hand embroidery

Dog quilt continued: the Portraits

| janethaigh

This is the next instalment of the dog quilt. I decided to stitch proper portraits, close up and personal of 3 dogs belonging to the designer who had originally commissioned the quilt. These dog embroideries were obviously really important to the success of the whole project, so I gave them the centre stage in the compositition. Luckily I was provided with several images of each chosen dog.

For the first one that I stitched (as the trial sample), the photograph was so clear that I could start to draw directly onto the linen fabric using water soluble pen (one that does not disappear after a few hours – these small fine embroideries can take days, even weeks to complete).

Using Derwent Inktense pencils I applied the basic colours of the coat, wet it to blend and intensify the colours then pressed it to fix the dyes. I continued to draw with the water soluble pen to give me the stitch directions for the coat.

When I started the quilt I was sent images of a very young and nervous looking puppy, so decided to wait a while to see how it looked when it had gained its character. Above is my sketch book page with several drawings based on a number of images of a wiser but amusing dog…I used woollen felt and threads to stitch the rich curly coat.

Meanwhile I was working on the remaining dogs that now had to fit into the whole quilt design. One of the first dogs I had chosen to use was Maisie, I had taken many pictures of her over several years as she was one of the elegant greyhounds/lurchers that are regularly rescued by my family. These long legged hounds are the most wonderful dogs to draw, it was hard to choose which position to use.

And there were a few others to make a late appearance; deciding I wanted some extra humour I chose to embroider my toy felt dog that had its back leg chewed off by my first dog, the Fox Terrier Archie. I also included one of my pet hates for dogs, those all-in-one coats with 4 leggings…..so shaming. I chose Kevin, a friends’ Beagle – sorry Kevin but you do have a good range of expressions.

And the last portrait is the German Shepard – I was sent an image of an utterly beautiful dog with a yearning expression – probably wanting a biscuit! I decided to make this the centre piece as it was such a dramatic full-on face. I again worked directly from the photograph( which is rare for me) onto a very rich blue shot-cotton, using my favourite Inktense pigment crayons to draw and dye the cloth prior to stitching.

So slowly, and then very quickly with a deadline looming, the quilt finally started to come together and shown below on my studio table is the final arrangement complete with machine stitched sashing. Eventually I took it to expert quilter, Julie Harvey, who measured, layered and trimmed it, and together we both hand quilted it.

Eventually I posted it to be framed, in some style, by Marcus Wells who had commissioned me to make the work: and here is the finished piece.

And the best outcome of all – I have received commissions for 3 more single dog portraits; what a joyful set of work to start the new year.

commission revisited

| janethaigh

I was invited to the Hugh Lane Gallery in Dublin recently, to discuss the making of the stitched silk covering for the sculpture “Primate”( above) by Daphne Wright. The gallery had recently acquired the sculpture for its permanent collection, and Jessica O’Donnell, the head of the Education and Outreach department, had asked Daphne, who had commissioned me to make this in 2009, if I would be willing to talk to the conservation department to give them any insights into the process. I was so delighted to be asked for this because, I not only could explain the ways of making it, I had kept all the materials and stitching samples, and there is a blog that explains the whole 3 month long process.

We all first viewed Primate in the gallery where he was lying alone in the middle of a large darkened room within a spotlight. Daphne spoke about the difficulties of obtaining the cast and I later talked with her about various ideas and conversations we had about aspects of our collaboration – it had been intense. However, I have seen this work in various circumstances from busy National Trust properties, in commercial art galleries, and our own studios and now here in pure isolation…un-nerving.

Next we went behind the scenes of the museum and I showed the small set of samples (below left) that I had kept: silk organza and different backing materials, paper backed adhesives, silk threads, needles, and the cut out and discarded stitched pieces, even a sample block of the marble resin; all kept in my research stash to explain my journey. Below right shows the way the gallery has now laid them out for viewing in the education department – so perfectly neat and simple.

Below the basic and flawed resin and marble-dust cast of the Rhesus monkey, and the stitch development at about the 3/4 way stage, on my studio table.

