HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 2016-07-14, Page 15THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, JULY 14, 2016. PAGE 15.
Blyth women aim to recreate historic needlework
Uncovering the past
Irene Kellins, left, and Sharlene Bolen want to find out how the needlework of yesteryear was
made and are inviting people in the Blyth area and beyond to share their family heirloom and
antique craft items with them to be reverse engineered and hopefully recreated. The duo,
shown here in Kellins' Blyth shop `Stitches With A Twist' stumbled on a love for solving the
puzzles of the past when combing through the Huron County Museum's extensive collection
of textile works. (Denny Scott photo)
By Denny Scott
The Citizen
Two Blyth women are delving into
the past in hopes of recreating some
of the craftworks of Huron County's
history.
Irene Kellins, owner of Stitches
with a Twist, alongside writer
Sharlene Bolen, recently turned to
the archives of the Huron County
Museum to see how textiles were
handled throughout the history of the
area and found an abundance of
images and hands-on experience that
has led them to recreate some of the
knitting and crotcheting that was
common in the past.
The duo first connected when
Bolen, who wanted to do a story for
PieceWork magazine, found the
wealth of handcrafted textiles at the
museum and needed to find someone
who really understood them.
"It all started with an interview,"
Bolen said. "I expected there was
some kind of collection in the
museum and I thought that doing a
story on it would be interesting and
that the magazine would be
interested in it"
While Bolen was initially looking
for historical knitting patterns, what
she found was a collection of at least
1,000 different pieces of hand-
crafted examples of needlework,
some centuries old. She added that
while she is a knitter, she classifies
herself as an "intermediate -level
practitioner" and couldn't have
figured out the pattern herself, which
is what led her to seek out Kellins.
"I brought Irene in to see because,
when we were working with the
early items, there was no history, no
information on them, so I needed
someone who could figure out the
patterns," Bolen said.
Kellins explained that reverse
engineering the creations is called
"reading" the work and said she
enjoyed figuring out exactly how the
pieces that she was seeing were
created.
The two were welcomed to the
museum by Registrar Patti Lamb
who invited the textile historians to
examine the works the museum
have, which, due to their fragility
and the complexity of displaying
them, don't typically get viewed by
many.
"It's an experience," Bolen said.
"You have to wear the white gloves
and only get to see them with
someone supervising you."
Kellins said that she was allowed
to examine the textile artifacts, but
not use any tools that have a hook on
them on the off -chance that the items
were somehow damaged.
"They're there, looking over your
shoulder, making sure you're not
doing anything you shouldn't," she
said.
Both Kellins and Bolen -Young
commented on how amazing some
of the pieces were, especially when
they got "hands-on" with the
artifacts.
"Looking at one artifact, you
could see that some of the seams are
faultless, while others are ragged,"
Bolen said. "It's as if one person was
working on it and someone else
helped or finished it."
Both women said they felt that, by
unravelling the mystery of how the
needlework artifacts were made,
they felt closer to the people making
them.
From there, Kellins started her
decoding of the artifacts and, after
some test patterns, some reworking
and a lot of trial and error, she had
recreated one of the pieces that the
duo saw — a "Tidy Chair Back."
The piece, which is to be draped
over the back of a chair, can also be
known as an antimacassar, and,
while many of the artifacts had little
to no information about their origins,
the particular piece that inspired
Kellins was traced back to its
creator.
The piece was made by an East
Wawanosh Township resident by the
name of Ann Rath, who was six
years old at the time.
Bolen recreated part of a
counterpane crib blanket and turned
it into a pin cushion with hopes of
one day making an entire
counterpane.
Counterpanes are blankets made
of panels that consist of multiple
shapes put together. They're
prominent in the collection of textile
artifacts at the museum. Typically,
they are created by having identical
shapes meet to make panels. Good
examples include triangles that meet
at a middle point or squares, creating
symmetrical panels.
The entire experience has led to
three new developments for the duo.
The first of which was that
PieceWork did pick up the story that
Bolen proposed and, alongside the
story, also printed two instructional
pieces on how to create the square in
the counterpane by Bolen and how
to create the tidy chair back by
Kellins.
All three pieces are in the
July/August issue of the magazine.
Secondly, the duo is now looking
at creating a leaflet for the Huron
County Museum to tell people about
the wealth of textile artifacts that are
available at the museum as well as
some instructions on how to create
them.
Lastly, the two want to start
looking at artifacts that people may
have in their own homes and are
inviting people to come to Kellins'
shop with the antique pieces to have
them reverse engineered so the art
won't be lost.
"We want that to be Blyth -
themed," Kellins explained. "We
want to put something together
where people can come and
participate and expand our journey
into historical needle work. We're
going to start looking at
counterpanes."
While Kellins has long been
interested in everything to do with
needlework and has since turned that
into her career, Bolen has come to
the project thanks to her passion for
history.
"I've always been interested in
things from the past," she said,
pointing to a hand -made rug in her
grandmother's home as well as mats
made from plastic straps. "This
opportunity ties in that interest with
Irene's skills and we get to see how
things are made. We are
definitely looking forward to the
next stage."
Bolen explained the duo is
planning on working on the leaflet
next and will be choosing pieces
from the museum's collection to
reverse engineer in an attempt to
show people they can make things
just like their parents, grandparents
or great-grandparents did.
Obituaries
Papier-mache
As part of the Blyth Christian Reformed Church's Vacation Bible School, which is being held
this week at the main street church, students participate in all sorts of events including outdoor
activities, story time and crafts, like the papier-mache one being completed above by Carter
Buffinga, back, and Hayden DeVos, front. (Denny Scott photo)
JOELLE MARIE HEFFER
Joelle Heffer of Teeswater, and
formerly of Wingham, passed away
at Wingham and District Hospital on
Wednesday, July 6, 2016. She was
30.
Joelle was the dearly loved
daughter of Paul and Gail (Grant)
Heffer, Wingham and cherished
sister of Rachel and Dan
Rajagopalan and their expected
child, and Ashley and Matthew
Snow and their children Sebastian
and Grant. She was the niece of
Karen and Dale Wardley, Doug and
Judy Heffer, Robert and Shannon
Heffer, Dave and Susan Heffer, Tim
and Jilda Heffer, Jamie and Lori
Heffer and Judy Heffer. Joelle is
also survived by several cousins and
special friends the van Engen family
and Jamie Greenaway. She was
predeceased by her grandparents
Cliff and Jean Heller, Stewart and
Shirley Grant and Mervin
McAllister and by her uncle Barry
Heffer.
Visitation was held at McBurney
Funeral Home Ltd., Wingham on
Friday, July 8. The funeral service
was held at the funeral home chapel
on Saturday. Harry Reid officiated.
Interment was in Wingham
Cemetery.
Memorial donations to Hillcrest
Home, Teeswater, Community
Living Wingham and District or
Gideons International would be
appreciated as expressions of
sympathy.
Online condolences may be left at
www.mcburneyfuneralhome.com