In January, we had 4 members of the society who were kind enough to talk us through some of their work that had won prizes at recent exhibitions.

Maggie Tomlinson presented her hand-knitted sweater from the 2022 exhibition, which told the moving story of her father’s life from his birth and childhood on a farm, to his time serving in the army.

Sara Perkins gave an entertaining talk on the process of creating her wine bottle doll and it’s many accessories from the 2024 exhibition, which was (retrospectively – she had forgotten the subject of the exhibition when making the doll!) inspired by Strauss’s waltz “Artist’s Life”.

Hazel Barker presented a lovely quilt, “Love and Laughter in May” she had made for her daughter’s wedding. The wedding guests were all asked to write their wishes for the bride and groom on fabric, which Hazel then made into the quilt along with some photos.

Diane Beaumont talked us through the creation of 2 pieces, “Nature in Spin”, a mixed media piece and “Bluebell Wood”, a thread painting on silk, that were selected for entry into the 2024 Open Exhibition at the Ferens gallery in Hull.

Our December speaker was Meredith Towne, who was a dress historian and clothes maker. She gave a talk celebrating the 1950s’ evening wear. Various items of clothing were shown which included cocktail dresses and a smocked children’s party dress. Meredith read from a pamphlet which outlined the arrangements necessary for getting ready to go out in an hour. The required underwear was modeled, followed by a cocktail dress and accessories. The talk was vert entertaining, and was supported by Meredith’s “glamorous assistant”, who displayed some of the items.

Our November speaker was the lovely Stuart Hillard, always one of our most popular guests, who gave a very entertaining talk to a full house, on mistaken identity (apparently he’s really Kaffe Fassett…) and the inspiration for his new book “Quilts from the Country”.

Having grown up in the countryside, Stuart wanted to write something personal to him and reflect his love of the country, so his latest book is full of quilt designs with seasonal themes.

He brought along a selection of beautiful quilts made for the book, and had some signed copies of his book for our members to buy.

Our speaker for October was Dr Claire Day, Senior Lecturer at Coventry University, London, who came to talk to us about her research into the onshore clothing worn by the Hull distant water trawlermen in the 1950s – 1980s.

She started by catching us up on the work she’d been doing since her last visit to us, then took us through her creative process for design mapping.

Hull born and bred, Claire saw the play Northern Trawl at Spring Street Theatre as a fashion student, and became fascinated by the the suits worn by the actors playing the Hull trawlermen, who were well known for their smart, distinctive look in the Hessle Road area. From this, she started to research the origins of the suits and how they had changed over time, evolving from the classic Lounge suit, through the Italian style and the influence of the Beatles, while keeping the key features of the trawlerman’s suit such as the Spanish waistband, eventually producing her PhD thesis ‘King of the Deck: The sartorial extremism of the distant-water trawlermen of Hull 1950-1980’

She then went on the talk about her research into the history of the traditional fisherman’s gansey, the tightly knitted traditional fisherman’s sweater, and the wool and patterns used to create the warm garments required for the extreme conditions the men faced at sea.

This was followed by a fascinating discussion with the members on ganseys and the tightly spun 5-ply wool used to make them.

Photos of Claire and some of the work she brought in to show us, including examples of gansey patterns.