Tag: textiles

Seven Bags Full

Alice Fox 0 Comment News , , , ,

2.10.25 – 1.11.25

Thur – Sun 11am -4pm, Birley Studios, Preston

Part of the British Textiles Biennial 2025

An exhibition of mixed media and textile works by 16 members of the Textile Study Group, responding to the biennial themes and using polyester fabric offcuts from Blackburn based Edward Taylor Textiles, who specialise in the production of sportswear.

The British Textiles Biennial is focusing this year on invention and innovation, past present and future. Artists are looking back at the textile pioneers of the 20th century; the Lancashire textile industries being inspired by a bold vision of the future that revolutionised our lives. It asks us to look at how our own material future can learn from that past which is almost lost to us.

Clothing the people that conquered the sky, the mountains and the oceans with manmade fabrics and chemical concoctions, innovators did not realise the toll they would take on the planet.

Now we must reach back to the past to rediscover nature’s own innovation and how we might harness it to begin to repair and regenerate, exploring indigenous practices that still carry that knowledge and point to new solutions to heal what we once sought to dominate.

Edward Taylor Textiles has donated off-cuts of Polyester for the group to respond to and use for this exhibition. The part of the company this comes from is their high-performance sportswear department, mostly football shirts. Most of the cloth is white and stretchy, with some colour blocks and there are different grades and weights. The sports shirts are cut economically, using a cutting machine, before they are printed using sublimation printing on heat presses.  They are then sewn after printing. So, the remnants we have are often shaped as the negative of the shirt pieces. The title of the exhibition refers to the bags of offcuts being delivered to us.

The Birley is located round the corner from the newly opened Harris Museum, and it will be possible to include a visit to our exhibition in a tour of other venues.

Call for new member applications

Textile Study Group 0 Comment News , , , ,
Call for new member applications

We are currently accepting applications for new members. Full details of requirements and how to apply can be found on our website. (more info here) The closing date for applications is 31st May 2025.

We are a group of nationally and internationally recognised textile artists and tutors, well known for innovative and challenging approaches to art practice and contemporary teaching. 

The objectives of the group are to cultivate and advance the practice of stitch and textile art through a broad spectrum of education – workshops, courses, lectures, publications, exhibitions – and to deliver expertise and excellence in all areas of textile art across all levels and ages of students.

The Textile Study Group retains a core membership of about 25 experienced textile teachers who value the importance of the development of their own individual art practice in their role as educators. Based throughout the UK, members meet for two weekends a year in a supportive but challenging environment to participate in workshops led by outside tutors from a wide range of disciplines.

Each member is required to undertake a critical five-year review with an appointed mentor, who adds their unique expertise to the process. These reviews are considered very valuable by members, as it gives them an opportunity to reflect on both their practice and teaching over the past five years, as well as discuss possible future developments. Our new mentor for the next five years in Sally Payne.

 Star Project Award 2024 

Textile Study Group 0 Comment News, star award , , , , ,
Star Project Award text, brightly coloured embroidery and thread

Patchworking Motherhood – Some reflections at the half way point.

‘Patchworking Motherhood has made Monday mornings something to look forward to!’

(comment from a group member)

The Patchworking Motherhood group is made up of six participants all with babies under 8 months old, alongside myself and Fiona, and two additional staff members to support the mothers and babies. 

The project had a slow start initially, as some of the participants were unable to join the first session. This gave those of us who did attend a chance to get to know each other and for Fiona and myself to trial the format of the group in preparation for when it gets busier. We have been able to sit the group around one large table and hope to keep this layout throughout the project. One of our support staff members has commented on how she really enjoys the sense of community that the group provides. I think sitting together is a big part of this, along with the home-made cake that has become a weekly staple.

During the initial sessions I have been introducing the term matrescence to the group by reading a short piece from the book Matrescence by Lucy Jones. Matrescence is the term used to describe the transition to motherhood and the physical, psychological, and emotional changes that a mother goes through after the birth of a child. I want to draw a connection between the piecing together of textiles pieces through patchworking with the metaphorical re-piecing together of oneself in the process of becoming a mother.

I want participants to reconnect with their own preferences and connect with what they like, as personal taste is associated with our own identity which can feel lost when we become mothers. We talked about colours and patterns that reminded us of moments in our lives. With a pile of fabric offcuts in the middle of the table, I invited the group to select fabrics that they connected with, and this sparked some very personal choices and interesting conversations.

I must give special thanks to all those who donated fabrics for the project. We have a wonderful selection including Liberty’s offcuts, printed cottons and beautiful silks, which provide plenty of colour and pattern for participants to choose from.

The group had varying degrees of hand sewing experience prior to the project. As each participant found their way in both selecting fabrics and piecing them together by hand, their confidence and pace slowly increased. It was magical to experience the group, all chatting and noise one minute, fall into a silence as everyone, including the babies, appeared busy and full of concentration.

The babies have been fantastic. It’s a joy to have them in the room with all the energy they bring. They seem to enjoy laying on the playmat or being held by one of us. One mother appreciates having the extra hands on board saying

‘It means we can have some much-needed calm, quiet and focused time on what, for me, has become a new hobby’.

I look forward to reporting back again after the project has finished.

Emma McGinn

Fragile Forms-Deconstructed

Textile Study Group 0 Comment News, workshops , , , , , ,
Fragile Forms-Deconstructed

TSG member Jean Draper talks about our recent Continuing Professional Development workshop with Amanda Clayton:

The weekend was doubly important to me because, due to illness and Covid, it was my first face to face meeting with the group for a long time. There had been zoom meetings which, though good, are only a substitute for real contact with friends and colleagues.

Fragile Forms – Deconstructed. With Amanda Clayton

The workshop began on Friday evening with a very informative talk by Mandy in which she outlined her development as an artist from an early age through to the present day. It was very pleasing to hear her mention and acknowledge family members, teachers, other artists and colleagues who influenced her. I was specially interested to learn of her collaborations with medical and academic people to research and provide information on health issues to others, including NHS consultants. The resulting work was published in medical/academic journals.

Amanda Clayton, Loss. Photography: Dawn Jutton



Using the natural forms of our choice as starting points, and using a variety of white and neutral materials, on Saturday our work began with a series of fairly brief, but challenging, ‘tasks’ set by Mandy. Beginning with observation and representation and moving towards abstraction, each task was carefully structured and supported by a full explanation and an informative hand-out which included a possible visual vocabulary. We were encouraged, as we worked with delicate materials, to record our ideas in photographs and notes and to consider the relevance to our personal experience and skills. Each day every member had individual tutorial time with Mandy.

We were treated to an amazing display of Mandy’s beautiful, obsessively hand-stitched work, numerous samples and a huge variety of threads and fabrics to supplement our own. Throughout Mandy generously shared her methods and use of materials.


Jean Draper.

Shelley Rhodes, TSG member, workshop investigation