New classes for Jan 2018 starting soon

Please click on the link for the flyers for this term. Please sign up this week with the college. We nearly made it last term but were one person short.

You do not need to have done previous courses to join these ones

Contact details on this link – I couldn’t get the pictures to embed. (Click the back arrow to get back to this page).

18-PACA-Jan Louise-mabbs-patchwork-course-flyers

Patchwork & Quilting – Sampling The Quilt Part 2 – CL031B at the Boundary Road Centre

DATE: Starts 08/01/18                              DURATION: 10 weeks

TIME: Mons 7pm – 9pm                          TUTOR: Louise Mabbs

COURSE DESCRIPTION:

The course will cover the basics of

• Choosing – shapes, fabrics, colours and waddings, marking and cutting skills
• Piecing – Log Cabin, Cathedral Window, Curved Seams, Dresden Plate
• Appliquéing – Reverse Appliqué, Stained Glass Window
• Joining – adding sashings, borders, squared and mitred corners
• Quilting – Quilt As You Go – by hand and machine
• Finishing – binding, labelling and hanging method

Patchwork – Focus on Cathedral WIndow Techniques – CL028B  Boundary Road Centre

DATE: Starts 11/01/18                       DURATION: 10 weeks

TIME: Thurs 7pm – 9pm                            TUTOR: Louise Mabbs

COURSE DESCRIPTION:

The course will cover the basics of 10 different techniques

• Choosing – relevant fabrics, colour schemes and patterns
• Using – templates and marking methods, rotary cutting and scissor techniques
• Sewing – hand and machine piecing and relevant quilting techniques
• Joining – blocks and advice on sashings, borders, bindings
• Finishing – quilt edges, labelling and hanging methods

 

Hope to see you at one of them, let me know if there are other things you’d like to learn

Sacred Mathematics Conference – 21st & 22nd October, London

Borromean Rainbow Rings © Louise Mabbs 2007

I am scheduled to do a workshop on my Borromean Ring Sculptures at the above conference in London next weekend.

The Borromean Rings started as a pagan symbol but early Celtic Christians adapted it to represent the Trinity – Creator (Father), Saviour (Son) and Spirit (Holy Spirit) . Just as if you take one ring out, the whole unit collapses, the Trinity cannot exist without the 3 aspects of God being in unity. Not a perfect depiction but just about the best I have come across visually.

• We will start mini versions of about 6″ squared based on the larger version I made in 2007 as part of an exhibition of Celtic Knot work I did for an exhibition on Lindisfarne
• I will explain how the rings work
• I will bring other ring designs along for you to see

Please click on the link below to see the original conference. Sadly the numbers signing up have been disappointing so it has been slimmed down. See their website for updates. On Sunday there is the choice of

• Dancing The Vesica Piscis with Susan Kelly
• Drawing The 8-year Cycles of Venus with Alex Murrell
• Sewing The Borromean Rings with me (Louise Mabbs)

PLEASE SIGN UP STRAIGHT AWAY otherwise the event is liable to be cancelled or postponed. You might like to register your interest anyway with the organisers, in the event that it doesn’t go ahead next weekend and is deferred till a more suitable date

PDF SACRED MATHEMATICS Flier MASTER UPDATE

 

 

 

Update to local Hove classes

Sampling The Quilt , 1 © Louise Mabbs 1997

MAKE YOUR OWN VERSION OF THIS QUILT

House –                       Repeat Blocks, machine
Flower –                      Hand appliqué
Star –                           American style hand or machine patchwork blocks
Crazy Patchwork –  Hand appliqué and embroidery
Random shape –      Machine appliqué
Tumbling Blocks –  English template Patchwork, hand (youngsters call it English Paper Piecing)

Sadly we nearly made it to a class actually running but the class was pulled just before the 6th person signed up. So frustrating.

However it was the final impetus for me to finally give my studio and dining room a massive reorganisation, so I am able to teach from home again after there years in this new house of not being able to (husband’s employers moved us to a less useful, smaller house).  I have two new students starting a beginners cot quilt/lap quilt project on Monday evenings normally from 7pm – 9pm. We’ve only had one class and as we’re almost into half term and one of them is away, we are having our second session on 23rd, but it & the 30th will be 3 hour classes to make up for the break as the course started much later than the school terms.

It works out at £10 a class (so £15 for the 3hrs) which includes worksheets and coffee/tea. Please contact me through the reply button below if you would like to come. you can drop into it later or come to occasional class for £12.

I hope my second level Quilt As You Go beginners course will run in January, if not I’ll run something at home again. The lack of funding for Community Learning courses, lack of daytime classrooms and the difficulties of advertising things efficiently have hampered things for a long time so I am looking for alternative options so please sign up for occasional updates here so you know when things are happening.

