Going Round in Circles
1.Detail. Kantha. Embroiderers Guild Collection EG5 - 1983
Margot McIntyre 2018 - Not Old Cloth kantha workshop at Moor Hall
Detail. Dorothy Tucker Plates and Leaves
Dorothy Tucker. Worn Away. 2018
'GOING ROUND IN CIRCLES' ~ A Moor Hall online kantha workshop with Dorothy Tucker and Bobby Britnell
Introduction on Thursday 29 October 2026 2.30 – 3.30pm. Four workshops Thursdays 5, 12, 26 November and 3 December 2026 2.30 – 4.30 pm. Please Note: A final show and share/feedback workshop on Thursday February 11 2027 , 2.30 – 4.30pm
COURSE DESCRIPTION
Going Round in Circles is open to everyone who enjoys hand stitching. It could offer you an introduction to kantha making or another chance to extend your kantha making skills. The workshops will involve exploring and sampling, and then sharing ideas which lead into creating a series of samples or a decorative panel or work which expresses an idea. It will require you to take and send Dorothy and Bobby images of your work in progress by email as jpegs, and to give and receive feedback within the group.
ABOUT KANTHA
Kantha is a Bangladeshi word for cloth and a particular way of making embroidered quilts by layering together the good parts of recycled cloth with travelling lines of running stitch. We will begin by simply drawing a circle on cloth, threading a needle and stitching. As we settle and allow the stitching to take the lead we will begin to notice how size, spacing and repetition makes textures, shapes and patterns.
Traditionally kantha were made from old worn white cotton saris and feature freely quilted patterns and textures. Many old kantha were stitched with symbolic pictures worked in a coloured thread –reds and blues - withdrawn from saris borders. Whilst stitching images or ideas may come to mind. Perhaps the far side of the moon, ripples on the surface of water, ever decreasing circles, outside the circle, breaking up a circle, contained in a circle.
Contemporary kantha mix unexpected combinations of coloured and printed fabrics, often made from layers of fine cotton and silk recycled saris. Using a full range of coloured threads stitching into layers of coloured and printed fabrics could open up exciting possibilities.
DOROTHY TUCKER
Dorothy Tucker works from her home in North Norfolk. She is a member of the Textile Study Group, exhibits her own work, and tutor’s textile workshops in the UK and abroad. Born in India, Dorothy’s choice to stitch by hand is informed by her research into kantha, a form of embroidered quilt traditionally made in what used to be Bengal. In January/February 2020 she travelled in search of kantha to West Bengal and Odisha on a group trip arranged by Discover India through Textiles.
| Tutor: | DOrothy Tucker | |||||||||||||||
| Course length: | 5 sessions | |||||||||||||||
| Dates: |
|
|||||||||||||||
| Cost: | £170 |