And here is the gallery where the Primate was introduced to the public as a new acquisition to the Museum’s collection. When I saw this space for the first time it felt like entering a tomb, or at least a place of veneration and it still makes me feel bereft every time I look at this image.

This commission has had a considerable effect upon my stitched works, even up the present day. For further insights and my stitching this work please go to my post in COMMISSIONS: Primate.

birds in skirts

| janethaigh

I gasped when I first saw these 2 topiary birds when visiting Hidcote to discuss my exhibition “Inspired to Stitch” for the Manor House gallery in 2025, where were the large bases of yew that they had perched upon for over 100 years?

Hidcote then
Hidcote Now

It was explained that the loss is in part due to necessary pruning( after the covid closures) needed to maintain access to the steps to the pool. Now they sit on top of bare but beautifully dappled trunks. I immediately thought “I can mend them”, visually of course! My idea was to create 2 wide ‘skirts’ of different fabrics – but when I started to think about making skirts my mind started to race with ideas. I quickly scribbled some down onto the only scrap of paper I had to hand…..

I decided to make small drawings of the 2 birds and then I could dress them both in a fabric skirt. Now how make this look feasible in reality. Using Inktense pigment crayons A4 sketchbook paper I roughed out the basic hedge shapes, but I had so many different ideas when I looked at my vintage fabrics scraps, that I decided to make a 2 sets of giclee prints, in order to illustrate all my ideas.

Above, the 2 giclee prints developed from the original drawings from my photographs, the first design was for a lattice or Jacobean Laid Work (see below the samples on the rough drawings).

The first skirt sample was stitched straight into a bird print, using a fine twisted cotton thread. When beginning any new project, I always attempt a challenging piece of ‘inspirational’ work, by which I mean it will make me want to carry on with all my new ideas.

Above is the first design I completed for a whole set of 22 ‘Birds in Skirts” and I made them especially to sell at my ‘Inspired to Stitch’ exhibition This is an unusual step for me as I very seldom sell my stitched works. So now they have all been mounted, framed and glazed ready to be delivered to the buyers after the Exhibition closes.

There will be more posts about these stitched prints, as this is a new and exciting way for me to work. It combines my love of drawing and stitching and opportunities to develop many variations using my collection of vintage fabrics. I am now conducting new classes to cover some of the ideas and new-to-me techniques that I developed for creating the Birds in Skirts edition

DRAWN to stitch: gardens & flowers

| janethaigh

This is the foreword, kindly composed by Kaffe Fassett, for the first page of my latest book I made as a catalogue/ picturebook to accompany my latest exhibition Inspired to Stitch: Hidcote Revisited. at Hidcote gardens in Gloucestershire.

It illustrates part of the story of my career in stitched textiles, from my first ever embroidered picture above, made out of the sheer frustration of working in the fast-track commercial fashion industry in London, after I left Liverpool Art College in 1970. And it is an imagined garden.

Fast forward several years to 1992 (you will have to buy the book for more information)and I am totally committed to all things flowers, gardens and topiary! Here are several pages from the book to whet your appetite and first here is Flora, the Roman goddess of Flowers.

Flora is the central image of 9 embroideries called ‘The Flora’ that tells a visual history of the development of, what I now think of as, “designer flowers”.

The Auricula Theatre above, with a series of small giclee prints I developed from the original silk embroidery. The protective curtains are made from a piece of vintage Spitalfields silk.

Pansy Faces and my drawings for the inventions I imagined as my exhibit in our town’s annual flower show.

A personification of Blodeuwedd, or “Flower Face” from Welsh folk lore; this is a giclee print of the original stitched silk collage on paper, that I developed from my old drawings made for ‘The Flora’ .

Here is a bouquet of hand embroidered flowers in ‘After Winifred’. I was given this bouquet during Covid, by a masked friend, in my garden, on my birthday. I was looking back though my Flora drawings to make some joyful embroideries and had bought a book of flower paintings by Winifred Nicholson……

I keep a careful record of all my research drawings, this results in a whole range of different drawings, samples, notes and photographs being kept for further inspiration. Here are typical ways that I use these ideas and studies for new works. Above are some pieces of ‘The Enamel Garden‘ a major academic research project into using textile techniques for other materials, here vitreous enamel on hand cut sheet copper. It is possible to trace how I used my research drawings to create these flowers and hedges.