I’m also getting a new website done and probably going on instagram and other things so hopefully my own publicity will be more efficient by then!

New classes at Portslade Academy

For the full posters with images click below (haven’t worked out how to get images on this page yet)

17 Sep PACA Louise Mabbs Patchwork course flyers

Understanding Your Sewing Machine

CL043               at the Boundary Road Centre

DATE: Starts 00/00/17      When we have enough people       DURATION: 1 day

TIME: Sat 11am – 4pm                              TUTOR: Louise Mabbs

COURSE DESCRIPTION:

The course will cover the basics of

• Basics – your machine’s own
• Maintenance – cleaning & oiling
• Threading – basic rules
• Tension – what affects it
• Needles – sizes, uses, positioning, problems
• Threads – types, uses, effects
• Stitches – straight & zigzag
• Decorative stitches – & buttonholes
• Presser feet – & their uses
• Dropping feed dogs – for free machine embroidery
• Health and safety – important issues

 

Patchwork & Quilting – Sampling The Quilt Part 1

CL030A at the Boundary Road Centre

DATE: Starts 02/10/17                              DURATION: 10 weeks

TIME: Mons 7pm – 9pm                          TUTOR: Louise Mabbs

COURSE DESCRIPTION:

The course will cover the basics of

• Choosing – shapes, fabrics, colours and waddings, marking and cutting skills
• Piecing – English Template Patchwork, American Block by hand and machine
• Appliquéing – hand and machine techniques
• Joining – adding sashings, borders, squared and mitred corners
• Quilting – by hand and machine
• Finishing – binding, labelling and hanging methods

Make your own version of this lap quilt, including different shapes, layout and choosing your own colours and fabrics.

 You will probably need to do a couple of hours of sewing at home each week.

See the college website for the Course Description and full programme.

 

Patchwork – Focus on Log Cabin techniques

CL028A                at the Boundary Road Centre

DATE: Starts 05/10/17                       DURATION: 10 weeks

TIME: Thurs 7.00pm – 9pm                       TUTOR: Louise Mabbs

COURSE DESCRIPTION:

The course will cover the basics of

• Choosing – colours and cutting fabrics
• Foundation and chain piecing methods – mostly by machine
• Advice on joining blocks – quilting, sashings and borders
• Finishing – quilt edges, labelling and hanging methods

Sunshine & Shadow –darker colours placed on adjacent sides

Courthouse Steps – darker colours placed on opposite sides

Folded strips – using length-wise folded logs, for extra texture

Pineapple – octagonal designs with diagonal logs laid across the corners

Twisted blocks -blocks creating spiralling designs

Chaining method -stitching multiple blocks in one go

Variable widths – using different log widths in the same lop-sided blocks

Random shapes – using wedges and unusual shapes for the logs

Foundation bases –stitching the logs to a base fabric

Whole fabric logs –a log cabin effect from folding larger fabrics into pleated shapes

 

Other courses you could do:

See the college website for the Course Description and full programme.

Sampling The Quilt:

Autumn – Part 1 – 6 basic patchwork and appliqué techniques, then quilted as a whole piece (02/10/17)

Spring – Part 2 – 6 more basic techniques with ‘Quilt As You Go’ construction (08/01/18)

Summer – Part 3 – Design your own quilt from scratch (16/04/18)

 

Focus On Techniques:

Autumn – Part 1 – Log Cabin, 10 variations (02/10/17)

Spring – Part 2 – Cathedral Window 10 versions (11/01/18)

Summer – Part 3 – Quilt As You Go-20 types (26/04/18)

 

 

Great British Sewing Bee

at ExCel London 21-24th September http://thegreatbritishsewingbeelive.com

I will be on stand D22 and as I now have a bit more space I will be doing workshops on the stand.

Going to be a bit of a challenge, I’m used to fabric walls and pinning up with dressmaking pins whereas these walls you can only put velcro or double sided sellotape on both of which will ruin my artwork, so it’s either sew on loads of velcro spots or find hangers and take poles. As I usually do ExCel shows by train with a family helper (son or husband to help me up there) this is going to be a logistical challenge and we’re probably going to have to brave the London traffic and horrendous parking charges on put up and take down day! But I’m hoping it will be a productive and fun show, especially now I have an iZettle so I can take card payments at last. (My eldest says I’m finally coming into the 21st century – a new website is on the books soon and I think I have to go onto Facebook after years of avoiding it!

More details when I’ve a chance to sort them out….

