The meeting room was packed last Wednesday evening for the talk from Delia Cecil.
Delia has been stitching and making textile art for over twenty years, She lives on the suffolk coast and it is clear from her work that she is inspired by nature, especially the wild life she sees around her.
Delia exhibits with a mixed media group called 'Running With Scissors'. They have exhibited at The NEC amongst other places. Delia has won awards for her work and featured in several magazines.
Like many of us, Delia started making bed quilts but moved onto designing and making pictorial wall hangings. She uses appliqué with free machine embroidery. The triptych below is called 'Leiston Abbey Ruins', Delia has layered organza with lace and cotton fabrics on a linen base. Stitching comes next followed by using a hot gun to burn away synthetic fabrics to revel underneath layers.
Delia's latest work uses natural dyes sources from hedgerows, Fabric is steamed and printed with leaves. The feathers are sun printed. This form of eco printing was inspired by a book called 'Eco Colour' by India Flint.
Delia does not use commercially printed fabric at all. The leaf prints she obtains on her fabric are very subtle giving delicate designs on the background of the fabrics. In the quartet of bird pieces below you can make out these prints.
Next, close ups of the birds.......this one is 'Bossy Bird'. Isn't he gorgeous?
Delia has appliquéd the bird then added machine stitching and small hand stitches.
The detail on this lovely bird is exquisite. Again, the bird is appliquéd with the raw edge method then enriched with machine work and hand stitching. You can make out the long hand stitches, in cotton perlé. The birds are very well observed and the knack of capturing them in thread is knowing when to stop.......this piece is particularly stunning to see 'in the flesh'.
I think it is fair to say that the whole group were blown away by Delia's work. She is a very modest, yet talented person who inspired us all.
You can find out more about Delia from her website: http://www.deliacecil.co.uk/
Delia went onto lead a workshop on making sea holly with Lutradur and metallic threads and I plan to post any photos when I can.
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