Finca Perle threads and embroidery workshop love at Loop
We are passionate about textiles at Loop and are very excited to bring you two new workshops this spring with textile artists Anne Kelly and Ekta Kaul.
Anne Kelly is an award-winning textile artist, author and tutor based in the UK, exhibiting and teaching internationally.
She has authored several beautiful books, about her collaborative works, dealing with nature, folk art, travel and migration.
Her latest book Textile Travels shows you how to capture your travels, past and present, in stitch, with practical techniques sitting alongside inspiring images.
In Textile Folk Art Anne explores the traditional motifs used in folk art and shows you how contemporary textile artists use these in their work today.
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Anne’s heavily embroidered fabric collages are reminiscent of tapestry work, and we see her signature stitching technique on a variety of surfaces. She uses mixed media and print to embellish her work further. Throughout her work, there is the narrative of her experiences and influences and the desire to repurpose something old and discarded into something new and cherished.
In celebration of London Craft Week in October this year, we are working on bringing you a full day workshop with Anne . The workshop will be based on the unique and inspiring interpretations of Textile Folk Art. We’ll have more information soon!
Vintage Textile Cottage Garden
In her Vintage Textile Cottage Garden workshop on the 8th and 9th of May, Anne will help you explore techniques using plants, flowers and cottage gardens as inspiration to create a sample piece of mixed media textile collage. You can use your finished work as part of something larger to add to eventually, sew on a cushion cover or tote bag or even frame it as a piece of textile art. It will be an afternoon to play with bits of fabric and embroidery, unleashing your creativity and enjoying the pleasure of making something beautiful.
The workshop will be taking place on the Zoom online platform in the afternoon so hopefully you can join us no matter where you live!
You can see more of Anne’s beautiful embroidery and collage work on her website annekellytextiles.com and instagram@annekellytextiles.
Kantha Embroidery with Ekta Kaul
There is no shortage of textile inspiration this Spring! We also have textile artist Ekta Kaul joining us for an online masterclass in Kantha embroidery in April on the 23rd and 24th. The live masterclass will be spread over two afternoons and is held on the Zoom online platform.
Ekta Kaul is an award-winning textile artist based in London. Ekta’s art focusses on creating narrative maps that explore places, history and belonging through stitch. A pared-back aesthetic, coupled with a highly considered use of graphic marks and lines, form the core elements of her work. A thoughtful approach to making with meaning, a deep interest in heritage and a firm commitment to sustainability are at the centre of her work.
“My work is about making with meaning. It enables me to express myself through thread and fabric and to tell stories of place, history and belonging. Stitch connects me to my heritage, especially to my mother and ancestors who embroidered. My work is about narrating stories, connecting people across borders and generations. Beyond the pure joy of creativity, it offers me a contemplative space, comfort, community and connection.”
ektakaul.com
In the 6 hour masterclass, Ekta will help you to explore Kantha- a beautiful stitch technique from the Indian subcontinent whose ethos is rooted in sustainability and mindfulness. Discarded fabrics are layered, embroidered and repurposed into textiles for function or display using stitches.
With Ekta’s gentle guidance you will learn to create a dictionary of Kantha stitches and create pattern and texture using these stitches. She will share illustrative examples from museum archives through slides and her personal collection of Kantha showing types of Kantha and motifs, weaving in discussions around sustainability and the historical context of Kantha. Ekta will also share contemporary approaches by artists to inspire you. By the end of the masterclass you will have the skills and confidence to develop your Kantha project further.
www.ektakaul.com Instagram @ekta_kaul
With so much stitching to look forward to, we have some beautiful new embroidery threads in the shop from Valencia in Spain. Finca Perle threads are beautiful 100% Egyptian cotton threads made by the same family business for over 100 years. Finca Perle threads are a classic embroidery and crochet thread. They are mercerised, meaning the cotton has been treated creating a saturated colour with a silk-like lustre, improved strength and reduced shrinkage A unique twist to the thread gives it the “Pearl” description. Finca Perle cotton threads are non-divisible thread, which means you use one strand of it as it comes off the ball. There are two different weights of thread with no 8 being slightly thicker and with 69 metres on a spool and no.12 with 102 metres per spool.
We have over 57 colours at Loop! Adrianna Torres of Miga de Pan loves these threads, and we are so pleased to be able to stock them for you!
There are plenty of other beautiful threads in our shop. From Au ver a Soie silk threads, Ito Iki pure filament silk threads, Sajou and Studio Carta with their gorgeous metallic threads for a little bit of shimmer to the naturally dyed beauty of Temaricious cotton threads. Mette Mehlsen’s plant-dyed threads are perfect for delicate crochet as well as embroidery. Teinture Sauvage embroidery wool comes in beautiful hand-stamped boxes and is excellent for stitching on knitwear.
Sometimes it’s challenging to know which size needles to use with embroidery threads. Our Clover Chenille no 18 and 22 needles are the perfect needles for embroidery. These have a large eye and a sharp point. For darning we have the Prym Darning needles No. 5/0 – 1/0 , extra long with big eyes and ballpoint ends for easy darning and visible mending.
In other news…
We have just received lots more Biches & Buches Le Petit Lambswool and have made up more of the beautiful Talvinen sweater kit which should be in stock on the website today. The kit includes all the yarn you’ll need and a Loop cotton bag!
We’ve also received some more of Snail Yarn Gradient Mini Sets in the Viridian colour. The gradient set of 5 mini skeins is used in the Incandescent Hat in Strands of Joy along with La Bien Aimee Merino Singles featuring a romantic rose colourwork motif.
Happy knitting and stitching!
So free and natural. The threads seem to carry a life of it’s own. The art goes it’s own way. Love the colors to adapt to whatever project their guided.