My research has centred around the transition from the past, present onto my future self. Memory and the fragmentation of past events through imagery, design, print and colour have been used to relay a life cycle of experiences embroidered onto a duvet, an everyday object that protects and comforts an ever-growing developing human being. Bedtime and sleep can mean a reflection on events before drifting off to sleep, to dream in what can be a series of thoughts and images and sensations. The beginning of the story is a self-portrait and continues with embroidery of my life through marriage, love, parenthood and other major milestones.

The duvet is moving in a clockwise direction. The ‘knitted section’ represents my time at University studying textiles, moving onto my printed design career made up of textured geometrics, my ownership of a home in an estate named after flowers, a new build estate that has changed the local landscape. My wedding photo backdrop, a toile du jour of my children, my little adventure into embroidered animals during lockdown and the abstract textured section to represent the uncertainty of the future being an artist and mother. The image is a close up of my work as a printed textiles designer. It was a job that saw a lot of changes in technology. I started by hand painting images onto fabric and slowly transitioned into CAD. Fabrics where digitally printed but later warped onto digital visions of how the prints would look, ready for people to download. Throughout there remained a desire for images/patterns to be created by hand, a romance with creativity. Often when seeing my designs in shops the way to truly know it was mine was in the mistakes made. In the embroidery this is represented by one diamond being blue, whilst the others are tan.

Photography by Jutta Klee

Photography by Jutta Klee

In the middle of my piece is a self-portrait, it’s the most important aspect of my work because the piece is about me, my life, my evolution. It relays the difficulty of living life as a creative. The highs, lows and forgotten hours spent creating, sometimes with little reward or recognition, being overlooked but also the personnel satisfaction of completing something unique, beautiful and thought provoking.  The daily struggle of craft and art.

photography by Jutta Klee

The end of the story Is the completion of this embroidery, a record of the historical events of my life that will impact my future.  It’s a canopy of layers with the past being not in the dark but, like the future, fighting to reach the sky in full colour. The next section to embroider is the customised backdrop I designed for my wedding. It had hidden images concealed in its decorative appearance; a static caravan is hidden away to highlight childhood holidays spent in British seaside resorts. The toile du jouy features my girls in everyday activities like bike riding, a romanticised vision of childhood that can be overrun by technology and online addiction. The embroidered pugs demonstrate my activity during covid. Motherhood and the decline in people buying printed textiles had me become a stay-at-home parent and the need to explore something new and exciting. My embroidery experience started by designing and embroidering animals wearing patterned clothing just for my children. Through my own drive I went on a journey through using stitch as a expressive medium to showcase thoughts and feelings as well as creating decoration with fragments of a past shining through.