The 2022-23 tour

This year’s tour of embroidered work features several pieces of textile work, hand-embroidered by artist Francesca Rea. The centrepiece is a plain white man’s secondhand cotton shirt, onto the front of which she has embroidered a pair of glowing Echinacea flowers.
There are also examples of others of her work:
– Purple Clover Queen Anne’s Lace: lettering on organdie (29 x 17cm)
– Wildflowers: traditional-style embroidery on cotton, stretched on a wooden hoop (16cm diameter)
– Also embroiderer’s scissors with a stork’s head and neck, a skein of cotton embroidery thread, and one of Francesca’s heat erasable pens which removes under-drawing when the fabric is ironed (see embroidery in one of the drawers).

Detail of black, embroidered lettering ('Purple Clover Queen Anne's Lace) on white transparent organdie
Side view of detail of pale yellow embroidery of Leaf Skeleton on white, transparent organdie
Multi-coloured embroidery of tiny wildflowers around the inside of a circular embroidery hoop

In the two drawers of the second pod are examples of embroidery showing Francesca’s process, and also her endeavours to make her art as low impact on the planet as possible.
– One shows Floral borders, stitched in parallel and one left unfinished, so you can see her pen under-drawing on the cotton/bamboo fabric (17 x 12cm).
– The other drawer shows an embroidery of an eye and eyebrow, stitched using reused plastic netting on cotton/bamboo (11 x 11cm).

Floral borders embroidered on white cotton in multi-colours. They are horizontal on the fabric and parallel to each other with the lower one partially stitched to show the pen under-drawing.
Embroidered eye and eyebrow by Francesca Rea on white cotton/bamboo fabric, using pink netting for carrying fruit

Craft Pods’ tour 2022-23
The pods will tour to a variety of public and non-public spaces in Fife from late Summer 2022 to 2023.

15 Sep – 18 Oct ’22 – Falkland Estate, The Stables, KY15 7AF
20 Oct – 22 Nov | The Hive, 10 Whytescauseway, Kirkcaldy, KY1 1XF
24 Nov – 7 Dec | St Andrews Botanic Gardens, Canongate, St Andrews KY16 8RT
9 Dec ’22 – 11 Jan ’23 | Cowdenbeath Library
13 Jan – 24 Jan | Glenrothes High School
26 Jan – 7 Feb | Bell Baxter High School
9 Feb – 14 Mar | Ecology Centre, Kinghorn
16 Mar – 28 Mar | Madras College, St Andrews
30 Mar – 2 May | Leven Library
4 May – 16 May | Levenmouth Academy
18 May – 30 May | Woodmill High School
1 June – 4 Jul | Methil Library
6 Jul – 8 Aug | Dalgety Bay Library
10 Aug – 12 Sept | Inverkeithing Library

*Please note that the Craft Pods are not viewable to the public when situated within any of the School or College campuses.