Join Durham based artist Betty Brown for a fun day breathing new life into colourful second hand fabrics. With Betty’s guidance you will make fun and fancy fabric Christmas decorations. Templates of various traditional Christmas shapes such as Christmas trees, baubles, snowmen etc will be provided, but if you want to make something a little off-piste – a mermaid, for example, or a kitten – she can help design it and make you a template on the day.
All the fabrics will be provided, as will all sorts of trim and stuff to embellish them – sequins, braid, beads, tinsel – to make sure that your Christmas starts with a sparkle!
Your decorations will all be hand-sewn but they are not complicated, maybe veering towards the fiddly, but they are do-able whatever your level or experience with a needle and thread.
A love of glitz and shiny things is a must for this one!
Please note there is a £2 material charge payable on the day.
Click on the title below to find a list of what you’ll need to bring with you if anything.
What to expect
Time at ArtisOn is designed to take you away from it all and provide the environment, the time and the guidance you need to create. You can expect a warm welcome, skilled and friendly tutors plus the chance to meet like-minded people keen to share ideas and experiences. You can even leave us to clear up the mess! There will usually be two workshops going on and we encourage everyone to mingle and be nosey about what the other workshop is up to.
Arrive in time to meet other participants over a cup of tea or coffee and biscuits before beginning your session at the appointed time. There will be a mid-morning break for refreshments and a chance to talk over progress with others. Lunch is usually around 12:45 for about 45 mins – you can expect a homemade 2 course lunch. The main course will be delicious but don’t overdo it as the puds are usually worth waiting for! There will be a further afternoon break with the most wonderful cakes from Roots & Fruits Home Bakery, a North Yorkshire micro-bakery producing handmade bread and cakes. All food and refreshments are included in the price of the workshop.
Finish time is given as a target – there are occasions when the session may overrun so do let us know if you need to be away promptly.
We aim for your day to be a real treat… of course you could always learn a new skill in a shed or a draughty village hall with a curly sandwich, but we want you to have more fun than that! So we make it a day being looked after, with good food, good company and great inspiration!
What you’ll need to bring with you
Please bring any sewing kit you have. Particularly sharp scissors, needles, pins and thread. If you are missing some of these, there will be some that you can borrow on the day.
While Betty will be bringing enough glittery stuff to glam up a battleship, if you have any trim or sequins that have been sitting in a cupboard or drawer for years that you haven’t used, this is their time!
