FIFTY years ago a group of needle-working enthusiasts got together and set up a friendly, welcoming and accessible organisation promoting the art of traditional and modern embroidery. 

Laura Horner with a bag she is making using old ties. SR 9456
Laura Horner with a bag she is making using old ties. SR 9456 (Crediton Courier)

As it grew to span Dorset, Devon and Cornwall covering more than 25 groups, it included a huge range of needlework both hand and machine.  

However, this group, Westcountry Embroiderers, has closed due to lack of volunteers to take committee roles. 

Reusing old patchwork and lace. SR 9459
Reusing old patchwork and lace. SR 9459 (Crediton Courier)

Cheriton Bishop West Country Embroiderers was one of the independent groups.  It has 24 members making it one of the largest in Devon and hopes to grow under its new name of Dartmoor Creative Textiles. 

In the beginning Janet Grist of Cheriton Bishop was among those who set it going in 1997.  Meetings were held then in the old Chapel across the way from the YFC Hub until it stopped being used as a meeting place.

The group moved then to Cheriton Bishop Village Hall and is now at the YFC Hub since the hall fire in 2022.

“My daughter and I had been to Creative Stitches in Exeter,” said Janet.  “Westcountry Embroidery had a stand there.  We thought it would be lovely to join a group like that.

“But our nearest was either Barnstaple or Newton Abbot, so we said we would start our own.  We put a piece in village newsletters to say we were having an inaugural meeting in January.

Little covered notebooks each with its individual picture using the same transfer. SR 9460
Little covered notebooks each with its individual picture using the same transfer. SR 9460 (Crediton Courier)

“People kept coming through the door that day and we have never looked back,” said Janet who is still a member.

People from a huge area go along including Okehampton, Doddiscombsleigh, Teign Valley, Exeter, South Zeal, Yeoford, Bovey Tracey, Barnstaple, Totnes, and Teignmouth.  Each group now stands alone, as at Cheriton, and they will all meet twice a year. 

In January one of its members, Jo Kingdom, was the tutor taking the topic of “memories” with ideas for ways to use old bits of lace, material,  lace table mats, pieces of embroidered tablecloth and lots more.  

Many people have old fabric family heirlooms that may be damaged, stained, etc but too “valuable” to throw away.  

The idea is to upcycle them into something else.  Laura Horner from Exeter was making bags from old ties.  As a member of her WI, she was asked to make a card for King Charles III Coronation.  She did not get her card back but received a very nice one as thanks. 

This ties in with the theme this year of “re-using” as their Spring Fair and Exhibition (April 27 and 28) competition is “Transformation -  saving the world, one stitch at a time”.

To know more about Dartmoor Creative Textiles please contact: [email protected] .   Meetings are held at the Devon Young Farmers’ hub at Cheriton Bishop.