Stitching Stories in Fabric....

Hello my lovelies!

Hope you enjoyed my show today on Create & Craft TV.

I am so lucky to be able to share my passion for embroidery with you all!

As a textile artist I am absolutely fascinated by the world of stitching on fabric throughout history...

from the elegant costumes of the privileged...

to the simple everyday patchwork often found in our homes...

Now you all know me a little more, I think many of you will probably be able to work out which kind of textiles brings me delight....

I love the fact that all pieces of vintage fabrics hold a story to them outlining our social history and heritage. They hold a key to our ancestry through the type of threads they used, the weave of a certain fabric or even a particular stitch used...

I so wish fabrics could speak to us with the answers to the many questions I always want to ask...

Who stitched this?

Why did they choose this piece of fabric?

What was it's purpose?

Were they happy with their life or was it filled with drudgery and sewing took them away from it all?

Did they ever share their skills with their friends?

Did they sit and put the world to rights whils stitching like so many of us do today?

When were they stitching...last thing at night by the gas light or during the day in a factory?

I love reading around the history of our stitching; a love affair that started when I had to research the type of stitching used for Victorian Christening gowns for my Needlework 'A' level (many moons ago now!)

An everyday visit to the Victoria & Albert Museum introduced me to heirloom sewing and a whole new world of embroidery...

Oh boy! Was I smitten!!!!

I have to say it really wasn't the done thing to be embroidering at the age of 17 when all my friends would be off partying to Duran Duran!

I perservered none the less and I am very thankful for that because I still have that love affair today.

For me though, sewing is SO much more than just technique and accuracy.

it's the little extra that is added in each stitch...

We stitch a little piece of our heart in every new project and create our own social stories for our own future generations..

How many times are you taken back to a certain time when you see an snippet of fabric or pattern especially if it has some embroidery on it?

History is often recorded on fabric in more ways than you think is possible and over the next few posts I want to share some of my finds with you all...

Often embroidery was the only thing to hand to record snippets of gossip, detail historical events or even capture someone's thoughts as they worked.

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In the meantime I will leave you some snippets of my own textile work capturing some of my happy memories...

All of the pieces use a variety of vintage lines, antique lace and old threads and fabrics..

Off to grab a cuppa now...

Toodle-ooh for now my lovelies!

Be back soon 

Tilly

 x x x