabags.

Fran brought along loads of samples she had stitched using a base of dyed, opened out and ironed teabags with added lace and hand and machine embroidery for inspiration.

 

Then it was our turn. We had been asked to bring some tea bags of our own, and I was quite pleased with the effect where a fruit tea bag had leaned up against an ordinary one and they two had bled into each other, but mine were nothing compared with the amazing patterns Fran had got on the ones she had done for us in our kits.

We experimented with all sorts of things, including various iron on products, foils, printing, inks, paints and stamps and so busy was the day that I didn’t actually add any stitching until the afternoon!

We ended up with four different bases for further stitching.

The first two were a mixture of lace, tea bags and net.

I added some watercolour detailing on the lace flowers of this one.

Then a base for stamping in acrylics.

And lastly one with a subtle shimmery foil underlay which I layered with torn silk ribbon and a stamp.

All four lovely backgrounds, ready for stitching.

I finally managed a few french knots…

Great workshop and lovely to do something outside my usual range.