Angela reports back from the last Craft Snippets event at Upper Riccarton Library with special guest, textile artist Julia Atkinson. The next Craft Snippets event is at Upper Riccarton Library on Wednesday 26 July, 6.30 to 7.30pm with special guest Claire Maetzig farmer and florist with Moon River Flower Farm.
We were very fortunate to have Julia Atkinson talk to us about her creative journey and show us some of her stunning, whimsical and beautiful creations.
Embroidering and sewing from a young age
Julia is originally from England and when she was around 8 years of age, she used to dabble in making things and decided to embroider a tray cloth. It was the first thing Julia showed us and it was obvious from that age she had some talent! Her interests as she grew up were in costumes, mainly from the Regency era and she loved millinery. At school Julia had to do sewing classes which she “hated with a vengeance” - the teachers were very strict, stitches had to be measured and everything was precise. Not at all in line with Julia’s spontaneous creative personality. Julia gave up sewing and it was many years before she picked it up again.
Julia’s aunt had a wedding dress shop where Julia spent time helping, so when it came time for her to get married she bought her dress from there. Much to her mother’s disgust she decided to embroider some colourful flowers on the front bodice. So, roses and Casablanca lilies were tastefully added not just on the bodice but also on the train, headdress and bouquet! Later on, Julia sold her dress for more than what she paid for it and managed to keep the train. With the proceeds from the sale, she was able to purchase their bed.
In 2000 Julia and her husband had a holiday in New Zealand and decided it was a great place to live. They emigrated here in 2001. Prior to leaving the UK Julia had worked as a florist in many capacities, event manager, interior florist and general floristry. She did all the flowers for her mum’s funeral. On arriving in New Zealand Julia got a job as a florist at the airport. To keep her creative juices flowing Julia attended a lot of crafting classes in Christchurch.
The handbag lady
One day whilst looking at a very expensive handbag website Julia decided she would make her own and thought her first bag would be a peacock one. Julia often finds many pieces for crafting from the local op shops especially on the 50c or free tables. One of her finds was a green ball gown with a velvet top and a silk skirt. She made a papier mâché balloon to form the shape of the bag/body and covered it with fabric, then added feathers and other trims to complete the head and legs.
Julia has gone on to make around 170 handbags since the Percy Peacock bag! One was a square box embellished with hand felted polar bears, another had a 50c shark popping out of the top of it. Julia calls that one the "Jaws" handbag. A few of her bags have moving parts like Jaws. Another is a windmill bag that also plays music. Julia started playing the harp and felt obliged to make herself a beautiful golden harp bag. There have also been wedding cake bags made from tins.
Embellishments, felting, weaving and unusual materials
Embellishing clothing is also a great passion of Julia’s, and she had some lovely items to show us. A $4 jacket embellished with squirrels, a $10 silk coat that had rust marks on it - they were covered up once with big, felted flowers in pinks and purples and the recent incarnation has a vintage collage of lace and beads on it.
A good trick Julia has is to attach fabric flowers/old jewellery, trinkets et cetera onto pieces of felt, sew on a couple of brooch pins on the back and then you can place the decoration where you want.
Felting has been another craft that Julia has embraced enthusiastically after taking lessons at Hands (which has now sadly closed). One of her creations was a scrawl = scarf/shawl that was made from felting an old woollen jersey, cutting it up into its parts - back, front and sleeves - then embellishing it and sewing back together to form the scrawl.
After the earthquakes Julia wanted to make something that reflected on the grief that people were feeling in Canterbury so she made a beautiful red and black felted cape and sewed on 185 felted poppies to remember the people who had lost their lives. She called the wrap “Cape for Canterbury”.
Traditional weaving was another craft that Julia used to make a scarf. Julia talked about using a butterfly loom that is very easy to pack up and take it anywhere. She calls this “free spirit weaving” where no pattern is needed, you can attach many funky fibres to the scarf and be as crazy as you want as you can’t go wrong.
During lockdown Julia had plenty of materials and supplies to keep her busy. When taking her dog for a walk she would put on one of her beautifully decorated ballgowns. Many hats have been made and Julia has used flexible woven placemats, found in clearance sales, to form a hat shape then decorate with many items. A hat for any occasion!
Steampunk
Julia is involved with a variety of community groups such as Burnham Military Camp where she sprinkled her magic when making a Halloween house and also decorating for Matariki. Steampunk is another favourite theme of Julia’s, and she was about to head down to Oamaru for their annual festival and participate in the activities as well as selling her creations – teapot bags and old clock face bags. Julia has played with resin jewellery, completed a Fashion Forward course at Hagley College and dabbled in dyes – Ashford protein dyes, ecology and leaves.
Some tips that Julia mentioned were to use linen thread or dental floss for sewing as they are very strong. A broken brooch can be turned into a necklace. So many items end up in the landfill that can be used creatively. Thank you, Julia, for your enthusiasm, creativity, fun and passion for your craft and inspiring us to look at throwaway items with a new view to brighten up our lives and encouraging us to keep learning new skills.
Latest craft titles
Here is a book list of the items shared:
Latest crafting titles shared at our May gathering:
What's on
A couple of markets Julia mentioned were:
Upcoming Library events
- The Great Stash Swap, 11am to 2pm Sunday 2 July, South Library
- Craft Snippets Wednesday 26 July, 6.30 to 7.30pm with special guest Claire Maetzig farmer and florist with Moon River Flower Farm.
- Wear your favourite book, 6pm to 7.30pm, 22 August, Tūranga
- The Great Stash Swap, 11am to 2pm Sunday 27 August, Upper Riccarton Library
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