After two and half years of working with the minutai of
domestic needlework, pinning fragment after fragment
to create a large image, it's fun to work with quick 'sketches'
in flora motifs
I'm also having fun working with what's left over... the linen
remnants left behind after the needlework has been 'mined'...
and now those negative spaces are being in-filled with the
unfinished business of others - needlework projects which
have been left unfinished or never started
nothing beats the stitch-by-stitch meditative process
of working on an old Singer c.1954 - passed down to me
from my husband's family - it once belonged to my dear
mother-in-law Sally Alexander, who was a doctor and
unfortunately not much of a seamstress, but used it mostly
for mending. No-one else in her family wanted it, but I treasure her
and am now embarking on my second large installation with this
old but very reliable and very simple machine. The story goes
that it cost my father-in-law, George a week's salary!
Hi Louise. I just found your blog via Pigeon's blog. Your work is stunning and fresh. Brilliant.
ReplyDeleteI have just purchased an old sewing machine that has the same shape as your Singer but is blue in colour. The name plate was removed prior to me owning her. Maybe she's a Singer too!
Ok I'm off to read your older posts. Take care.
Hi Carole, so sorry I didn't reply to your comment earlier - I don't always know when comments are posted! I'm so glad you like it and yes, my machine is a Singer c.1954 - my father in law bought it for my mother in law as a present when they were newly weds and it cost him a whole weeks salary - she wasn't much of a sewer, unfortunately, and when she died no-one in her immediate family wanted it, but I was so excited to take it home and have used it in several bodies of work! all the best with yours. Louise x
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