And my latest canvas work design for Ehrman Tapestry, a version of the Vintage Topiary Bird used for the front cover of the book. I designed this especially for the company to make a kit of this design to celebrate the exhibition…. I will keep the post about making it until later.

And at last I am selling the book from my Shopify site ( QR code below). Above is the flyer for the Hidcote exhibition that gives access to more information into to all the works contained in the book. But best of all in the first week of the show, my first package of books and a giclee print ready to be posted.

HIDCOTE REVISITED: NEW EXHIBITION

| janethaigh

Invited to exhibit my embroideries at Hidcote Manor, a National Trust Garden, in April 2025, I immediately thought of my first visit in the 1970’s; I had just started to embroider, and the effect that it has had on my stitched work ever since. Above is a small selection of my first-ever embroideries that were inspired by my delight and fascination with gardens and flowers.

I stared with basic canvas work and enjoyed the restrictions imposed by the strict stitching and its filling-in-until-you-finish discipline. I was designing pictures in order to learn to embroider my ideas.

It was after visiting Hidcote that I started to draw gardens, mostly details of planting and of course, topiary. I took photographs and scribbled down notes to remember colour planting and topiary shapes to develop into embroideries. Now I realise that this was the time when I found my own way of stitching by using blended colours and really just stitching my drawings. I always scribbled drawings, took too many photographs and made notes ready to be tranformed into working drawings, and this is how start my work now, almost 50 years later.

Above a rather creased poster from my first one person show at Francis Kyle Gallery in 1979, showing my small scale canvas embroideries. My early fascination with topiary is evident.

Oddly I do not actually like the idea of strictly clipped hedges, specially when trimmed into animal and bird shapes, but this feeling completely disappears when I actually see it for real. I find this ambivalence really useful and for me it provokes new ideas; why bother to make anything that holds no meaning, mystery or is simply a puzzle for you to try to solve? But mostly I am delighted by the sheer absurdity of it. Why do we tether bird-shaped hedges to heavy domes of yew – to stop them flying off?

And I have continued to embroider the topiary figures that are often seen in grand gardens. Above is ‘Great Dixter’ a small silk embroidery circa 1980, that was very inspirational in making new pieces for this exhibition. Right is ‘Lytes Carey’, another National Trust garden, this is made mainly with simple large running stitches in woollen yarns onto a wool ground for a big woollen panel, in 2001. I always enjoy seeing the dense green walls of hedges surrounding an abundance of flowers, as seen below on my several visits to Hidcote in 2024.

Insired to make new works for the exhibition, back in the studio I combined different drawings, prints and photograps of several aspects of the garden’s abundance and used some old stencils and wonky photocopies that had been over-printed with my embroidered flower images. From this I developed a collage from shoji paper and stitched silk. Then found an old photograph of the birds as I can remember them with their crowns as peacocks.

The abundance of planting in the garden beds reminded me of Gustav Klimt’s flowery lanscapes, I began to imagine the plants at Hidcote developed into a wall of flowers. I had bought a packet of paper napkins patterned with a Klimt garden for presents to friends, from a museum in Vienna, but had kept them myself. I took one and pinned it to my studio wall, with the other half formed ideas.

Stages in the inspiration: designing, drawing, dyeing and stitching my homage to Gustav Klimt. I stitched a bird in twisted silk thread on a fine silk ground, then painted dye onto another silk ground adding many of the flowers and leaves, found in my photographs, to make the flower wall. Eventually I stitched the finished bird into postion.

The finished ‘Vintage Topiary Bird’ has become the front cover of the picture book/catalogue that I have produced specially for this exhibition. It has just been delivered to the publishers in time to be printed and for sale at the start of the exhibition Inspired to Stitch: Hidcote Revisited.

mending the mending….

| janethaigh

It is not without irony that I am posting the mending my old ‘mended hearts’ metal embroideries.

