One of the nicest things to have out on display at long last, at our Guild Friendship Day 2024 on 21st March, was the outcome of a collective Guild wide project involving all facets of our guild activities of Spinning, Weaving and Dyeing.
The topic for producing this co-operative piece, was for a challenge set by the All Wales Guild of Weavers, Spinners and Dyers, "Flowers of Wales / Blodau Cymru", involving all the Guilds across Wales in 2023. Each of the Wales Guilds was challenged to produce a hanging panel, depicting the challenge title. The completed piece (pictured above) L to R depicts Daffodil, Foxglove and Bluebell.
Here are the steps we took to create the final piece. A locally produced Lleyn fleece was cleaned and washed by Izzy. The fleece was then dyed in the hues of each flower by Sam and then carded / blended and spun and plyed into yarn by Sam, Menna and Eunice. The resulting yarn was then woven into panels by Sue, Linda, Jane and Danielle and other members - sorry if I've left out the names of others who contributed to the weaving. Each individual panel is an abstract representation of each flower and separated by a narrow border of plain undyed Lleyn with yarn spun and woven by Izzy. Sue then embroidered in the same yarns, "Flowers of Wales" in Welsh and English on the plain panels and some flower embellishments created by guild members were added to the larger panel once the final piece was sewn together. See stages pictured below
It was really good to get this piece finished and out on show. It's taken quite some time to create, due to member illnesses and a variety of other factors which got in the way of earlier completion. A big well done to everyone who contributed to this project it looks great and provided a talking point for visitors at our Friendship Day.
Our Chair Jane Sutherland talking to visitors at our Friendship day with the completed "Flowers of Wales" Panel in the background.
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