Creative Stitches – at Glasgow

I went to the Creative Stitches Exhibition at the SECC in Glasgow on Sunday, it was the first time I had been so I didn’t really know what to expect. It was hoaching/heaving with women and just a few men (not mine)! All sorts of crafts were featured and there were plenty of knitters and crochet folks about but I was a wee bit disappointed by the knitted things which were on display. As far as I could see there didn’t seem to be much in the way of traditional knitting nor anything really innovative. Thinking back to the 1980s which was when there was a last big resurgence in the craft I remember it as being more exciting somehow – yes knitting can be exciting!

It was quite difficult to get photos but I did just manage to snap some of the Downton Abbey costumes – as you can see.

Downton Abbey costumes

Downton Abbey costumes

Downton Abbey costumes

I took lots of photos of quilts and embroideries as that’s mainly what I’m interested in and I thought I’d start off with this one, a tribute to Jane Austen. It’s about a metre square I think and although this was part of the Quilter’s Guild Exhibition it also has a lot of embroidery on it.

Jane Austen Tribute

In fact I think it’s often quite difficult to figure out what is meant to be embroidery or quilting. The two crafts seem to cross over into each other’s territory a lot. I would call quite a lot of the exhibits collages, but whatever they’re called I’m just awestruck by the beauty of some of them. I’ll be posting some real crackers soon!

8 thoughts on “Creative Stitches – at Glasgow

  1. I’m such a Downton geek I could identify the characters that wore those costumes almost immediately! I recognize the Dowager’s purple outfit and that hat, and of course Lady Sibyl’s pants outfit, and the white with black embroidery and red evening dress were Lady Mary’s. Not sure about the gray one in the top photo on the left, possibly Isobel Crawley?

    • Karen,
      I think that gray one was probably Isobel Crawley’s. I’m not such a Downton geek but I did recognise the purple one. It must be great to be able to dress up like that – and get paid for doing it!

  2. I love the costumes. I am hoping perhaps they reach Alexandra Palace when I go in October.

    The displays are always good, you get to see how other people view things from a craft perspective. I love the quilts and so wish I had never given the one away I started when I was young, I could still be doing it now! All hexagonal and hand stitched. I am useless with a machine for quilting, can’t sew straight.

    • Jo,
      I have an unfinished quilt which I started when I was first pregnant, he will be 26 soon! It was going to be a cot quilt so it isn’t even very big, it might get finished if I ever have any grandchildren! I’m sure you can imagine that my mind is now even more full of ideas for new projects, but I’m making myself finish some before I start on more.

      • Somewhere around here there’s a bag of triangle shaped pieces all cut and ready to go into my bicentennial quilt…and you may recall that our bicentennial year was 1976. And there you have it.

        I’ll stick to enjoying other’s work. Thanks for sharing!

        • Pearl,
          Wow you’re even worse than me – I DO remember your bicentennial, it was the year we got married!
          There were lots of bead stalls at Creative Stitches which I’m sure you would have enjoyed.

  3. Did you see the lace collection? I was thinking of going to the SEC but something else happened instead. Can’t rememer just what, right now!
    The costumes are lovely! Did you see the article in one of the tabloids a while ago now, about how the costumes had been in other productions before Downton?

    • Evee,
      I did see the lace collection and I have a couple of photos which I’ll put up later. I remember you said you were busy that weekend, the show was the reason I couldn’t go to the book sale at Peebles.
      I didn’t see that article – are they recycling costumes now – well if it saves money, but with the number of adverts on during Downton I wouldn’t have thought they would need to skimp!

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