Monica Dennis

This year the Cutting Edge Textile Group has embarked on a project that is focused on St Fagans Museum and members have been encouraged to create a piece of work about something that has inspired them when they have visited the buildings, galleries or grounds.

I chose to create a collage about the tailors shop which was moved from Cross Inn, Ceredigion to St Fagans in 1967. It is stocked as it would have been in the early 1950s.

The shelves in the front of the shop are filled with bolts of fabric, shoes, hats, hosiery, rainwear etc. There is a manikin in the fitting room where a coat in the making hangs and the back of the shop is the workroon where the tools of the Tailors trade are exhibited.

I have therefore picked out various items that have interested me to create my collage. I particularly wanted to include the part made coat on the manikin

The waistcoat pattern is taken from a sketch in David Thomas, the tailors sketchbook and I have printed one of his original memorandums. The background is vintage tissue pattern pieces and a pair of vintage buttonhole scissors have been included. The clothing book is a reminder that fashion was rationed after the Second World War. David Thomas learnt his tailoring skills at the Tailors and Cutters Academy in London, hence the front cover of a magazine has been printed on fabric. Finally, there is an image of the tailor himself, printed on fabric and stitched in place.

I also have print blocks from the 1930s with interesting images on them and at a recent print press workshop I was able to print the images. It was fascinating to see that the men’s fashion on the blocks was similar to that on posters displayed in the tailors shop. It was also interesting to see how detailed the images on the blocks were and how well preserved they are considering they date back to the 1930s..

I am delighted to hear that my collage has been accepted by the Turner House Art Gallery Penarth for their open art exhibition – 13 September – 15 October 2024

The theme is the Art of Living – I therefore described my artwork as follows:

My collage depicts the life of a Welsh tailor who, whilst disabled, sustained his business from the 1920s to the late 1960s. He weathered the Great Depression of the 1930s and the profound impact of the 2nd World War on fashion, when clothes were rationed and the impact of the Government’s Make Do & Mend campign urged people to repair, reuse and reimagine their existing clothes. Despite these challenges and changing fashions from bespoke to off the peg creations Thomas made a success of his business. His shop now standing in the grounds of St Fagans Museum is a fitting tribute to his tenacity.

At the Printhaus Festival in June I came across Amplifier Press and decided I needed to find out more about letterpress printing. So, yesterday evening I attended one of their introductory workshops in Cardiff ,which was really interesting, and left me keen to explore more.

It was fascinating learning about the printers vocabulary, how all the printing presses (large and small) worked, and seeing all the lovely vintage print blocks

And it was great to get the hands on experience.

I took along two print blocks that I bought some time ago to see whether I could use them and was delighted that I could as I wasa ble to get a detailed view of them. Nigel (our tutor) suggested that they were probably made around the 1930s. What I found so amazing was the detail in the images preserved so well over time.

I was also interested in seeing the fashion depicted on the blocks as it seemed familiar to the era I have been working on for our Cutting Edge Textile Group project. A piece that I have just completed is themed around the Tailor’s shop which is in the gorunds of St Fagans Museum.

In addition to using my own blocks I experimented with others using various papers.

And this notebook (and bookmark) has the name of Cutting Edge Textile Group embossed into the cover – difficult to see but it looks fab!

Another book to go into my collection as I made a kettle stitched book this week too!

A great session and hopefully more in the future! Many thanks to Nigel ad Erin for sharing their love of print.

This last month I have turned my attention to finishing projects as I have so many in the making!

This is a piece I started well before lockdown under the guidance of the lovely Carol Bartlett. It was not far from being complete and then got abandoned until this last week when I decided it was time to get on and finish it

I have also finished my Dutch sampler. Another project that has been in the making for I don’t know how long.

And, I have been making fabric postcards in readiness for a workshop that I am running on 2 July 2024 with Cutting Edge members. The five below are images inspired by St Fagans Museum, as we are currently running a group project about St Fagans.

These two have been made along the theme of ‘Food for Thought’, which is the theme for the Queen Street Gallery, Neath Mailart exhibition. Deadline for entries is 15 August 2024.

In the company of Carol Bartlett I have also been reminding myself how to make a driftwood boat as Carol and I are running a workshop at the forthcoming Llantwit Major Literary Festival. Cutting Edge members Pat and Dianne will be joining us too. They will be running a Sashiko and Gelliplate printing workshop.

Above photo courtesy of Richard Arnold

So, lots going on to keep me busy and feeling satisfied that I have tackled a few half finished projects!

The last time I made fabric books I used vintage Laura Ashley fabric and then today, whilst tidying up my fabrics I came across some lovely Alice in Wonderland fabric and decided it was time to create some Alice books……

To go alongside a couple of free machine embroidered ones I made earlier!

