Young embroiderers shine at national exhibition

One of our staff members happened to come across an article in the April 2021 edition of 'Threads' magazine and alerted us to the outstanding achievements of some of our students. The girls were very shy about their achievements and it feels a little like old news to them but we still think it's worth celebrating and acknowledging.

The group of girls got to know each other at Victory Community Centre's weekly embroidery class where they were able to bring along their projects and get advice and support. When lockdown hit they spent hours at home diligently completing their projects which were then submitted to a national judging panel. The full article published in 'Threads' is attached at the bottom of this article. 

Here are their amazing pieces of work:

1st: THERE'S NO PLACE LIKE HOME by Ellie Beever

170x180mm. Surface stitch. Generic house shape from the internet; rest is all her own design. Includes her dog Dash. (embroiderynz.co.nz/gallery)

3rd: STICK FIGURES OF THE WORLD by Millie Macbrayne

160mm dia. Surface stitch on felt. Own design. Drawing stick figures supported by patterns in a kaleidoscope. 

In order to come up with her design Millie was asked to draw something. Figuring that stick figures were easier to draw she came up with this design which took her a few months to carefully work on.

Merit: LOST IN SPACE by Serena Stanton Clark

310x400 (510 inc tails). Surface stitch and beading. Inspired by the movie "Up".

Serena has been doing embroidery for around two years and this piece took her about a year to complete.

RANGI, THE SWAHILLI WORD FOR COLOUR by Amelia Hussey

210x240mm This colourful amorphous symmetrical form was the result of a series of exercises, designed to free up my creative imagination. Uses satin stitch. (embroiderynz.co.nz/gallery)

"My piece is called 'Rangi' which is 'colour' in Swahili," Amelia said. "My mum was from Kenya so that's where I got the idea for calling it that." 

Amelia started her piece in 2019 and it took her around five months to complete the project. She's now starting to think about her piece for next year's competition - the theme is 'Oodles.' 

To anyone who might be interested, Victory Community Centre continues to run their embroidery classes every Wednesday night for children aged 8yrs+ at a cost of $20 per term which includes afternoon tea. Call 546 8389 for more information or visit their website: www.victorycommunity.org.nz