Our visiting speaker was Myra Gilbert, whose work has been closely influenced by her fascinating life-story. So, she illustrated her talk with family pictures as well as with pictures of pieces she has created and also with tangible examples.
She is not only a designer but also a wordsmith and she pays tribute to the women who have sewn, through the ages, out of necessity rather than for pleasure, by inscribing a special Japanese tissue with lines of miniscule, carefully chosen wording. From this tissue she fashions doll size dresses, based on the dresses she and her sisters wore while growing up.
Everyone was amazed at this unique and painstaking work and the sentiments behind it.
The workshop that followed was designed to use as much as possible of a de-constructed man's shirt in order to create other useable items. Although by the end there were no finished items, most ladies were well on the way to finishing the component parts for an attractive cushion and there were also attempts at encrusting the collars and cuffs with beads. So, most went away with "works in progress"
