Threading Through Time: Embroidery Workshop #1

Embroidery workshops teaching traditional Greek embroidery practices rooted in their geographic, cultural, and historical context.

Threading Through Time: Embroidery Workshop #1

This first workshop is a part of series of 5 which will take place throughout the year. The aim is for each participant to create an embroidery piece featuring traditional motifs from Cyprus and Greece in cross stitch. As we move from place to place across these two countries, we will be learning the significance of each motif, a bit about the location and their textile practices, and embroidering the pattern provided.

In this workshop, we will be starting with the border of the design, a motif from Cyprus.

Included in the ticket will be a:

• Zine featuring cultural & historical information, poster, & discussion prompts.
• Hand-drawn Pattern
• Embroidery Supplies (fabric, needle, thread):

• DMC Aida Cloth 14 count
• Embroidery needle
• DMC Floss 25 498

Every workshop will involve two main components:

A discussion of the cultural and historical context of the motif from the zine, in which we learn the theory and engage in facilitated group discussion. (Time: roughly an hour)

~~~~ a small 20 min break~~~~

Followed by the practical component, learning how to cross stitch and translate the motif onto the fabric itself. (Time: roughly two hours)

The workshop is scheduled to run over the course of 3 hrs & 30min, with a half an hour lee-way at the end of the workshop to wrap up what we’ve learnt. We will be sitting in Caper's outdoor garden space, as you walk in through the entrance, continue down the hallway and there will be a couple of steps leading into the outdoor area.

**I wish to note that the ticket is for this workshop only and that a ticket will need to be purchased per workshop, as I wish to maintain a bit of flexibility for people to attend whichever one they are able to as the year progresses.

***If the relevant ticket section has been exhausted, please do get in touch with me :)

Further information regarding the series itself and the date of the next workshop will be provided on the day itself. If you do have any questions please feel free to email me at yeorghiakontos@proton.me.

A Bit About Myself~

Hello, my name is Yeorghia ~Γεωργία~ and I am an aspiring Greek-Spanish textile artist & historian. I live and work on the unceded lands of the Bunurong people and Wurundjeri people. I am from Myrtia, Gytheio, Kyparissia, & Chora (Trifilia), from mountainous country, where the cypress trees grow in abundance & where the sea glistens in various shades of blue.

My Peloponnesian roots, as diaspora, are what sustain and nourish me, they are what guide me in my learning and teaching of traditional Greek embroidery. My hope is to share my knowledge of Greek embroidery, rooted in its historical and cultural context, to empower all those curious to learn and in particular the Greek diaspora in both remembering and re-learning traditions foundational to our own ancestors’ lives. Our embroidery told stories passed down generationally that breathed meaning into our lives, from the clothing that adorned our bodies to every other textile that was used within the home.

I believe it is important to be participating in the shaping and growth of our traditions as a means to remaining rooted in who we are, especially given that most of us are settlers living on stolen Aboriginal land. Remembering our actual roots is central to resisting the erasure that comes with assimilating into a white “Australian” identity and to being able to act in solidarity with Indigenous people’s of this land, who are the first storytellers, knowledge-keepers, weavers and artists who tended and continue to tend to their unceded sacred land.