Month: April 2023

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Empty Nest

My latest piece Empty Nest is a change from my usual style. The idea started with a search through my vintage collection for suitable materials. Vintage bandages have a wonderful weave and were perfect for this project.

Gathering materials
Gathering materials

Vintage ‘white open wove’ bandage was layered, distressed and hand darned. Next came the scary bit – cutting into the stitches with some very sharp scissors.

Work in Progress
ork in Progress

The incision is repaired with a Cushing Suture stitched in vintage Sylko thread.

Empty Nest - completed
Empty Nest – completed

Size is 5 x 5 cm, hand stitched and hand darned. Features vintage ‘white open wove’ bandage, Madeira thread and vintage Sylko thread. Hand embroidered and hand darned.

The artwork: “It seems like only yesterday I held my newborn baby in my arms.” The rhythms of life and the status that motherhood brings come to a sudden end once the child leaves home and for some women ‘Empty Nest Syndrome’ occurs during menopause. Many women, including working mothers, go through emotions such as grief, anxiety and loss, feel redundant and challenge their sense of purpose and self-worth – feelings that can last up to 2 years as mothers adjust from the role of ‘mum’ and rediscover their own identity. Empty Nest Syndrome can affect both parents.

UPDATE:

The piece has been accepted into the House of Smalls ‘Scar‘ dollhouse exhibition.

Scar exhibition poster
Scar exhibition - Artworks
Scar exhibition – Artworks
Scar exhibition - Artwork
Scar exhibition – Artwork
Dollhouse
Dollhouse
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Darning Sampler

Darning Sampler - hand stitched red thread into a vintage white child's garment

There’s something about working with cloth, it’s thread count and how the cloth is woven that fascinates me. This was the starting point for my latest project Darning Sampler.

The piece started with a vintage child’s garment that’s been in my collection for a number of years and an idea that’s been swirling around my head for even longer.

Darning Sampler - hand stitched red thread into a vintage white child's garment
Work in progress

Next followed extensive research into vintage and antique darning samplers. Given the very fine cloth and the weave of the cotton, only a select number of stitches were chosen. Some patterns were also adapted for this project.

I experimented and sampled with different weights of thread and settled on a very fine thread called Madeira Cotona.

Darning Sampler - hand stitched red thread into a vintage white child's garment
Work in progress
Darning Sampler - hand stitched red thread into a vintage white child's garment
Darning Sampler complete

The piece took nearly two months to create. Hand darned. Size 28 x 28cm.

Darning Sampler - hand stitched red thread into a vintage white child's garment
Darning Sampler – detail

Completed with a tiny vintage Mother of Pearl button on the neck of the garment.

This piece is part of the Embroiderers’ Guild ‘ Layers’ Members Challenge.

You can find one of my previous Members’ Challenge artworks in this post.

Update July 2023:

I’m thrilled that Darning sampler has won a First Award in ‘The Artistic Director’s Category’ in the Members’ Challenge 2023. For more details please follow this link.