In February I celebrated a special birthday and as a speial treat was whisked away to the New Forest. And, what a treat it was because the torrential rain led the way to finding dry activities in heritage centres and museums.

I found the Plant Life exhibition at the St Barbe Museum and Art Gallery in Lymington. The exhibition looked at historic practices in preserving and presenting plant species and showed how these techniques inspire artists today. It explored plant collecting, pressing and drying, mounting and arranging, preservation, recording, illustration and economic botany.

Angela Charmers Cyanotype caught my eye. I love the floral tattoo.

And the depiction of Adam and Eve

There was also a book on display, published by Anna Atkins (1799-1871) It is considered to be the world’s first book of photographs. Anna was a pioneering user of cyanotype

Stef Mitchell’s Concertina books were of interest too. The book on the right below was printed with ash leaves and stems and the book demonstrates the different stages of life of the ash tree. The cover is printed with tiny sapling leaves and the inside is printed with older leaves. Stef used the ash leaves to document the ash tree before they are lost through ash dieback

She also created piece of work with fallen rhodendrum leaves

And this monoprint has been created with wild flowers. The negative image has been used and has been decorated with hand printing and drawing. The line drawing aims to give depth to the piece and the painting gives a nod to hand painted dot painting on antique ceramics

These multi layered monotype ferns were gathered in the autumn just as they were dying back and taking on orange and brown hues. The colour comes from hand mixing water colour aint and water based block printing ink. Each colour mix is unique

Another piece by Sherry Doyal was cleverly constructed. It hss been made with copper beech leaves, beech leaves and tansy. The work was inspired by Jenny Ashmore’s work with pressed plants

Lynn Comley created this piece with wet felted merino wool and silk with hand and free machine embroidery. It is inspired by lichens and algae found within the spray zone on the Yorkshire coast

And this piece made by Amanda Corbett is based on original specimens collected on a foraging trip during the sutume of 2023 in the Hurtswood Forest.

Amanda’s 3 dimensional embroiderd sculptures appear to float in their perspex cases and have the feeling of just being collected from the forest for display, very much a modern version of a victorian plant hunter’s specimen case

Another great find on our trip was the New Forest Embroidery which is kept in the New Forest Heritage Centre. It was commissioned in 1979 to commemorate the 900th anniversary of the creatio of the New Forest. It was designed by Belinda, Lady Montagu and created with a team of 250 helpers. It is 25 feet long and just over two feet deep.

It features Alice in Wonderland in Lyndhurst church where Alice Hargreaves is buried. She inspired Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland stories when she was a young girl.

There is also a cabinet of Alice in Wonderland memorabilia in the centre, donated by the Lewis Carroll Society

A great find and well worth the visit!

It has been a busy year and before you know it, it is Christmas. With the best of intentions I haven’t made as much for Christmas as normal but I have enjoyed making more of these little Christmas trees.

The left hand one is made from ribbon scraps sewn onto hand dyed fabric and the white one has been made with lace and silver ribbons – a great project for using up all those little bits that you really don’t want to throw away and what better use is there for an empty cotton bobbin?

I also enjoyed making these Christmas tree decorations. The background is hand dyed felt embellished with silk fabrics, charms and little white bells.

The plan this coming year is to start early but then with so many distractions along the way who knows what will happen

Merry Christmas!

Today, I spent the day at a Jennifer Collier workshop making paper shoes. And as our Cutting Edge Textile group has been celebrating the 70th anniversary of Laura Ashley this year I just had to make them with a Laura Ashley paper design. And what’s more it is a design we had in the house back in the day – our bedroom curtains and drssing table were adorned in this beautiful green fabric.

To read about our CE group’s Laura Ashley activites click here

And a huge thank you to Jennifer Collier for a fabulous creative and therpautic day

When I start thinking that’s it – move on from the teddies another one pops up!

This time it came into being afetr finding a piece of vintage Laura Ashley fabric in the Cowbridge Ty Hafan Charity shop. And, as we are displaying our Cutting Edge Textile groups 70th Anniversary Laura Ashley Dragon Quilt in their shop window in September it was a no brainer.

I have also been using vintage Laura Ashley fabric to make these book covers for the window display

Following the completion of the Echinacea I decided to have a go at sea holly, which I discovered was a bit fiddly – but I did enjoy the finished product!

The background fabric is a Suchard Chocolate advert that I found in my stash bucket. The sea holly flowers and leaves have been created with commercial fabric and organza stitched in place with variagated thread. It is framed with linen and finshed with a border of commercial fabric.

I then found a piece of fabric that I had dyed and printed a while ago and decided that it was just perfect for a book cover. Hand and machine stitched