The Lace Guild
Summer School 2023
Sat 12 - Sat 19 August
Best Western The Gables Hotel, Bristol Road, Falfield, Bristol, Gl12 8DL
Tutors:
Claire Bonito - Milanese, Hinojosa, Idrija and other European Braid Laces
Jackie Poulter - Torchon, Bucks Point and Bedfordshire
Karen Quickfall - Ruskin Lace
The 2023 Lace Guild Summer School will be held at the 4 star Best Western Gables Hotel, Falfield in South Gloucestershire, on the edge of the Cotswolds. Situated between Bristol to the south and Gloucester to the north, the village of Falfield is on the A38 and close to the M5, junction 14.
All rooms are ensuite and include tea and coffee making facilities, flat screen TV and free wifi to keep in touch with the world. There will be a choice of food at mealtimes, and all special dietary needs can be catered for. More details about the hotel can be found at their website.
For time away from intensive concentration on lacemaking, local attractions include Berkeley Castle, Dr Jenner’s house and gardens (of smallpox vaccination fame) and Newark Park... as well as all the attractions of the beautiful Cotswold towns, villages and countryside.
Claire Bonito - Milanese, Hinojosa, Idrija and other European Braid Laces
Koi Carp
Dragonflies
Hinojosa
Claire’s Summer school class offers Milanese, Hinojosa, Idrija and other European braid laces. She will work with students on a one-to-one basis in their chosen projects over the course of the week. Students will be contacted prior to the course to discuss their chosen projects for the week.
Claire has been making lace since the early 1990s, learning her craft from Pat Read MBE and later from Jacquie Tinch and has been teaching regularly since the mid-2000s. She teaches a range of laces but specialises in Milanese lace and European braid laces. Claire has become known for her contemporary designs using both Milanese and Withof lace techniques.
Claire teaches in a range of settings across the UK, including for Kent Adult Education and the Edinburgh Lace Course. Her students say that she has an easy manner and friendly nature, and her classes are popular with both new and
regular students.
Claire was awarded both the Individual’s and the Visitor’s Choice Trophies in the 2013 Contrasts Exhibition, and in 2010 was awarded a Medal for Excellence for her Waterlily Mat.
Jackie Poulter - Torchon, Bucks Point and Bedfordshire
Torchon
Bucks Point
Bedfordshire
Jackie will be pleased to offer the traditional British laces of Torchon, Bucks Point and Bedfordshire for the Summer School. Although Jackie has specialised in Bucks for some years now, she learnt Bedfordshire from Barbara Underwood, teaching alongside her for a while. Torchon has always been deemed a good starting lace which Jackie taught for many years at weekly adult education classes.
Jackie teaches beginner to advanced techniques in all the laces, including floral versions of Bucks and Beds. Students may choose to begin learning a new type of lace, to start a new pattern, or continue working on an existing pattern; it will also be possible to work on more than one pattern .
Jackie can also teach how to use Lace8 the lace design and drafting software, or students may just want to learn how to redraft an old pattern by hand.
Students are asked to contact the tutor prior to the start of the course to advise what they will be working on.
Karen Quickfall - Ruskin Lace
"I first learnt the techniques of Ruskin Lace in 2000 at Alston Hall with Elizabeth Prickett and was enthralled from the very first course. I got onto as many courses as I could in subsequent years both at Alston Hall and at the Ruskin Museum in Coniston. The technique has never failed to inspire me to do more!
"I began teaching Ruskin Lace in 2006 when Elizabeth Prickett retired from teaching and asked me to take over her classes at the colleges. It was definitely a great honour to follow in her footsteps and I’ve striven to uphold all
of the traditional, technical elements of the lace whilst continuing to develop new patterns and projects to make. There is one other teacher in the Lake District who holds some local classes in Ruskin Lace along with other forms of whitework and lace.
"My new book was published in 2021 and has been well received by both my long-standing students and new ones alike. Elizabeth Prickett wrote the only other book on Ruskin Lace back in 1985 and was always keen for me to write my own. I’ve been able to include many more photographs and diagrams in this book due to improvements in publishing and printing techniques. It remains a practical workbook in every respect."