Patchwork Object

Items

• Patch by Jill
  I am a natural dyer and wrote my thesis on the use of plant dyes when I was at art school in 1975. I often visit my mother in law Pat, who is 95. Last Summer we both found ourselves reading novels that mentioned Medieval dyeing and whilst we were discussing this, Pat produced several yards of beautiful cream wool fabric she had bought in Harrods in the 1960s. Despite a few moth holes we were undaunted and decided to use the fabric to experiment with the dyes I was working with. I mordanted the wool fabric with Alum and cut it into large squares. I visited Pat every few days and on each occasion I would bring her a new colour. The wool fabric was perfect for dyeing and the colours achieved were rich and glorious. The pleasure and delight this experiment brought us was memorable and uplifting I gave Pat a sample book of all the colours for her birthday. The 10cm x 10cm square is made up from offcuts. The colours are:- Madder overdyed with Indigo Logwood Indigo Brazilwood (with iron shift) Madder overdyed with Brazilwood Brazilwod Madder Buckthorn Weld Marigold Coreopsis (with iron shift) Weld overdyed with Logwood Weld overdyed with Indigo (5 mins) Weld overdyed with Indigo (10 mins)
• Patch by Jo
  My patch is inspired by the garden, a place that women have used to feed and heal their families for millennia. Raised with a herbalist as a mother, I have always been in awe of how women have come to understand the intricate power of plants and used this knowledge to take care of their loved ones. Femininity is intertwined with the natural world in many ways, perhaps through this nurturing abundance most of all.
• Patch by Joanna Clare
  On the corner of Bank Street in Newquay, Cornwall stands an old building, now housing a branch of Costa Coffee. The windows tell an earlier story. The stained glass motif repeated on several windows hints at the earlier life of the building. It was the shop belonging to my great great grandmother, Florence Ada Hawke, who was known as Madame Hawke, and whose business logo displays M H within a circular garlanded motif. The shop sold high-end ladies fashion knit-wear, invented and designed by Florence during the early part of the 20th century. Florence (Madame Hawke) was a local celebrity of her day, a pioneer of ladies fashions using fine wool and silk machine-knitted fabrics and her own designs. She developed her idea of using techniques previously seen only in knitted stocking manufacture to make strips of fabric which could be made into smart ladies’ suits, coats, dresses etc. and began in her front room. She was widowed young, and had several children, so she used determination and hard work to build her business up, eventually opening a shop, then more shops, then a large factory which employed hundreds of people. At its height, the business was supplying Debenhams and was patronised by royal visitors to Newquay but broke up in later years. Florence died at the age of 75 in 1936, and has been largely forgotten about, along with her contribution to women’s fashion, to the textile industry and to the role of women in creative industries. My embroidered piece references the stained glass of Madame Hawke’s shop and is my tribute to her courage, determination and creative spirit. I am in the process of further researching her life and work and hope to be able to shine a light on her and her achievements for future generations.
• Patch by Joanne
  My creative identity began in Bovey Tracey, Devon. I have always collected old shards of pottery from the garden, the river and the sea. I am now an artist, and I recycle my porcelain shard collections into mosaic maps. Mosaic is an ancient art used for storytelling. Working in mosaic using China shards allows me to record the past stories the diverse broken ceramic pieces can tell, much like a museum would, but in an assemblage - like a patchwork. The story of each shard evokes a reminiscence of the domesticity of women’s lives gone by. To me each shard carries a spirituality which still prevails, despite their eroded lives. But these shards do escape the mundane, after being practical, cherished, broken, and thrown away the sea smooths and holds them ready for rescue. My patch includes a small found shard of Royal Doulton porcelain which is called ‘Rouen’ and would have been part of a Victorian dinnerware set. This crockery would have been brought to New Zealand or imported by early settlers over a century ago, and I have found it in Auckland. I am completing its journey and sending it back to the UK to be involved in a new life as part of a patchwork dedicated to women’s creativity. 2x patches enclosed. 1. Shard of pottery – sewing into a patch (story above) 2. Old Great Western Railway milk delivery label – coated with mod podge glue to protect it and sewn onto a patch – to preserve because I’d like to preserve this find (!)
