South Derbyshire in Stitches - A Derbyshire Makes Project

Devised and delivered by Creative Melbourne in partnership with Michelle Holmes Embroidery.

By Clare Limb (project team member)

Inspired by the 80 Candles Quilt this community project has brought together people to sit and stitch and swap stories of why the content and creation of each of their squares was significant to them.

The Melbourne sit and stitch sessions were the first to be established, following a call out to local people to come to one of the introductory sessions at Creative Melbourne Gallery. These sessions were all about sharing the inspiration behind the project and to generate ideas for the content of the quilt. Ideas included market gardening, bellringing, jogging routes shoe & glove making, pigeons round the pool and the local rugby team! Artist and Fine Art Embroiderer Michelle Holmes, who is also a resident artist at the gallery, talked people through the process of how to make a square and shared a repository of resources and packs ready for eager stitchers to take away and do at home, or bring to a weekly sit and stitch session at the gallery, hosted by director and project co-lead Sharon Brown.

The Melbourne Quilt started to take shape in March, with participants returning week after week to add more detail onto their piece. Bonda web and embroidery thread abounded and gradually shapes of significant objects, buildings, places and people began to emerge. The Melbourne Quilt was augmented by the skill and expertise of local quilting group the Church Street Quilters and soon we had over 100 completed squares, which meant one quilt became three!

One contributor had stitched a design representing a beetroot as there once was a beetroot factory in Melbourne. They told us of childhood memories of the ‘awful smell’ and ‘rivers of blood red juice’ draining away in the yard.

Another contributor had stitched a design of the Grotto in Melbourne Hall Gardens and wrote an accompanying piece that told us that as a young child they had spent much time there with the gardeners learning the names of all the plants in Latin and English. In our project book they wrote ‘one place in the garden was a magical place, where fairies danced in the dappled sunlight; past the mill stream, tucked away was the Grotto, to me a wishing well, a place to dream and hope my wishes would come true. Enchanted times’.

These quilts were edged by pieces inspired by local fruits including the Newton Wonder apple and were carefully stitched by children from Melbourne Junior School.

Soon it was time to turn our attention to the other quilt we were planning to make with South Derbyshire residents in the community of Swadlincote. For this quilt we teamed up with Oakland Retirement Village and planned to run three two-hour stitching sessions every other week for which the residents of the village as well as the local community could attend.

These sessions were filled full of laughter and chat as well as concentration and focus. Each participant chose the design for their squares from what was significant to them in Swadlincote. Ideas ranged from miner’s lamps, picks and shovels to the potteries at Bretby and Sharpes. One person created a design which was a hybrid of all the things that make Swadlincote so special to them such as local green spaces including the allotments and Eureka Park. Their square also included a lump of coal as a centre piece to their design.

We knew we had hit the right note with these sessions as participants in the workshops spoke of how much they had enjoyed the sessions, citing that it was ‘something different’ and that they had ‘had a laugh’, making the title of our project fulfil its aspirations!

One piece was inspired by a house that had been built in 1890 for the manager of Granville Colliery. The story goes that it later became a doctor’s surgery and finally in 1968 became a family home again. The stitcher had used a mix of hand and machine embroidery on top of linen, silk, cotton and Angelina fibres.

Maureen, a participant in her 80’s told us that she had lived in Swadlincote all her life. She had chosen to stitch a design of a bowl and jug inspired by the local pottery which made Cornish Ware, because it was her ‘favourite one’. Donna, another participant told us that she was excited to see her artwork sewn together with all the other squares and to see it exhibited in public.

Our time in Swadlincote was completed by a morning working with the children from year 2 at Belmont Primary School – located across the road from Oaklands Retirement Village. The children made pieces which were stitched with different leaf designs, including oak leaves (the symbol of their school), which were pieced together to form the border of the Swadlincote Quilt.

With over 300 stitchers taking part, we had enough squares for four quilts! The team, led by Michelle and Sharon began to stitch them all together and back them with wadding (which had been donated by local business Lynne Kelly Designs). This was a significant undertaking and had to be done when the gallery was closed to the public so that they could be properly laid out. The Swadlincote quilt was then exhibited as part of the Derbyshire Makes Swadlincote festival in April, and the quilts were given an airing at the South Derbyshire Festival of Leisure in June at The Maurice Lee Memorial Park.

The final part of the process was done in July and August, with the quilt being tied together by beautiful buttons which were selected to tone in with the quilts. It has been a real privilege to see the quilts take form from idea to design to finished pieces. It has been even more of a privilege to meet all the people who made their own designs come to life from their personal stories.

The four quilts which make up the South Derbyshire in Stitches project can be seen on display at St Michael’s and St Mary’s Church in Melbourne throughout September during the church opening hours.

