Textiles

I began working with Textiles in January 2011, and was soon hooked. I started on CityLit’s Textiles day course with Louise Baldwin, with additional ad hoc workshops at studios such as Art van Go in Knebworth. Although I draw, paint and print, I feel my main focus comes back to textural work – in fact all the disciplines feed into each other.

A lot of my work, in various media, is around Spurn. I have collected everything onto this page.

Spurn

I became fascinated by the dramatic effect of natural forces on the vulnerable Humberside coastline at Spurn Head. The power of the elements has overcome sea defences causing erosion, coastal movement, and displacing the once thriving community from this unstable, impermanent headland. This book is my response; it was shortlisted for the 252nd Royal Academy Summer Exhibition in London (postponed from Summer to Autumn, hopefully).

Spurn
  • The seaman’s bag
  • The book rolled and tied
The textile book is rolled and tied, and then fits in the seaman’s duffle bag. Captain Bartlett was lost, with five members of his crew, off the coast of Spurn when the Brig Emma hit a sandbank.
I am working on a piece for the Textiles2020 exhibition (postponed from July to December). Rather than carry my large sketchbook around with me, I made this small notebook (I’m also a bookmaker) and filled it with ideas. There are a couple of pages still free at the back for me to continue to add samples. It works perfectly.
  • etching with machine stitch
  • etching with machine stitch
  • reversed watercolour with machine stitch
Groynes at Spurn. I like to mix my media – in this case two etchings with aquatint and the reverse side of a watercolour (stitched from the other side).
A piece for Lara Hailey’s collaborative piece, Sewn Antidote. Unfortunately I was admitted to hospital for emergency surgery just before I’d button-hole stitched the edge, so missed the deadline. I sent it to her anyway!
A collection of masks to thank my lovely neighbours for helping me whilst i was shielding
Beautiful Brain Net, threads, silk and other fabrics. Neurons in the brain, inspired by the work of Santiago Ramón y Cajal , who was a Spanish neuroscientist, pathologist, and histologist specializing in neuroanatomy and the central nervous system working in the late 19th century.
Tracks Mixed fabrics and threads, scrim, net
Postcards from the seaside (from top l. to r.: Frinton, anywhere, Cromer, Southwold, Brighton, Dungeness. Dyed and bleached cotton, threads, machine stitch
Dad: silk and thread. A portrait of my late father; given to my mother as a Christmas present. I knew when she cried that it was a good likeness.
Histology; dyed and painted vintage blanket, rusted fabric, acrylic medium, silk thread and embroidery threads, hand and machine stitch
A collage of small pieces representing our allotment
Allotment; mixed fabric and hand stitch. A textile collage, slow stitched, showing our allotment (the tidy one) and that of our neighbour
Allotment scarf; sari silk ribbon and other fabric scraps, threads, made using dissolvable material and machine stitch
Remembrance: Machine stitch, stencilled image, embellishment, on bleached ticking and other fabric
A remembrance poppy.
Threads, dissolvable material, brooch pin
Cemeteria Real; fabric scraps and paper; findings; thread; machine and hand stitch; dissolvables. Based on the Cemeteria Real in northern Mallorca
Graffiti: machine stitch, fabric. Made at an Art van Go workshop with Gina Ferrari. She is not responsible for the content.
Anyone for tea? Paper, and tape measure, collage, ink, machine stitch
  • Cyanotype print on silk
  • Dyed and appliqued fabric
  • Dyed and printed fabric, made into scarf and cap
Enchanted Garden; scarves and cap. From visits to the Lost Gardens of Heligan, Cornwall, and Venice
Nan: stitch on cotton. A preliminary sketch for “Cromer” below.
Cromer; frabric and thread, acrylic, mixed media, stencil and machine stitch. A memory of my childhood holidays, spent with my grandmother at Cromer
Drink, anyone? Collaged fabric, stitch
Lines of Communication: fabric and thread, beads, findings, printed images and image transfer, dissolvables, hand and machine stitch. The beauty and violence of London nightlife. (The QR worked!)
Paddington; painted and printed fabric, scrim, net and other fabrics, image transfer, hand and machine stitch. The canal at Paddington Basin and the new skyscraper development
Finca; various fabric scraps, rusted canvas, findings, beads, buttons and sequins, sticks, hand and machine stitch. Arial view of Mallorcean farm.
Miss Havisham; mixed fabrics and threads. The theme was “on the shelf” – and I imagined Miss Havisham, excited to get married, wearing an elaborate corset underneath her wedding finery.
On the shelf; silk and thread applique. Sketched at the Victoria and Albert museum
Jacket; a charity-shop velvet jacket embellished with dyed scrim, sheer fabrics, beads and other threads and fabrics. Gok Kwan walked by me at OHP – and sat down to talk to me about the jacket. Amazing!
Talitha; silk and other fabrics, threads, hand and machine stitch
Portraits of my daughter, overstitched with graffiti. The accompanying spider, which sits outside the frame, contains the words she thought when first she was told she needed a second surgery for a brain tumour
  • Front
  • Back
  • Inside
Pomegranate bag Hand-dyed silk, various fabrics, printed silk, bought metal handle. The first piece I made studying with Louise Baldwin. Based on a pomegranate, the bag lining is printed pomegranate images and a word storm; the exterior comprises hand-dyed silk embellished onto other fabrics, with machine and hand stitch and beading.
Florence. Mixed fabrics, cotton, yarns, silk yarn for hair. The first doll I made, following three operations … I knew I wouldn’t be able to machine so I found a lovely project to make by hand during my summer convalescence. I’d machine stitched Florence before surgery!
  • Dita, relaxing
  • back view showing lacing
Dita, a 60cm fabric doll. Silk lycra, liberty fabric, other scraps and ribbons
Doris for Saturday Night. A doll made for my dear friend Julie, as I sat with her during her last weeks. Julie had been a senior selector for M&S, and had a real eye for style and colour. She chose every fabric and accessory, including the sandals (which, sadly, have gone missing). She also named Doris … but none of as had any idea why she chose the name.
Annie. A child’s doll. Cotton fabrics, wool for hair, embroidery threads. Made from an Australian magazine pattern