FOSTER ROAD ALLOTMENTS
by Jackie C
A4 Foster Road Allotments
What’s your name? Jackie Covill
Where do you live? Ely Place, off Paget Road (two of my neighbours also produced panels)
How long have you lived in Trumpington?
I was born and grew up in Cambridge, later moved away and came to Trumpington in 2013. I am a founder member of the forerunner to the Stitchers Group, formed by members of an upcycling course which was run by Vicky Haywood, our City Council community development officer.
Can you tell us a bit about your panel?
My panel is a representation of the Foster Road allotments provided for the Council houses on the Estate.
What inspired you?
I chose this because I wanted to use some techniques from Stumpwork embroidery – a 17th century form that uses padded and raised elements and also freestanding elements that were often produced on a wire. https://www.craftsy.com/blog/2016/02/what-is-stumpwork-embroidery/
What materials & techniques did you use?
The petals of the sunflowers are woven picots. The figures are padded and mostly created as freestanding elements which were added later.
The cabbages were created by wrapping halves of felt balls with fabric, and the cauliflowers, after much trial and error, were knitted with textured yarn – I now know several ways of not getting a cauliflower effect!
Most of the work is hand embroidered, with some felt appliqué (the building) and some free machine embroidery (the runner beans).