For centuries women have used cloth as a tool of comfort and as an expression of beauty within their homes. Creating cloth for warmth, cloth for shelter, our female predecessors embellished these linens with hand stitch using laborious and time consuming techniques thereby enhancing the functional beauty of objects which enveloped and protected their families. Inspired by these women I hope my creations pay tribute to and recognise the devotion expressed in cloth by our female ancestors .







''the use of traditional often time consuming process alludes to the devotion of a mother''. c K. A. Ruane 2007







Sunday, November 11, 2007






I have done some artwork based on domestic cloths and the embroidery that would have been done by my grandmother on tablecloths etc. I have so many old cloths and I just love to take them out and look at them. I am always amazed by the amount of work that went into these objects and that, I suppose, started my fascination with embroidery from an early age. Following on from the drawing I began sampling, using the grandmothers flower garden patchwork pattern and adding the surface stitches my grandmother would have used on her cloths. I have a passion for remembering and practicing this type of embroidery and I know that this led to the series of 'wrapping cloths' which I showed at New Designers this year. If you visit my website (link top right) there is more explanation of my 'wrapping cloths' and how they evolved.


p.s. dont forget to leave a comment on yesterdays post, there are still two gifts to give away!
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Posted by Karen at 8:51 PM

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