Textile Creatives GC

Leona organises the Textile Creatives GC and runs the group’s social media accounts so she is often the first person that you may meet or contact.  She developed an early love of textiles through watching her mother dressmaking, knitting and crocheting and was attracted by the touch and feel of her creations. Hand embroidery using some of her mother’s threads led to an intricate stitch sampler that became an acclaimed exhibition piece. An interest in silk painting progressed into making silk paper also used to craft unique jewellery. Leona loves working with wool and silk to create wonderful wearable art that includes beautiful vests, shawls, scarves and neck cowls. Always attracted to texture, she relishes the surprise and uncertainty of how the felt moves and the challenges of working with this medium. Her impressive silk and wool felting skills result in very attractive garments. Felting is her passion. Enjoying the “Serendipity of Creation”, Leona likes to use unexpected combin...

For Heather L working with textiles initially provided a respite from a busy and often stressful job.   One of her favourite pieces is an embroidered cushion - first started in the late 1960's when she was a second year RMO at Toowoomba Base Hospital.  It was put aside unfinished and forgotten until COVID lockdown when it was finally completed. The ultimate slow stitching project! After retiring in 2012 Heather was looking for a new challenge.  She attended a patchwork class and loved it.  She likes the precision of cutting the fabrics and manipulating them into new shapes.  There is endless possibilities in the patterns and colour combinations.  She is now a member of Gold Coast Quilters Guild.  Heather used lockdown to revisit and refine her embroidery skills.  She is self taught (with a little help from Youtube!)  She mostly prefers machine stitching but does enjoy handstitching from time to time.  The duchess set below was her f...

Helen is one of group's founding members and her particular love is playing with fabric collage and stitch to create an image.  She works with both machine and hand stitching, but prefers the latter as there is such a tactile quality to working the thread though the fabrics.  Nature is a constant source of inspiration for Helen - from the rolling landscapes and cottage gardens of her native England; to the fantastical.  A project she hopes to work on soon is inspired by the iridescent stripes and translucent wings of natives bees collecting nectar from salvias in bloom.    Helen's love of textiles started at school where she was taught needlework and dress making.  A favourite indulgence was wandering through the drapery and haberdashery floor at John Lewis in Sheffield looking at their huge array of rolls of fabric.  At home she would make clothes using her grandmother's old treadle sewing machine. Her first introduction into textile art was joining A...

  Next up in our series of introductions is the incomparable Heather B.  Heather's great love is surface stitching and embellishment.  We are all in awe of her meticulous stitching and beading which is so rich in texture. Heather has been working with beads, ribbon work and decorative stitching as long as she can remember.  She loves the way it adds depth and dimension to a piece, bringing it to life. Her personal challenge for the year has been working with a set of four keyword groups - each 4 weeks she draws four words, one from each group which she uses as a jumping off point for each new piece.  At the end she will have a series of 13 pieces.  It is taking her down paths less travelled.  She will often start off with an image in mind but tries to remain flexible, letting the process guide the design.

What better way to kick off our new beginning than to introduce you to our talented bunch of textile creatives - starting off with Judith .  Judith's first artistic ventures were in china painting and watercolours.  She wanted to sign her paintings properly, which lead her to her great love calligraphy! She got hooked on the history and form of the scripts, and the beauty of illuminated letters and manuscripts. Judith loves combining words and text with imagery - scrapbooking and junk journaling opened up new avenues to express her creativity and celebrate the themes and people whio inspired her.  She embarked on a series of collaborative works resulting in a diverse collection of manuscript books and journals.  These are currently on display at Cassino Gallery until 31 August 2024. Joining the Wild Women Textile Arts Group in 2022 was the start of something new for Judith as this is her first foray into textiles.  Fabric painting and fibrecraft such as silk pap...