Why not come to see on the weekend of Inspired by the 80 Candles Quilt this community project has brought together people to sit and stitch and swap stories of why the content and creation of each of their squares was significant to them.

The Melbourne sit and stitch sessions were the first to be established, following a call out to local people to come to one of the introductory sessions at Creative Melbourne Gallery. These sessions were all about sharing the inspiration behind the project and to generate ideas for the content of the quilt. Ideas included market gardening, bellringing, jogging routes shoe & glove making, pigeons round the pool and the local rugby team! Artist and Fine Art Embroiderer Michelle Holmes, who is also a resident artist at the gallery, talked people through the process of how to make a square and shared a repository of resources and packs ready for eager stitchers to take away and do at home, or bring to a weekly sit and stitch session at the gallery, hosted by director and project co-lead Sharon Brown.

The Melbourne Quilt started to take shape in March, with participants returning week after week to add more detail onto their piece. Bonda web and embroidery thread abounded and gradually shapes of significant objects, buildings, places and people began to emerge. The Melbourne Quilt was augmented by the skill and expertise of local quilting group the Church Street Quilters and soon we had over 100 completed squares, which meant one quilt became three!

One contributor had stitched a design representing a beetroot as there once was a beetroot factory in Melbourne. They told us of childhood memories of the ‘awful smell’ and ‘rivers of blood red juice’ draining away in the yard.

Another contributor had stitched a design of the Grotto in Melbourne Hall Gardens and wrote an accompanying piece that told us that as a young child they had spent much time there with the gardeners learning the names of all the plants in Latin and English. In our project book they wrote ‘one place in the garden was a magical place, where fairies danced in the dappled sunlight; past the mill stream, tucked away was the Grotto, to me a wishing well, a place to dream and hope my wishes would come true. Enchanted times’.

These quilts were edged by pieces inspired by local fruits including the Newton Wonder apple and were carefully stitched by children from Melbourne Junior School.

Soon it was time to turn our attention to the other quilt we were planning to make with South Derbyshire residents in the community of Swadlincote. For this quilt we teamed up with Oakland Retirement Village and planned to run three two-hour stitching sessions every other week for which the residents of the village as well as the local community could attend.

These sessions were filled full of laughter and chat as well as concentration and focus. Each participant chose the design for their squares from what was significant to them in Swadlincote. Ideas ranged from miner’s lamps, picks and shovels to the potteries at Bretby and Sharpes. One person created a design which was a hybrid of all the things that make Swadlincote so special to them such as local green spaces including the allotments and Eureka Park. Their square also included a lump of coal as a centre piece to their design.

We knew we had hit the right note with these sessions as participants in the workshops spoke of how much they had enjoyed the sessions, citing that it was ‘something different’ and that they had ‘had a laugh’, making the title of our project fulfil its aspirations!

One piece was inspired by a house that had been built in 1890 for the manager of Granville Colliery. The story goes that it later became a doctor’s surgery and finally in 1968 became a family home again. The stitcher had used a mix of hand and machine embroidery on top of linen, silk, cotton and Angelina fibres.

Maureen, a participant in her 80’s told us that she had lived in Swadlincote all her life. She had chosen to stitch a design of a bowl and jug inspired by the local pottery which made Cornish Ware, because it was her ‘favourite one’. Donna, another participant told us that she was excited to see her artwork sewn together with all the other squares and to see it exhibited in public.

Our time in Swadlincote was completed by a morning working with the children from year 2 at Belmont Primary School – located across the road from Oaklands Retirement Village. The children made pieces which were stitched with different leaf designs, including oak leaves (the symbol of their school), which were pieced together to form the border of the Swadlincote Quilt.

With over 300 stitchers taking part, we had enough squares for four quilts! The team, led by Michelle and Sharon began to stitch them all together and back them with wadding (which had been donated by local business Lynne Kelly Designs). This was a significant undertaking and had to be done when the gallery was closed to the public so that they could be properly laid out. The Swadlincote quilt was then exhibited as part of the Derbyshire Makes Swadlincote festival in April, and the quilts were given an airing at the South Derbyshire Festival of Leisure in June at The Maurice Lee Memorial Park.

The final part of the process was done in July and August, with the quilt being tied together by beautiful buttons which were selected to tone in with the quilts. It has been a real privilege to see the quilts take form from idea to design to finished pieces. It has been even more of a privilege to meet all the people who made their own designs come to life from their personal stories.

The four quilts which make up the South Derbyshire in Stitches project can be seen on display at St Michael’s and St Mary’s Church in Melbourne throughout September during the church opening hours.

Why not come to see on the weekend of 19th & 20th September when you can also experience Melbourne Festival celebrating its 21st Birthday! 

With thanks to all the volunteers who worked on the quilts, including artist Natasha Opacic who supported the sessions in Swadlincote.