About Me

I’m a true ‘home bird’. My family and home are the most important things in my world. Since becoming a mother shortly after completing my degree in textile design, my home has been my kingdom. And my home has largely been my work base over the years, so it’s really no surprise that this is also where my passion lies within my artwork.

If I were a scientist or a traveller then I’m sure my work would be very different; I’d have other, perhaps more exciting, stories to tell. But I’m not. In truth, for many years I’ve had a sense of inferiority around this, and my stitching became my way of making sense of these feelings.

I now proudly draw my inspiration from the everyday. Everyday people and everyday things. I’m endlessly fascinated by ordinary people and their stories, particularly their reflections and memories of home and working lives. I believe that at the heart of most ordinary stories lie extraordinary people and my stitching is my way of acknowledging this.

I love words and text and they feature strongly in my work, mostly in the form of handwriting taken from old family recipes, letters and postcards. The words are meticulously hand stitched, leaving a permanent mark of something that may have been insignificant or is almost certainly long forgotten.

I’m drawn to using discarded materials, often old pieces of clothing or domestic textiles. Materials previously used, washed and worn carry their own hidden stories. I love the thought that an old piece of clothing is implanted with stories of the wearer or that a piece of vintage table linen holds the secrets of a household.

I layer and patch these together, combining them with hand stitch. This inevitably becomes a slow and thoughtful process – there’s something so personal about leaving your mark with needle and thread. Some of the stories I tell are imagined, but the real stories are also present, lying within the fabric, remaining hidden among the layers.

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