• Patch by Joanne
  My creative identity began in Bovey Tracey, Devon. I have always collected old shards of pottery from the garden, the river and the sea. I am now an artist, and I recycle my porcelain shard collections into mosaic maps. Mosaic is an ancient art used for storytelling. Working in mosaic using China shards allows me to record the past stories the diverse broken ceramic pieces can tell, much like a museum would, but in an assemblage - like a patchwork. The story of each shard evokes a reminiscence of the domesticity of women’s lives gone by. To me each shard carries a spirituality which still prevails, despite their eroded lives. But these shards do escape the mundane, after being practical, cherished, broken, and thrown away the sea smooths and holds them ready for rescue. My patch includes a small found shard of Royal Doulton porcelain which is called ‘Rouen’ and would have been part of a Victorian dinnerware set. This crockery would have been brought to New Zealand or imported by early settlers over a century ago, and I have found it in Auckland. I am completing its journey and sending it back to the UK to be involved in a new life as part of a patchwork dedicated to women’s creativity. 2x patches enclosed. 1. Shard of pottery – sewing into a patch (story above) 2. Old Great Western Railway milk delivery label – coated with mod podge glue to protect it and sewn onto a patch – to preserve because I’d like to preserve this find (!)
• Patch by Julia
  I have stitched since a young child, encouraged by my Great Aunt Maggie. Stitching can be used to join a huge variety of materials making it a truly versitile technique. Hand stitching is an enjoyable process with a repetetive rhythm and meditative quality and my preferred method. Stitches can be practical, decorative and convey messges of love or protest. I like to use stitch to convey a message. There are economic benefits too and in these times of over consumption being able to make, mend and repurpose is my small contribution to saving the planet.
• Patch by Julia
  I have stitched since a young child, encouraged by my Great Aunt Maggie. Stitching can be used to join a huge variety of materials making it a truly versitile technique. Hand stitching is an enjoyable process with a repetetive rhythm and meditative quality and my preferred method. Stitches can be practical, decorative and convey messges of love or protest. I like to use stitch to convey a message. There are economic benefits too and in these times of over consumption being able to make, mend and repurpose is my small contribution to saving the planet.
• Patch by Katie
  My patch is a combination of remembering my mother and her influence on my textile work whilst combining a narrative of some women's work through textiles. The basis of my piece is a pattern I created and printed which takes its inspiration from the work women did at Bletchley park. They contributed significantly in code-breaking roles and the images are graphical interpretations of the Enigma machine. For the embroidery I used threads from my mother's sewing box, the eye represents a general guardianship of women and bonding together through work and craft. It also has a very personal representation for me of mum still being with me in some way. Some of the other fabrics are from my mother's scarves which makes me feel close to her. When I use textiles in my art I feel a very strong connection to my mother as she started my love for art which is very important for me in my work.
• Patch by Kelda
  My patch is an excerpt of a cable jumper I knitted for my boyfriend, using leftover wool. Knitting is my way to creatively express myself; to relax; to sustainably produce my own clothing; to show people I love them by making items for them; to find community through other knitters; to connect to both of my nans, who taught me to knit from an early age. I think that the artistic value of handmade knitted items is overlooked because of their practical nature. I know that my maternal grandmother found great joy in knitting items for my mum and her sister, her grandchildren, and any other person that would take a knitted hat, jumper or doll (i.e. most of their neighbour’s children). She put a lot of thought and effort into making these items, such as a jumper she self-drafted for my mum featuring a silhouetted witch flying across the moon. She accidentally knitted the broomstick facing the wrong way, but that is what makes these items even more precious! I feel lucky that whenever I’ve made an item for someone, they have appreciated the time and creative effort I’ve put into it. Similarly, I treasure the items that both my grandmothers have knitted for me over the years. I’m grateful for how this often overlooked craft strengthens my connection to myself, my community and my family.