Above are the original images of 2 pieces of old work (circa 2010), left is Discarded Heart, and right Crossed Heart. They are just 2 of the outcomes of much experiment with some challenging materials – I was interested that these metal fabrics would last for a long time – far longer than the natural fabrics that I usually use…..how wrong I was!

Searching in my studio I found a drawer full of old ‘fabric enamel‘ samples, that I had made use of for Discarded Heart. I had often used drawn thread-work as stencils and amazingly found the original stencil fabric , stretched and ready for use.

The most difficult thing I had to do was to repair the cracked enamel square. I wasn’t sure I could do this as it needed to be re-enamelled in exactly the same place as the original – fat chance! I carefully removed the gilded and stitched leather heart and re-gilded it. SO taking courage in both hands I re-stencilled it using a strong white enamel, then fired it at a very high heat and this made both the pattern very feint, and the cracks filled up – result!

Back of centre panel with leather and bronze fabric cut to free heart for repairs
Front of re-placed re-enammelled heart

To get it back into postition I had to re-excavate and re-drill the stitching holes, so that I could painstakingly stitch the whole square by hand using real metal threads, ( trying hard to stick to my intention of NOT buying new materials but recycle anything I already own). I had several real Japanese gold and some copper wrapped threads to choose from, but this thread had to be strong and resilient for stitching through metal and leather.

After several half days of really awkward stitching, I managed to herringbone a wrapped copper thread all around the square.

Relief, as I had already offered the Discarded Heart (as it was it was originally made from lots of my. unsuccessful samples ) to the Welsh Quilt Centre as part of my 6 months exhibition called Hearts and Flowers in 2024.

So far so good, but the next piece, “Crossed Heart” was really badly damaged – mostly by fading but seemingly anything it had been in contact with over the last 10 years….including my hands while working it! Everything seems to mark these refined woven metal fabrics (and I suspect Boysie, an ex fox terrier stud dog). And I thought that these fabrics would be as hard wearing as they are tough to stitch! I didn’t offer this piece for exhibition as I was not at all sure if I could make it look worthy of being exhibited again.

The only area not stained, faded or split was the centre panel of a decorative cross darn in white wire into a heavy copper mesh I had copied from a Darning Sampler in the Bristol City Museum and Art Gallery which has one of the most famous Sampler collections in the world. I kept this, but now had decide just what to keep as signs of legitimate wear and what I just couldn’t aesthetically live with!

The whole sorry embroidery put onto my worktable and pinned into place – the metal fabrics have a tendency to roll up on themselves when left alone; a metal memory even after 10+ years of being stretched on a fame. The staining is plain to see with the general fading and tarnishing, but what you can’t see are the splits on the background fabrics underneath the rows of herringbone stitches.

The first area I felt confident to work was a rip and I cut away the fraying fabric – a mistake – but hey ho, nothing ventured…and started to darn the gap in the metal and nylon woven fabric with 1 thread from a stranded silver hank of 6 strand….very tricky – I may yet go back and rework this!

I was not very confident to continue, but I had started and I am of the sign of the crab…..very tenacious. Here are various ruined areas of the work, with different mends : a proper running stitch strengthener over a pulled thread area, sewing an extra border in a nylon and probably lurex woven fabric (once a very glamorous skirt worn to a 1 very glamorous occasion)to hide the worst of the staining on the outermost edge of the piece ( Boysie?) and then surrepticious stitches to draw the edges of the split fabric together. The herringbone stitches had started to unravel – and by this time so had I.

but eventually they are finished enough for safely re-stretching and possibly have their place in the lay-out for the gallery as part of a group of stitched metal mended hearts…

The mended Crossed and Discarded Hearts

my badly stitched blanket

| janethaigh

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 sacrificed jacket fabrics reconstructed as a heart – the opening page in my sample/sketch book for
“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.

Flowers for Our Times:

| janethaigh

Over the past few years I have been intending to start selling giclee printed versions of my personal stitched work. The latest pigment prints available are unbelievably faithful in reproducing my finely stitched work…but where to start? Flowers – where else? I determined to develop some new flower embroideries for this venture.

