My approach to textile work is very much “What will happen if…?” I have a germ of an idea, then begin to explore materials and techniques to see what happens when various methods are combined and developed. I love to work with the soft luscious textures of wools and yarns, or the flamboyant brightness of silk, as well as sheer fabrics, paints and dyes, textured fibres, cottons, lace, beads, papers - or anything else that will add to a finished surface that is full of touchable texture. Working with my sewing and embellishing machines, as well as a lot of hand stitches, something emerges. I find landscapes and maps, rivers and contours - and the finished piece of work is usually nothing like the idea I started out with ….
Shetland Pathways
This is made with wool yarns, hand-dyed and bought in Shetland. It is worked onto an un-dyed wool background that has been machine felted onto a wool felt base fabric. It has connections to where I live, with Leicestershire Black-Faced sheep wool yarn running though it in spirals.
It reflects the time spent in the very quiet and empty Shetland Isles during a gap in the Covid restrictions which allowed us a brief holiday up there in August 2020. The discoveries we made walking along the coastal paths are tied up in the swirls and stitches.
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| Shetland Pathways |
Glorious Yorkshire
This piece is made from sari ribbon waste machined onto a background of felt, and then hand embellished with all sorts of bits and pieces!
It is a commission for a very dear friend. My husband and I lived in Yorkshire for about ten years and so this represents to me the time I spent there at a very exciting and formative time of my life.
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| Glorious Yorkshire |
Fragility
This is the result of a demo workshop to a group of women in my local textile group - done over zoom during lockdown.
The background is made from paper that has been dyed and bonded to fabric, then overlaid with fabrics and fibres, stitch and beads. The flowers are layers of stitched fabric that have then been carefully melted and shaped to form the petals…
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| Fragility |
Nuno Wanderings
This piece was made up from several small pieces of Nuno felted silk chiffon, using the process originally learned from Clare Bullock. Each piece was hand stitched to the next to make a larger piece and then it was hand finished with yarns and beads. I just love the shrinking and wrinkling of the chiffon, and the blending of the fabric as it forms. This was just me wandering about with stitch and beading….
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| Nuno Wanderings |
