Speaker: Allegra Smick
Introduce yourself and show us what you made in the Sculptural Embroidery course.
Allegra Smick: Hello, my name is Allegra Smick and I took the sculptural embroidery class with Meredith last Fall. My final project was based on Mussel shells and I love the coast of Maine where I spend my summers and the Mussel shells speak to me of that. I used her technique of, of colour blending in that I, even though it's my final project, I don't feel like I am anywhere close to where I need to be in order to incorporate this, these techniques into my own work. But I really enjoyed learning and it was a wonderful course.
Why did you join the Sculptural Embroidery course and what did you get out of the course?
Allegra Smick: I joined the course because I followed Meredith on Instagram. And I was fascinated by her, her embroidery. I found that the work that she did was beautiful and the opportunity to take a workshop from her was not to be passed up even though I was very busy at the time. So I joined and I'm very glad I did. The first thing that I was surprised about was how much I learned about my sewing machine and about thread and the kinds of things that are important in sewing. Well, also about how to use water soluble fabric. And so, Meredith is a great teacher and she took me through it step by step, step. I learned new techniques, but I learned also a lot about my own sewing machine and was able to apply a lot of that to the work that I'm doing outside in, in my own work.
What was your favourite thing about the Sculptural Embroidery course?
Allegra Smick: I really enjoyed learning new techniques in this course. Using the, the way she use, uses a machine embroidery and the, the technique of sewing fast, but moving your, your fabric slowly was an eye opener for me. I also enjoyed interaction with other people in the, in the course and getting feedback, encouragement. Because whenever you're learning, you need encouragement. So I think those were really wonderful things about the course. I must say that what I've learned, I'm really taking, have taken baby steps and I have a lot more practice. And the other thing which Meredith encourages to is to incorporate her technique into your own work. And I've started doing that. But I'm just at the beginning, I haven't done as much as I'd like to, but it's something that I intend to continue.
What would you say to someone who was considering taking this course in the future?
Allegra Smick: I would say to anyone who is wanting to take this course that it is certainly a worthwhile thing to do. It is new and different from anything I've done before. but it feels like a door opening a new window opening to a technique that I had no other way of accessing. So I would say if you're ready to push your work to a new level, if you're ready to do something different, this is a good course for you. Meredith is a wonderful teacher and she's, you, you learn so much from watching her. She's got everything set up really well and you will not regret taking this course. I would recommend it highly.