 

New classes at Portslade Academy Adult Education coming up

17-18 PACA Louise Mabbs Patchwork course flyers

Please click on the link to the document. The first three pages are of classes coming up this term, so please sign up soon otherwise they might not run

The flyers for later in the year follow afterwards. While they build on one another, they are also stand alone if you only want to do one or two terms.

Hope to see some of you again soon!

Louise

New classes at Portslade Academy

Understanding Your Sewing Machine CL044 – Foredown Tower (change of location)

DATE: Starts 29/04/17                          DURATION: 1 day

TIME: Mons 11.00am – 4.00pm         TUTOR: Louise Mabbs

• Learn how to find your way around your sewing machine and gain confidence using the various stitches, as well as how to clean and maintain it
• Students will gain a good overview of how their machine works, how to set it up and change settings
• You will have opportunities to make samples using different techniques and stitches
• Suitable for beginners. Useful for improvers who want to get the best out of their sewing machines

Course details

• Understand your own machine
• Gain confidence in machine sewing
• Make a variety of stitch samples
• Troubleshoot problems
• How to care for your machine
• Experiment with different threads

Course content

• Your own machine’s basics
• Health and safety issues
• Maintenance & cleaning
• Threading basics
• Tension & what affects it
• Needles – sizes, uses, positioning, problems
• Threads – types, uses, effects
• Straight stitches
• Zigzag stitches
• Setting up decorative stitches & buttonholes
• Presser feet & their uses
• Dropping feed dogs for free machine embroidery

For more information, booking and prices see https://www.portslade.org/Course/understand_your_sewing_machine_cl044/

 

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Patchwork and Quilting – How To Design Your Own Quilt – CL025C     Boundary Road Centre

DATE: Starts 24/04/17                              DURATION: 10 weeks

TIME: Mons 10.00am – 12.00pm *        TUTOR: Louise Mabbs

COURSE DESCRIPTION:    * subject to student availability might be an evening class or on a different day

The course will cover the basics of

• Choosing – shapes, fabrics, colours and waddings. Marking – and cutting skills
• Designing – geometric patchwork, repeat block designs and appliquéing
• Creating – overall designs, repeating blocks or a combination of designs
• Sampling – stitching and fabrics for your chosen designs
• Quilting – considerations for hand and machine stitching options
• Finishing – edges, binding, labelling and hanging methods

Design your own small quilt, experiment with different shapes, layout and colours

You will be guided through the process by a designer/maker with 40+ years experience

You may need to do a couple of hours of sewing at home each week.

See the college website for the Course Description and full programme.

Leads on to: Several other beginner and special subject courses are available next year

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Patchwork – Focus On: Cathedral Window Techniques – CL024C Boundary Road Centre

DATE: Starts 27/04/17                       DURATION: 10 weeks

TIME: Thurs 19.00pm – 21.00pm   TUTOR: Louise Mabbs

Images: Twists & Tucks Sampler © Louise Mabbs 2008

Regular Cathedral Window (column 2, row 4)                  Cathedral Spire (column 4, row 4)

Chinese Coin – a look alike method (column 3, row 2)      Japanese Folded patchwork (columns 2 & 4, row 2)

The other blocks are Log cabins, folded techniques and various points – Spansh, Prarie etc

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COURSE DESCRIPTION: 

The course will cover the basics of

• Choosing – relevant fabrics, colour schemes and patterns
• Using – templates and marking methods, rotary cutting and scissor techniques
• Sewing – hand and machine piecing and relevant quilting techniques
• Joining – blocks and advice on sashings, borders, bindings
• Finishing – quilt edges, labelling and hanging methods

Learn at least 10 different techniques, which can be made up into a small quilt if you choose to

You may need to do a couple of hours of sewing at home each week

See the college website for the Course Description and full programme https://www.portslade.org/courses-for-personal-interest/

Leads on to:

Several other beginner and special subject courses are available next year

 

 

Shows for 2017

I’ve just done 

The Scottish Quilting Show At SECC, Glasgow 2nd- 5th March. Had a lovely time, Alex my husband came with me and we had a slow journey up there via friends and family. Only thing that spoiled it was car problems coming to a head. But we now have a lovely ex demo Honda Jazz which should get me to the next show –

 

Next week I am demonstrating at 

Sewing For Pleasure at the NEC 16th-19th March. It also includes Fashion & Embroidery / Hobby Crafts / Cake International shows

 

Coming up

The Stitching, Sewing & Hobbycrafts Show at ExCel London 20th – 22nd April

See the ICHF website https://www.ichfevents.co.uk for  details.

