In Conversation with…Marcia Bennet...
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Marcia Bennett-Male is a sculptor and stone carver and will have her first solo exhibition of textiles work at The Knitting & Stitching Show at Alexandra Palace, London from 6th-9th October and Harrogate Convention Centre from 17th-20th November 2022. Marcia, we are honoured that you have chosen The Knitting & Stitching Show for the very first exhibition of your textile art. As a sculptor and stone mason, what made you want to work with the very different medium of textiles? I am returning to textiles. I went to art college with a textile and print portfolio. Before that, I was studying theatre wardrobe. I discovered the stone yard at college. I had always been curious about what seemed like a very elitist medium. I kept printing and took to the physical / meditative practice of carving. Your first solo textiles exhibition, Moments to Myself, explores the challenge of finding time to fully be ourselves. What was the inspiration for this body of work? The inspiration is ongoing, it’s my life, my observations, reading up on black women in history. I rediscovered from my portfolio the cut-out-cartoon-like figure that I now use. After a period of time, I realised that I had built up a body of work. The textiles were in a pile on my old bed, stored at my mother’s house. Your work is characterized by symbols that represent both your Afro-Caribbean heritage and England where you were born, brought up and live, from chintz, florals and the Union Jack to The Blue Bird of Happiness, Minstrel’s Smile and distinctive Dutch/African wax print fabrics. Is there conflict between these elements in your art? I wouldn’t call it conflict, not within my artwork. The motifs and the ‘shorthand’ I use with my choice of fabrics I regard as tools. You have studied and trained in European and ecclesiastical embroidery, with embroidery featuring prominently in your work. But you have said that “as a textile artist, I’m not interested in a multitude of intricate stitches and techniques. For me, getting the image out of my head as quickly as possible to view is more important.” Can you tell us more about that and why that immediacy is so important? Once I had found the medium to help me vent, the imagery and titles for them came pouring out. One textile would be started whilst another image had to be drawn. The ideas would and do leapfrog over each other for execution. My very first piece called ‘Happy Pills’ was worked in appliqué with Long & Short Stitch, and I sometimes have to use beadwork in a textile. If I do it’s because it’ll really make the textile ‘pop’. But I do it reluctantly because it slows me down. However, I don’t do any machine work. I need / enjoy the meditative action of hand sewing. The Black female experience is at the heart of much of your textile work, including the exploration of aspects of mental health and self-worth. How important is making art to your own mental health and wellbeing? Fundamentally important! Many of my textiles depict my experiences, and they have been bottled up for most of my life apart from when I was having therapy. Seeing my experiences and thoughts out in physical form is a great release. Using my cut-out figure softens the sharper topics that I cover.  VIEW MARCIA'S GALLERY www.mbennettmale.co.uk
Join us for our 30th anniversary celebra...
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30 Prizes Giveaway! This year was extra special as we celebrated our 30th show at the much-loved Ally Pally! To mark the occasion we teamed up with some of our favourite suppliers to offer visitors the chance to win one of 30 incredible prizes!  We had sewing machines, boxes of thread, cross stitch kits, knitting and crochet kits, knitting needles, vouchers to spend on fabric AND a dressmaking mannequin to give away!  nbk All you had to do to enter was to collect a raffle ticket as you enter the show and listen out for the daily announcement at 3pm when we called out the winning numbers*.   Thank you to our suppliers…   Adjustoform Aurifil Bernina  Bombay Stores  Brother  Cross Stitch Guild  Janome  Knitpro  Madeira  Pfaff Scheepjes  Stylecraft  Toft  *Please note if prizes were not claimed within an hour, they will be rolled over to the following day. On Sunday afternoon any uncollected prizes would be given away at random. Our story From humble beginnings… Established in 1987 The Knitting & Stitching Show was the original craft fair, the idea was simple to create a place where like-minded crafters could meet up, discuss ideas, learn new skills and shop for their annual craft supplies.nbkThe Largest Textile Event in the UKnbk30 years on and we now run The Knitting & Stitching Shows throughout the UK, with shows in London’s iconic Alexandra Palace and Harrogate. Each show has grown in size and substance. The Knitting & Stitching Show at Alexandra Palace remains our flagship show and welcoming like-minded crafters to a creative haven every October.nbkThe Knitting & Stitching Show ExperiencenbkThe Knitting & Stitching Shows offer a craft experience like no other.  The opportunities to learn new skills are vast; and the show’s workshop program  features hundreds of classes taught by leading textile tutors.nbkEach year we strive to bring the very best textile artists to the show with our series of professionally curated textile galleries. Past galleries have included work from Jan Beaney and Jean LittleJohn, Kaffe Fassett and Diana Harrison.nbkStock up your stash and discover a huge range of craft and textile supplies that will have you raring to start your next project! From yarn, fabric and beads, to sewing machines, patterns, haberdashery and kits – you’ll be spoilt for choice!nbkNew for 2021, we will have a Yarn Village that is completely dedicated to artisan companies selling quality hand-made yarn – a must-visit for knitters and crocheters! BOOK TICKETS
Show Your Support To Our Frontline worke...
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For The Love of Scrubs – Our NHS Needs You he team at The Knitting & Stitching Show is proud to support the amazing initiative For the Love of Scrubs in their mission to help supply our frontline workers the crucial PPE needed to keep us safe. Members of our team and much of the K&S community are already busy sewing scrubs, bags, hats and hairbands to deliver to NHS workers as they face shortages in supply.It would be great to get even more of our stitching community on board to help this amazing campaign. Follow their social media and you’ll find out what is needed and where, along with some great patterns.  NHS Rainbow Stitch Pattern By Sarah Rakestraw Show your support for our wonderful NHS with this lovely rainbow stitch project created by one of our Knitting & Stitching Show tutors Sarah Rakestraw from Golden Hinde Embroidery.For full instructions on how to make this beautiful piece, as well as a sketched template click the links below:Download InstructionsDownload TemplatePurchase Kit Super Quick Scrubs Bag By Wendy Gardiner Wendy has created this super quick and easy Scrubs Bag guide which you can create from an old pillowcase. The best part is you only need a pillowcase, some ribbon or piping cord and a safety pin. Let’s do our bit to help out! Download Instructions Download Pattern Download Pattern
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Lorem Ipsum is simply dummy text of the printing and typesetting industry. Lorem Ipsum has been the industry’s standard dummy text ever since the 1500s, when an unknown printer took a galley of type and scrambled it to make a type specimen book. It has survived not only five centuries, but also the leap into electronic typesetting, remaining essentially unchanged. It was popularised in the 1960s with the release of Letraset sheets containing Lorem Ipsum passages, and more recently with desktop publishing software like Aldus PageMaker including versions of Lorem Ipsum.