Page 91 - The Digital Cloth Holiday issue 2

the form of one-off stitched purses.
Never ever made a purse until now, but
they are really very satisfying to create.
Small, collectible, useful works of art.
Like most of my pieces, they are worked
on a base fabric which has been painted
or covered with hand dyed fabrics. In
this case I have used a mixture of wool
felt and wool viscose felt - paint would
make the fabric too stiff - which
together with interfacing gives a firm

base to stitch. The tiny landscapes are
created using snippets of silks, tweeds,
wools and variegated and metallic
threads. I then spend time lovingly hand
stitching and beading each piece to
further embellish them and bring further
texture, light and shade. They are lined
and then hand stitched into their clasps.
In many ways, ‘lockdown’ has seemed

like life in miniature, tucked away and out
of danger in our homes and family
bubbles, everything has moved at a
different pace and scale – for the time
being I will content myself with the
smaller things in life while dreaming big
…..of the moon, ancient trees and crows
and wide open skies.