For the love of cloth: an embroidery adventure

For the Love of Cloth Evoking the spirit of William Morris, these two pieces celebrate the indispensable contribution of the craftsman to art and design. The research is presented as an illustrated timeline depicting the evolution of British disciplines such as weaving, tapestry, lace, knitting, dyeing and printing.

Scenes of nature envelope the work, an ever present deity, reminding us that this wealth of art would be not possible without it, both for raw materials and as a source of inspiration.

As these pieces pay homage to a variety of skills, I wanted the process to embody the same spirit. The first step in creating the two pieces involved drawing the illustrations for each by hand. The designs for the scarf were then digitalised and composed into a print, intervened with hand painting and finally textured with embroidery. The trousers are an homage to William Morris’ sensibility and his love of British fauna. The willow bow print set the perfect scene for the series of woodland creatures I had illustrated, which were hand transferred and further embellished with rich, yet delicate embroideries.

If we forget, the crafts are lost. These pieces were designed with the intention that the wearer drape themselves in this rich history.

Printed versions of the FTLOC scarf avilable on order. Get in touch to request yours.