Sunday, May 1, 2016

Meet Katherine Diuguid

Katherine Diuguid will be teaching a pre-day class at the SAGA National Convention in Hampton, Virginia. The class information is available in the brochure which you can download from the SAGA website (www.smocking.org). Katherine will also be giving a lecture at the Opening Reception.

SAGANews conducted an email interview with Katherine to find out a little about her. Here are some of her answers to the questions. (You can read the full interview in SAGANews Volume 37 Issue 2 which should be in the mail any time soon!).




SAGA Pre-day Class -Giverny Haystacks

Who taught you needlework skills and when did you first start learning? I honestly cannot remember a time when I was not stitching.  When I was little, my grandmother, who lived up in New York, would come and stay the summers with us.  She was an avid crocheter and was always making something and my mother used to do a lot of needlepoint.  Both of them taught me different needlecrafts and stitching.  In the summers, my grandmother and I spent our time either cooking or stitching and watching classic movies.  As I watched the movies, I became very inspired by both the costumes and stories and that sparked a desire in me to learn more about the many artists and designers creating the costumes.  I have notebooks filled with sketches of costumes from different classic movies.  



  What inspires your designs? 
My main inspirations come from nature and history.  I love gardening.  I find it a wonderful stress reliever and I especially love watching the plants change from season to season.  I also enjoy visiting large gardens and taking photos of all the colors and textures.  I also find a lot of inspiration from history, especially stories of women in history.  I read a lot of women’s biographies growing up and still enjoy reading them.  I am especially interested in royal women and 19th Century American society women.  The Industrial Revolution or Gilded Age time period I find fascinating because so much changed so quickly.  

Do you attend classes and workshops as well as teach at them? 
Yes I love taking classes.  There is always something new I want to learn and I love being in a learning atmosphere.  I have met so many wonderful people through courses I have taken and I just really am addicted to learning. 

Moss Bow Tie


Do you belong to a sewing guild of any kind? 
Yes and no, I belong to the Embroiderers Guild of America but as a member at large.  I had joined SAGA the year before last and need to re-up my membership!  I would really love to find a local group of stitchers to stitch with.  I just have not found that near my home yet.  There is a lovely group of ladies that are part of the EGA that I have met with a few times informally on the eastern part of the state.  I love seeing other people’s projects and what they are working on.  It’s great to share your work with other people too.  It is not a guild, but many of the ladies that I stitch with in the UK and have met in the US have blogs and are on Facebook.  I’ve found it is a wonderful way to keep in contact with them, get feedback and share our work with each other.  It is really amazing actually how socially media aware a lot of the stitchers I know are and how there is such a vibrant virtual community of stitchers.  

  What is your most favourite sewing tool? 
I have several I think!  I’ve collected a bit of a stash as I am sure many of the SAGA members can understand!  If I had to pick just one I would probably say my barrel-clamp embroidery hoop.  I have taken it so many places and I love that I can clamp it on to practically any table. 

 
Conseulo Gown-the subject of Katherine's lecture
What is the biggest enemy to your creativity?
I would say second guessing myself and being tentative to start a project sometimes.


You can see more examples of Katherine's work at her website:

www.katherinediuguid.com .

 

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