All Projects
2023: The Golden Bee
Date Posted:1 June 2023
Welcome to our Community Collaboration Project, The Golden Bee! We joined forces with sewists, embroiderers, and crafters throughout Australia to create an incredible Golden Bee project. Participation was open to creator from anywhere in Australia, in which they sent in their contributions that they made on their embroidery, sewing, and/or cutting machines.
You might be wondering... what is The Golden Bee and why did we choose it as our community project? In support of the Bee The Cure charity, we have created a large bee wall hanging, pieced together by all the contributions we received.
The Golden Bee represents the importance of the bee in our communities. This fantastic project united people alike with a passion for craft, and let them stitch away like 'busy bees' to create something meaningful.
Who can create this project?
If you have any of the following machines, you can create this project! We will be releasing educational videos and also broadcasting live, demonstrating how to create the elements of this project.
Embroidery Machine
Free standing lace, Quilting with your embroidery machine
Sewing Machine
Quilting for texture and trapunto, couching, applique
Cutting Machine
Learn to cut different fabrics on your machine
The subject
The plight that bees face and the impact they have on the ecosystem is an issue not talked about enough, so bringing awareness to this calamity and encouraging people to speak out for bees is important.
A colony of bees work together to build a nest, where they produce honey, wax comb and essentially construct a place to call home. Like in a bee colony, we haved worked together as a community to create a piece of art consisting of 3-dimensional bee wings made from free standing lace, a hexagon body using machine applique, a background featuring a variety of shapes made from different techniques, and a wreath of flowers circling the bee. All our contributions put together have created The Golden Bee, who is of course "The Queen" of our colony.
Bee the cure
Focusing on community education and advocacy for Australian native bees and European honeybees, Save The Bees Australia began their journey with a mission to rehome honeybee infestations and save them from extermination. Today, their evolution finds them as the voice of bees Australia-wide, striving to share awareness of the importance of global bee populations.
Our aim for this community project was to bring attention to the Save The Bees Australia movement. Those that participated in-store were asked for a gold coin donation to support this charity and their cause.
Donations can also be made online..
How can you follow this project?
We have released demonstration videos and live streams on our YouTube channel, where we demonstrate how to create these elements and achieve the desired look.
Check out our YouTube and subscribe to our channel to tune into these videos.
The drawing of the bee
The first step to begin The Golden Bee project was to create our shape. We used a projector to cast the design, and we traced the shape onto the fabric.
Download it and create your own at home!
Download A4 Bee PDF →Elements of the bee
The Golden Bee is made up of different elements, which have been created by our community! They were created from free-standing lace and machine applique. During each demonstration, we have provided the products and colours used for each element in order for you to create your own.
The Construction
Final Reveal
We are so excited to reveal the final result of our Golden Bee project. This project was a fun, fantastic way to get our community involved in creating something together, whilst teaching you techniques to make the elements of the bee. Thank you to everyone who contributed and sent in their beautiful creations.
If you have any further questions, please contact us at classes@echidnasewing.com.au or 1800 000 360.