 

Also teaching and displaying work at

The Festival of Quilts back at the NEC 10th – 13th August. I will be doing 5 or 6 classes  and demonstrating in the Quilt In Action Area again

See the Upper Street Events FOQ website at  http://www.thefestivalofquilts.co.uk

British Origami Society 50th Anniversary Conference, in Stratford Upon Avon 1st – 3rd September. Sadly this clashes with West Country Quilt Show not it’s dates have changed so I cannot do it this year after 3 years of a wonderful space and small friendly show. I will probably be doing a couple of fabric origami workshops (Orinuno), a talk and having a small display of folded pieces

Others to be confirmed. I’ll put some photos  up when I get chance

 

3 days of teaching at The Royal Bridlington Hotel, Yorkshire

I am really looking forward to having a full  3 day teaching opportunity at this new venue for me and I’m getting to teach three of my favourite techniques which I’ve developed over the years – my Square & Triangular Fabric Origami Windmills and Pinwheels and my Fibonacci In The Round collages. Still a few more spaces left

Royal Bridlington – Louise Mabbs classes

 16-louise-mabbs-classes-at-royal-bridlington-2016

I hope these links work for you

Forthcoming Shows

I will be exhibiting and teaching at the following shows

30 April – 12 June 2016 Press & Release – Technology and the Evolution of the Artist’s Book

An exhibition of boundary-breaking bookworks within a stunning, specially designed space. The exhibition features the work of notable contemporary artists from across the world who approach the book as an art form. Details at  http://www.phoenixbrighton.org/events/press-release-2016/

Open Wednesday – Sunday 11 am – 5 pm

Preview: Friday 29 April, 6 – 8 pmPress & Release

My work will be in the SOUTH GALLERY EXHIBITION

‘Stories About Stories’

Artists from locally-based groups Fabula, Sussex Book Art Collective and Phoenix Brighton present new work that embodies the rich and diverse world of the artist’s book and the associated fields of illustration, narrative and animation.

Exhibitors include: Richard Clarke, Louise Dennis, Ruby Hermon, Dagmara Rudkin, Mags Swift, Somin Ahn , Pip Carter, Richard Clarke, Louise Dennis, Ottilie Hainsworth, Ruby Hermon, Jay Eunji Lee, Louise Mabbs, Vanessa Marr, Katherine Perret, Warren Pleece, Dagmara Rudkin, Emmi Smid, Mags Swift, Mariya Ustymenko & Che Kevliln, Russell Webb, Louise Wishhart and Jo Wonder

11- 14 August 2016 – Festival Of Quilts – NEC, Birmingham 

• Demonstration stall – in teachers area between the two halls
  • Kits & Instructions
  • Cards and other images
  • Display of current work and kit related items
• Teaching 4 classes
  • Fri 12th – Quick & Easy – 13.00 -14.00 Fabric Origami – Pinwheels from Triangles
    

    A new development from Louise’s lacy square based folded fabric Pinwheel and Windmill units this was originally from her book The Quilter’s Guide To Twists & Tucks (UK)/Origami Quilts in USA) (2006 OP). Come and see what happens when you start with a triangle instead. Starting with a semi sewn unit, we will make at least one type of unit up plus discuss several other ways of folding triangular pinwheels and how to join them into interesting structures. A particularly interesting effect happens when you use striped fabrics The kit will include instructions & enough fabric pieces to make 3 units approximately 4” diameter around a ‘hole’, making a piece of varied size depending on the layout and particular fold

  • Sat 13th – Academy Twilight – 17.00- 20.00 Not Trapped: Trapped Celtic Knots

  • We will take a Celtic Knot design and trap it between two different layers of transparent material, then use decorative stitches to hold it in place. A modern take on Shadow Quilting. My photo image is based on the Lindisfarne Gospel’s St Matthew’s knot The kit priced £5, to be collected on the day by the tutor, includes Knot designs, instructions and pre-bonded fabric, (enough for a 25cm finished sample) plus lots of ideas for other developments. Suitable for any level. You will be using Janome sewing machines. To see more of Louise’s work visit: http://www.louisemabbs.co.uk

  • Sun 14th – Quick & Easy – 11.45-12.45 When Fibonacci Meets Vasarely

  • What happens when the Fibonacci Sequence proportions meet Vasarely like ‘bulge’ grids? Well beautiful distorted optical effects for a start, which you can work into later with free machine embroidery or use as a sample to plan a larger quilt The kit will include prebonded fabrics plus grids and instructions for you to play with later on.

  • Sun 14th – Quick & Easy – 15.30 – 16.30 Fabric Origami: Windmills from Triangles

  • As Pinwheel class but making Windmill shapes instead

10 – 12 November 2016 – West Country Quilt Show – UWE (University of The West of England) Bristol

• Artist gallery
• Classes twice a day subjects to be confirmed