What’s happened to Janilaine’s Blanket ?

This is a very old, motheaten and tired, woolen blanket. It used to belong to my friend Janilaine, and I am quite sure that she was keeping it with a project in mind, but I’m also sure that she would wholly approve of this I want to turn it into a ‘blanket of slow stitched hearts, crosses, crescents and sunflowers’ which we can raffle, in order to raise funds for https://www.ifrc.org/ international-red-cross-andred-crescent-movement

Hearts

The meaning of the heart has been influenced by the Untangled Threads’ Sawdust Heart Project. Your heart should be made from scraps of denim, and in the style of a pin cushion with a scar for stuffing, like the Sweetheart Pincushions (but they do not actually need to be stuffed). A link to the instructions and suggested template will be available shortly on the website. The scar should appear on the front of your design.

CROSSES and CRESCENTS

The crosses and/ or crescents should be VERY simple slow stitched panels (no bigger than 6” x 6”) . Made from torn red fabric, slow stitched onto a background of rag textiles (see this month’s workshop) The Red Cross is the name used in countries under nominally Christian sponsorship, while Red Crescent is the name used in Muslim countries.

This project was started back in January/February of last year. We put a deadline of October for submissions, but I have to admit that my focus on the project lapsed a little with all the other things going on in my life at the time .. but I’ve got some great news to share about what is happening to the project now...

At the end of last year one of our members, Marion Morris, got in touch with me about some new initiatives which were happening at Ripon Workhouse Museum, where she is a volunteer, and the possibility of some collaboration in terms of our Keeping a Secret Project, which is still under discussion for exhibition late 2023/ early 2024.

In the meantime, Marion told me that Ripon Museum Trust were thinking of setting up a Slow Stitch for Mindfulness Group. I was struck by the importance of being able to establish the genuine difference between ’process’ and ’outcome’ when talking about slow stitch.

Using our work on Janilaine’s Blanket as an exemplar seemed totally appropriate to demonstrate some of my concerns and observations.

international wishing trees for example.

It quickly becomes apparent that, if the focus of ‘slow stitching is to remain the process of stitching, a decision as to when the concept of outcome is introduced to the group needs to be made. I think that the timing will depend largely on the confidence and ability of the members of the group.

One way of ensuring that slow stitched pieces will ‘fit together’ is to limit the colour range, set a theme, or have everyone work on the same size square, (like we did with the Kimono). To demonstrate this, I removed the hearts from the selection for Janilaine’s blanket, just leaving the squares. However, it quickly became apparent that the physical weight of the squares was not going to be compatible with the strength of the blanket itself. It needed backing or reinforcing in some way.

Sunflowers

Across the world, people are embracing the sunflower to show support for those affected by the conflict in Ukraine.

To Ukrainians, the sunflower has always had a special place in their heart as the national flower of Ukraine. However, since the Russian invasion in February, people around the world have taken up the sunflower as a symbol of support for Ukraine. Your sunflower should ideally be based on slow stitched rag textiles.

At this point I made a bold decision .. I would make a thicker patchworked, quilted backing and attach our squares with buttons.

The Patchwork Quilted background

So, the upshot of all this is that the fabric of the original blanket and 7 hearts are still available for us to use in a project (Janilaine’s Blanket Phase 2!). I am now conscious of the fragility of the fabric itself, and will rethink not only process, but also the outcome!

Watch this space!

As well as the original (altered) blanket/quilt, I also made a smaller patchwork quilted background and some pre-cut squares of fabric for the newly formed RIPON WORKHOUSE slow stitching group to use for their OPEN AFTERNOON on 13th May. (See noticeboard on page 14). Untangled Threads will be making a special collection for International Red Cross & Red Crescent Movement.

Some of the squares pinned into place.

I will be there with Dorothea and Marion to talk generally about slow stitch and setting up a group, and promoting The Stitchbook Collective as well as the new Ripon slow stitch group. It would be wonderful to see you there!