• Patch by Kyriaki
  This patchwork object is a creative response to a silk cocoon embroidery of her own design that my grandmother, Eleni Hadjiloizou (Ελένη Χατζηλοΐζου) created together with her husband-to-be, Andreas Lazarou (Aντρέας Λαζάρου). It was made in the 1940s in the village of Troulli (Larnaca) in Cyprus. It tells an unconventional story of co-creation and young love as this costly textile craft tradition was typically undertaken solely by women; it required intergenerational specialised knowledge and skills in cocoon embroidery, twisting and needlework as the cocoons were collected and subjected to a special treatment to extract the silk fibres. They were then woven and embroidered onto fine black fabric base into 3D floral and geometrical patterns that symbolise blossoming and regeneration. The breeding of silkworms, and the production and trading of silk, was one of the main Cyprus occupations since the Byzantine empire. This folk art is an important part of Cyprus’s cultural heritage and under threat because it is no longer taught to younger generations; it is shaped by the island’s colonial history as manifested in emblematic designs such as the lion (connected to Richard the Lionheart and the Lusignan dynasty), or the less-common double-headed eagle (Byzantine emblem). My grandmother’s design was of Hagia Sophia Cathedral in Constantinople, with its iconic grand dome, intricate mosaics and tall columns; it is unusual and unique. While her choice of this architectural and cultural icon of Byzantine and Eastern Orthodox civilisation testifies to her Christian faith, her inspiration from the legend of how the church model was designed by bees gives insight into her own creative agency as she was also building a home based on teamwork. This craft was undertaken while a Cyprus insurgency was brewing against British colonial rule that used textile regulation as a form of empowerment. Hagia Sophia was built in the sixth century under the direction of the Byzantine Emperor Justinian I, who is also known for obtaining silkworms from China, which led to the establishment of an indigenous silk industry that held the monopoly in Europe; its adoption as a design serves as a powerful symbol of resistant identity, heritage, pride and tradition. The very making of this silk cocoon embroidery was in defiance of the British colonial silkworm industry protection laws that criminalised domestic sericulture; it is an early example of anti-colonial struggle and resistance through art that, soon after this, saw women, including my grandmother, consciously using fabrics as a means of protest, launching a boycott of imported British goods and encouraging the use of traditional garments during the Cyprus war of independence against the British empire. Reinscribing the loss of textile traditions within colonial history can form part of contemporary discussion of how to revive Cypriot cultural practices through sustainable fashion and art. My grandparents used their silk cocoon embroidery as a bespoke photograph frame to honour and remember loved ones who emigrated overseas. Similarly, I am using this patchwork object to celebrate their love and creativity (it contains the only surviving photo of A & E as a young married couple) and commemorate the migrant, multicultural and diasporic heritage they left behind (it contains a digital print by her great grandson, Chris Edward Plunkett, of her as an elderly woman); I consider it to be an intergenerational co-creation between all of us.
• Patch by Kyriaki and Unrecorded Maker(s)
  This patch was made during the "Patchwork and Creativity Workshop", held in Cambridge, UK on 19 and 20 September, 2024. This two-day workshop used the theme of “Patchwork and Creativity” to prompt conversations about modes of being and knowing that emphasise the collaborative, the collective, the non-linear, and the potentially deconstructive or resistant forms of creativity that have not historically been privileged by Western art histories. During this workshop, participants were invited to co-create patches with one another. Participants were given access to pre-cut material and art supplies and a brief introduction to the Patchwork Object Project. They were then invited to mark the patch in any way that they felt inspired to. At three points during the workshop, participants swapped patches and continued working on patches worked on by others. Afterwards, participants were invited to identify which patches they contributed to; some participants chose to do this, some participants chose to remain an 'unrecorded maker'. We chose to use the term ‘unrecorded maker’, rather than the more common ‘anonymous’ or ‘maker unknown’ following discussion during the workshop around the fact that many women’s contributions to art and craft work, particularly work that was collaboratively made, was not unknown in its time, just not acknowledged or recorded by history.
• Patch by Lauren
  Crafty Lady – this was how we knew Grandma and our family joke. I have fond memories of making peg dolls, cross-stich and paper quilling with Grandma and my sister. It was normal for me to be surrounded by so much family creativity growing up. It wasn’t until much later, after her passing and I had graduated university, I learned Grandma had also attended art school then in the second world war was a draughtswoman creating technical drawings. We had found drawings from Grandma’s time at art school tucked safely away in the loft… they look as if I drew them. The same approach to line, the same application of colour and the same choice to leave areas seemingly incomplete. How is it that something I had never seen could hold so much influence on the artist I had become? For my patch I chose to use a flower design (two studies – one complete and one unfinished) that she had painted while studying. Subtly transferring the image to the fabric, then embroidering areas as well as extending the design by repeating other flowers from the design to scale. Throughout the process I used materials that were Grandma’s. Including a hoop, thread and appliqué from material that was hers. All this while also leaving an area of image transfer untouched with the echo of the original design. My own collaboration with the past. Grandma’s influence is strong in our family. I can’t help but wonder, if she had pursued a career following the war what would she have done? My Grandma is my inspiration and motivation. I am proud to be so much like her. She was so much more than a ‘crafty lady’.
