I have been invited to exhibit my work at The Welsh Quilt Centre, when they re- open for next year. So I have been carefully choosing pieces to make a cohesive exhibition of the recent Flowers For Our Time, the related Flora embroideries with the collection of bedding, Make it Through the Night.
I realised that the work chosen fell into 2 distinct groups – there are always cross currents and references in any body of work sustained over long periods of time and some of these embroideries are 20 years old! I wanted to make links between them, and decided on a new piece that encompassed the mending broken hearts themes of the bedding with the perennial flower themes.
“My Badly Stitched Blanket”.
I looked at my studio wall and saw a small group of pinned samples for designs for Ehrman Tapestry company – the rows of split hearts and some fabric scraps that I had wanted to work into new designs. I also thought that it was time to use some of my most beautiful vintage embroidery scraps that I had hoarded for years… I had an idea to make a blanket – a comfort blanket.
I cut a card template and started to place it over the treasured collected fragments of fine hand woven woollen shawls, silk Chinese robes and European woven ribbons and embroideries. I found my own old un-sold fabric design samples (from when I was a free-lance designer for an international fashion fabrics company). I thought I could use all of them all together – more is more!
Choosing from my truly delicious and damaged fabrics, I cut out an oversized heart shape, and quickly realised that my original idea would look like patterned porridge. I needed to add some strong plain contrasts. And this is where the difficult part of this design process really started. I had very 3 old and well loved boiled wool jackets that I didn’t wear anymore I have to admit that I am very attached to my clothes and keep them for years. But the colours were perfect…….
Cutting up the red one was not so bad, it only got used lately for occasional dog walks, and it had suffered from moth. Somehow the idea of setting my treasured vintage and antique fabrics, in new cloth just didn’t seem right. With a heavy heart, and after a few days consideration, I reluctantly unpicked it and started to cut it up for the blocks. This was to be a hand-made quilt and this decision made me consider the work beyond its original purpose by provoking me to consider what it meant for me. It became deep down and personal.
I now wanted to show that this work was a part of my broken and mended hearts theme, which is predominantly red and black embroidery on white bedding, but this was supposed to be a celebration of colour and pattern. Now I was mending, recovering, recycling and rescuing my treasured fabrics and clothes as I had admitted to myself that I was never going to wear or find a better use for them. I couldn’t bring myself to photograph the cutting up of the navy blue Oscar jacket (I have kept half for a pattern – someday).
now the central join of the split heart was to be fully in evidence and the more jagged the join the better…completely at odds with my normal practice of (over) controlled stitching. I decided to use the Surgeons’ Knots on the outer seam and leave it un-neatened, like a scar. I tried various threads; above left an oversewn waxed thread and I thought about gold as still I have real gold threads bought in Japan years ago – totally perfect until I saw a hair conditioner advert featuring gold filling on a dreary vase – suddenly all forms of value has been taken away from this ancient mending symbol for me for now. Then I found the too-heavy-to-sew red silk.
And this is where the title of the quilt arose – there is no way that I could control stitching this yarn and coupled with the slightly wonky sewing in the hearts I think it is a perfect title. Eventually I rescued enough fabrics to make 16 blocks to arrange on the quilt wall ready for sewing together by hand onto a large sample of tartan wool as a backing!
This was plain sailing after all the the decision making – but as I had oversewn the hearts into the blocks in fine wool yarn, I now felt I had to continue with the borders in the same way but the lack of having to rule a stitching line and unpick when necessary made this 2 weeks of work rather than 2days!
I kept the beautifully woven selvedge of the last border fabric as a testament to the quality of “Superfine” British wool and weaving traditions. And here it all is pinned to the wall this morning.
Discover more from JANET HAIGH: HER WORK
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Tried to comment on this on the blog but don’t think it worked. Hope you’re both well. We’re back from six weeks in Tenerife tomorrow. The exhibition will be ravishing if everything is as rich and luscious as your piece. Jxx
Your quilt is so, so beautiful and the story of your thinking and re-thinking how best to create it is as gripping as any whodunnit. It remained me that I met a woman in U.S who had kept every one of her husband’s ties and when he died, made them into a quilt. She said the making of it was the best way she could think of to remember everywhere they had been and how he had looked and wonder what thoughts might have had when choosing the ties.
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Hi thank you – I got the reply it but comes to me first for approval!!!! so I answered this comment for the 2 messages. I really enjoyed doing this wonky/freer stitching as after a run of the fine silk flowers, working on it was like stitching with a poker – no way could I make it perfect and I htink it would lose its…er charm . It is destined for Welsh Quilt Centre in early March….
As to the ties I once worked with a widow for a crazy quilt class, and she brought all her husband’s beautiful tailor-made clothes to make large floor cushions for their children….memorable.
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Oh, oh. It is a thing of beauty and a celebration of the fine and precious materials that you used.
The story behind it’s making is fascinating. It must have been a difficult but very rewarding process.
If I may say this — I hope that ‘my badly stitched blanket’ is not the final title for the work. I think it is beauitfully and significantly stitched.
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Hi Maris, so good to get your message and thank you. I haven’t been blogging for a year for various reasons….but I like this title because I get so hung up, as I am primarily a hand stitcher/embroiderer and can become very tightly controlled when stitching so I do want to free up my stitched work (it was hard not to keep unpicking wonky lines) now it has such a lovely ‘feel’ – properly hand worked.
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