Kay Kahn workshop

I was lucky enough to attend a two day workshop with Kay Kahn on the weekend. She is a lovely teacher, patient, generous with her ideas and clear in her instructions. As it was only a two day workshop, she prepared some of it for us beforehand.

We laid out fabrics onto the base, sewed them on securely and decoratively.

Then we cut out the shapes we wanted. Kay didn't give out any notes which meant that she had to repeat her instructions over and over again as we all got to different stages at different times. We also had to design our own vessels. This was a challenge for me as I didn't have any clear idea of what I wanted to achieve. But it didn't matter, Kay could cope with any challenge. I stuck to a very simple design as it was my first attempt at this sort of work.

My small sewing machine, that I purchased for taking to classes, struggled a little with some of the thicker areas. I had only taken cotton threads and they broke - repeatedly!!! But, having learnt a lot more patience since taking up tapestry weaving, I persevered. Because I threaded the machine more times than I have ever done (I am not sure I am not exaggerating!), I didn't quite finish. But all I have to do is sew it together by hand - and we were given a very good demonstration of how to do that too.

Of course, I got the usual questions about fibre art - what is it FOR?  How will I use it? etc. Not to worry, I just ignored those questions.  It is ART.

I am going to the Fibre Arts at Ballarat this week, doing a different class. Kay will be teaching there too. I will be very interested to see what the students can achieve with so much extra time - 4 and half days.