• Patch by Lauren
  I sadly don’t remember my grandma, but on the day that I was born, she and my granddad visited me in hospital and gave me a beautiful toy green rabbit. They had won it on the pier earlier that day at Weston-Super-Mare. I took an immediate shine to that little rabbit. He became my most favourite thing in the world. When I was old enough to speak, I named him Richard, which slowly became “Ritchie” over the years. I couldn’t sleep at night without him and he travelled everywhere with me. He was so well loved that he inevitably became worn after just a few years. His original yellow cloth outfit grew faded and my mum suggested a visit to the local haberdashers to pick out a piece of fabric to make him a new outfit. I remember that I chose a soft white cotton with little cartoon rabbits playing tennis. That afternoon, I watched my mum in fascination as she gently unpicked his old outfit and stitched on the new one. A couple of months later, I decided that he wanted a change of clothes. This time, my mum had some scraps from a set of curtains she had just made – lime green with white patterns. Again, I watched as she transformed him with this new set of clothes. He looked so dapper! From that day forward, Ritchie would get several new outfits a year. I still have him today and he remains one of my most prized possessions. And yes, my mum still regularly stitches him new outfits. He must have had more than 100 over the years! A very spoilt rabbit indeed 😊 This piece of fabric comes from his latest outfit, which she made him for Christmas 2023.
• Patch by Lesley
  Three Generations: Patch 3 Method: Batik on cotton fabric 1 2 3 GRANDMOTHER MOTHER DAUGHTER Created by Eliana Longo Collins when aged 10 years old. My daughter’s art education in Italy and the UK had a very limited focus on developing a creative identity. The value and time given to creative subjects was low. The primary opportunities to develop a creative identity were outside of formal education. The exception was The Ark Montessori nursery school where all types of creativity were explored and supported. The main influences on developing a creative identity were: • Inspiration and learning from her grandmother and me. • Visiting historic and beautiful places, art exhibitions, and traveling to experience different countries and cultures. • Family trips with 3 generations of women involved camping and always creativity such as knotting, story sticks, felting, papercraft, stone and glass painting etc. The lighting of fires, telling stories, singing, playing games all added to encouraging creative expression. • Attending self/family-funded workshops and classes such as Art, Drama, Batik, Jewellery, stained glass etc. ensured the opportunity to develop a creative identity and creative skills essential in life. The above relied on having the money, transport and time to access them. • Developing computer skills for audio visual presentations, leading online and in person presentations using creative skills including drama, photography, film, music and social media. • Attending art exhibitions. Activism in movements for change such a Black Lives Matter. She has been a witness to the barriers women face in life and art and the negative effects of ‘othering’ people but is starting to see slow changes to the visibility of women and ‘others’ in the arts and in the recognition of textiles as an art form. The power of the arts to change society, improve people’s wellbeing, improve career prospects and to give people a voice by using art is becoming ever clearer. Who decides what art is, why it is important, who has access to it and who can produce it is at last changing. It has taken 3 generations to get this far with a long way still to go.
• Patch by Linda
  Working with textiles is my happy place. It permits escape into my ‘other world’ of fabric and fibre, calming my soul, easing my stress and rewarding me with beautiful creations. It enables me to slow down, imagine new things and feel more connected. In other words – is my balm for life!
• Patch by Linda
  Working with textiles is my happy place. It permits escape into my ‘other world’ of fabric and fibre, calming my soul, easing my stress and rewarding me with beautiful creations. It enables me to slow down, imagine new things and feel more connected. In other words – is my balm for life!
• Patch by Lorna
  After life changing injuries in 2000, I decided to join a local quilting group. Ladies have encouraged and supported me to learn new skills. The contribution they have made to my rehabilitation has been so much more than any medical experience.
• Patch by Lorna
  After life changing injuries in 2000, I decided to join a local quilting group. Ladies have encouraged and supported me to learn new skills. The contribution they have made to my rehabilitation has been so much more than any medical experience.
• Patch by Louise
  this patch has no right or wrong side no up or down it no longer functions as a mend to trousers bought a decade or more ago the black patch is from trousers older than that this patch represents six pairs of lunch trousers and one hundred or more small sewings, using real silk thread my mother left, house martens, ravens flying and nesting the russian fishing fleet in Folkestone bay 1964… sheltering a palaver mat… in progress now all in stem stitch the only one I do other than running to patch the patches
• Patch by Mandy
  This patch was inspired by a book called The Lost Quilter by Jennifer Chiaverini about a slave, Joanna, who keeps trying to escape from the cruelty of her masters. She manages to hoard some fabric scraps and make a quilt called Birds in the Air, which is made up of blocks of flying geese patterns. When hung up on outside verandas the triangles face north, the direction in which runaway slaves must go in order to reach the states where slavery has been abolished. It is not a true story but certainly contains a lot of factual material - Joanna is passed from one master to another, and during one escape has to leave her son behind (born as a result of rape from one of her masters). I was very moved by the courage and strength shown which must have been true for hundreds of slaves during this terrible time.
