Marietta Alker visited Staunton on Arrow WI to demonstrate the art of upcycling clothes. She explained that she likes to repurpose woollen articles, particularly lambswool and cashmere as wool is a very forgiving material for transforming and cutting up. She demonstrated using a tailor’s dummy how she would repurpose an old jumper by cutting and resewing to make a new article such as a waistcoat or a woollen dress from a man’s jumper. All her stitching is on the outside of the article with zigzag machine stitching and looks very effective. We were all very impressed at her talent. Gill Busby gave the vote of thanks.
Alexandra James of Broadfield Vinery Bodenham gave us a fascinating and interesting talk on ‘My Life before and After Broadfield’. She started life as an actress in London and Broadway. Her husband, a dairy farmer from Herefordshire, loved theatre and proposed to her on Broadway; she accepted, thinking Herefordshire was Hertfordshire, so a big surprise awaited when she arrived at Broadfield Farm to an old tumble down house. The vine growing started because her father in law was a prisoner of war in Italy, escaped and lived with an Italian farmer for 3 months and learnt how to prune vines, then coming home after the war thought a south facing field of 28 acres would be suitable for vines. She has written a book, started a restaurant, has three children and loves Herefordshire. We all enjoyed every minute of her talk.
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