Join local artist and knitting designer Dee Hardwicke for this unique Botanical Art & Embroidery Class for knitters. Dee will be sharing her special techniques for drawing and charting botanical motifs which you will then Swiss darn onto knitting, creating beautifully layered embellishments. This wonderful event is being held to celebrate the publication of Dee’s latest book, Cultivate, and Dee will be joined by her co-author and publisher Jonna Helin.
Designed to appeal to knitters and embroiderers alike, the workshop will be held upstairs at the Chapel, in a beautiful and historic wood-panelled room with spectacular windows that allow light to flood in. You will arrive to find tables dressed with still lifes of gorgeous seasonal foliage and flowers. Sharing some of the techniques she teaches in her fine art drawing classes – and taking inspiration from these table-top displays – Dee will begin by showing you how to select and combine colours to create your own botanical motifs in pastels. As Dee explains ‘nature puts colour together so well and in such perfect proportions’ so there’s endless inspiration to be found in the tabletop displays.
After a delicious lunch created by Joyti downstairs at the Chapel café, Dee will guide you through the process of selecting yarn palettes and translating your motifs into charts. You will discover how to place and Swiss darn these onto a knitted square, creating a unique and painterly layered effect over the stitches below. This is a lovely technique that Dee has used to create several of the stunning scarves in her new book, Cultivate.
The scarves – along with some of Dee’s original artwork and knitted garments in modern silhouettes that Jonna has designed for the book – will be on display on the day, providing further inspiration and insights into how Swiss darning can be used to embellish your own knits. Copies of Cultivate will be available to buy, and Dee and her co-author and publisher Jonna will be delighted to sign copies … a perfect Christmas present for you and the knitters in your life!
You’re bound to come away from this very special workshop brimming with ideas and inspiration.
Examples of sketchbooks designs – Dee Hardwicke