• Patch by Moira
  The piece of stitched fabric that I have contributed is a fragment from a piece that has been kicking around for a long time. It is a perfect example of the quandary we face as textile practitioners regarding the value of the work we do. It started life as a response to the sea at Porthmeor Beach viewed from the café in Tate St Ives. (Middle class arty farty nonsense). It grew slowly away from the seaside, and I never quite loved it and was left with something that had small artistic worth and that I couldn’t turn into anything else. Yet I was unwilling to throw it away. This is often the situation with pieces of textile work – particularly embroidery. We wonder if it should be displayed on a wall, or made into something “useful” such as a cushion or bag or tea cosy or quilt, or, or, or (I guess artists in other media have the same problem with pieces that haven’t earned their frame, but surely none of them are hoping that a painting can be turned into something “useful”). Anyway, I’m happy to have found a new life for a small portion of the work and now that I’ve had the courage to cut it up, I’ll probably be able to incorporate the rest of it into something else.
• Patch by Natalie
  This patch is inspired by my Nana Heather. Agriculture and farming has always been a large part of her identity, having lived rurally in Lincolnshire her whole life. And along with other crafts, gardening is a key part of her creative expression. A potato is one of the simplest foods: cheap, hardy and nourishing. But the plant itself is beautiful with its dense foliage and purple flowers. And to this day, at the ago of 84, my Nana Heather still picks the potatoes from her garden.
• Patch by Patty
  The sheer numbers of patterns and techniques speak to a quilt's art, not it's practicality as a useful object. Quilters and Collectors understand the passion in the creation, evidenced by the careful hoarding and passing them down through generations. Quilts, through time, have reflected political, religious, familial, and many other core beliefs, like most art does. For women of the past this art form was one of the very few ways to identify with issues that were reserved for men. Unlike man of the arts, quilting can be done with simple tools, making it thought less of in the art community. Inspiration for individual quilts that I have made come from external sources, like all art forms, but the reason I make them comes from my Creator. It is not something I do; it is who I am. In the beginning of my circle, I was made in His image and the need to create was innate, and necessary, to reflect Him. In the middle of my circle my mother taught me quilting. This is why quilting became my art expression. I mimicked her, to please and become more like her, creating with my hands and mind. I understood the joy when her hand would slide over a quality piece of fabric and even more when that fabric was given texture, design, and order with stitches. From her I learned the basics, and, with time, I pushed the boundaries she had set and grew in skill and knowledge of the craft. I lost her when she was very young and that changed how and why I quilt. In my circle to come, no longer striving, my will bent and my purpose humbly understood, not to emulate, but to give glory to the giver of all gifts, I will rejoin with my creators, my earthly mother and my heavenly Father with thanks for the gift of quilting.
• Patch by Rachel
  I have been a patchworker since late 1970's. A member of the Quilters Guild of the British Isles I have been a trustee of the Guild and also am a former chair of The British Quilt Study Group. My love of patchwork, its colours and shape of the different blocks and forms has, with my interest in the history of patchwork, merged with the social history attached to the making of quilts, garments and other items from fabric both recycled and new. I am fascinated by the difference in quilts over the years from the iconic 1718 quilt, the oldest dated quilt known in this country, with its intricate blocks and silk fabrics to the quilts depicted in Walter Langley's pictures showing Newlyn fisher girls with basic quilts made from salvaged fabric. so often the maker and the story of her life are unknown but then a letter or diary or family history will reveal information about the probable maker and we can reflect on how she obtained her fabrics, where her inspiration for both the pattern and quilt design came from and the conditions under which the quilt was made. Living in a former port town I have taken elements of the trade to make my patch. The background woollen cloth signifying the huge trade from the area of undyed woollen cloth shipped mainly to the Low Countries from Devon and parts of Somerset, the hexagon patch is the block particularly associated with English paper piecing and the patches have been made using fabric printed in historic Dutch patterns and colours.