Talking with Ian McQueen is entertaining and very informative.
He is a City and Guild trained lampshade maker amongst other talents and he knows his history too. Milliners undergo the same training as lampshade makers and judging from some of the Ascot hats, the results can be very close cousins.
Ian’s lampshades begin to form on especially made frames and are carefully stitched using a Stapley stitch (I am still not sure whether he was winding me up- hopefully someone can verify this obscure fact. ) rather than glued – so his silk lined creations will never unravel. His designs are inspiring and original. I have been promised some pieces to adorn the centre soon.
I am glad to say that Ian has agreed to teach a two day weekend course on 18th /19th August and a 3 part evening course on June 11/18/24th.
And one of the other fascinating facts i learned from our conversation is one i cant believe has passed me by. Apparently, you should always thread a needle while the thread is on the spool and then cut the length you require. Why? Because if you thread the other end, the thread loosens as you sew and that’s why all those annoying knots and kinks appear.
I may be the only person who didn’t know this, but it could have saved me YEARS of knots.
