Lindas talk

Linda Babb, another member of the Brunel Broderers, gave my embroidery group a fantastic talk about her travels in India and bought her splendid collection of Indian textiles for us to marvel over. Thanks Linda for a truly inspirational morning!

News from Corinne

Corinne is experimenting with her new ipad  so this image comes from this new bit of technology. The image is of stitching into the jelly prints she has been experimenting with.

Lastest testing

I have been thinking about the work that I do and have come up with a new title for myself.  I am a ' cloth investigator' who interrogates cloth and records the findings from the process of applying a series of pre-selected patterns to my work.

This is a new sample of a series that I am working on and thought you would like to see it.

"A Caravan of Cuffs" by Lizzie Weir, new work for Suited 2013...

Through manipulation, altering and gentle persuasion a 'caravan of cuffs' slowly begun to grow from the pile of fabrics passed into my care from the tailors shop. 

In essence the fabrics are utilitarian, however they have a history and beauty that I feel essential is retained and respected.

A lost pattern was found, circa 1951, on an African Newspaper from when my Grandparents and Mother were living in Malawi.  

The cuffs were realised....and slowly they became a caravan, weaving, communicating and moving across the floor...

Some large, imposing, leading, some small, following and learning...

I have been mono-printing with my group in Preston, Cirencester. It creates a lively, spontaneous line. After printing onto the fabric I add colour with silk paints. I then select threads and begin to stitch, trying not to lose that movement and simplicity.

I've been thinking about stitch. For me stitch is done by both hand and machine  I use an old 'Bernina' machine   a real work horse. It will stitch neatly and precisely but fabric can also be pulled through at speed distorting the tension. I often work from the reverse of the image. The unexpected results add freedom and spontaneity to the surface.

As well as being a reflective and meditative process it can also be seen as an energetic and challenging activity. Polly Binns writes of: “a sense of struggle and frustration; process becomes a conscious mark-making, not a soothing or repetitive rhythmic activity. However, the most successful pieces [for me] are those which develop from considerable lengths of time in the ‘meditative’ process stage, while the actual activity of making happens very rapidly, almost angrily.” ’Art Textiles of the World, Great Britain, Vol. 2. p.72

I will often work standing at the studio wall, making some marks, walking away, then turning to catch a glimpse liz hardinglike something noticed in the landscape.