Following on from revisiting my old research books and past work, I decided incorporate the flower embroideries with the Kantha stitched skies as in After Winifred. I took a beautiful bunch of dahlias and held them against a large scale Kantha Stitched sky in progress on my studio wall. I had been brought the flowers by Helen Reed, who owns Court House Farm and runs a seasonal cutting garden amongst other ventures. And where I hold drawing sessions in the summer months.

I also eventually started to work on an idea taken from a rare photograph of my garden Hellebores in a vase and in front of my scarf design of Hellebore flower heads. What is odd is that while Hellebores are one of my most favourite flowers, am not keen on Dahlias and did find myself reluctantly stitching them onto a small version of the Kantha sky. Below are the first 2 prints in the series Flowers For Our Times, on the left is Dahlias, on right, Hellebores

Reflecting on the Dahlias and Hellebore pieces (made between winter 2021 to early 2022) I felt as if I had made a definite link between my old and new work in order to make the really vivid giclee prints, available soon at Heart Space Editions. But although technically demanding, using the new Inktense dyes from Derwent, I decided that this was not the way forward that I had imagined it would be.

  • flower face, stump work, raised hand embroidery, inspiration Archimboldo

I returned again to my early flower work and re-read the catalogue of my exhibition of Flora’s Legacy, held in Bath in 2000 ( yes – so many years ago!!!!!) and realised exactly what was missing – symbolism – or the half hidden messages often contained within these earlier works.The centre-piece from the exhibition, Flora – the Roman goddess of flowers, had what was missing from my new works…the hidden meanings and humour – here some blackish, bawdy humour.

Turning to the many and various dictionaries of symbols I keep in the studio library I thought I would invent a bunch of flowers instead. The meanings of plants and flowers are universal and every culture has its own beliefs, sometimes conflicting – sometimes they are entirely in agreement: a poisonous plant is a poisonous plant. Out of curiosity I checked what the 2 bunches meant adding, the meanings to my original studies…..

I must admit that I was shocked, relieved, delighted and then excited to find that I had embroidered War, Scandal, Uncertainty, Instability and Sickness within 2 pretty bunches of flowers. But everyone else around me was spooked. So – they asked – where did I get this information from? Well in my books of symbolism, the most curious and confusing is The Language of Flowers – but oh the possibilities that it offers for mixed messages and hidden warnings amuse me enough to keep going with this theme.

Using just my old folders and Victorian books of flower meanings lead me to a brand new fully comprehensive dictionary by S. Theresa Dietz – published by Wellfleet Press, and the here I discovered far more arcane information than I had gleaned from my all my original sources.

So now what to do next – can you guess?

check the gallery section to see more outcomes of this ongoing project

My Last Dream Pillow: Don’t Look Down

| janethaigh
          don’t look down!

These rapid drawings below are early attempts to express one of my most vivid dreams lest I ever forget it…. But the dream was not ready to be forgotten, it has reoccured often in one form or another – evidently I have not learned its message; the loosening ladder rungs and the tiny impossible blue window never change

the earliest drawing above on the left has some written comments that I was interested in using for the embroidery also I seem to have both shoes on; the one on the right is scaled up for embroidering on a sheet! What was I thinking?

Here I am again some years later ( the shoes are getting looser) climbing out of the chaos of my scribbled darning designs for a book that eventually never got published!!!!! with a burning heart to the right and no way back down that ladder. Circa 1998.

So I recently decided to embroider it as a pillow for my ongoing project Make it Through the Night . It is a simple idea and my friends who saw the drawing were highly amused by me in my nightdress losing my shoes…but I started this piece just before the lockdown and now I see it in a very different light.

The most recent drawing I made using a photograph of me in my nightshirt climbing on a chair.
drawing now traced straight onto the pillowcase in water soluble pen – all the drawings alongside

The interpretations of dream referring to ladders are many and varied depending if you are climbing up or down, and a broken rung (just the one) means “you will never achieve your greatest ambitions” while “to lose a shoe is indicative that you have forgotten something important ” or “finding your direction in life difficult” – and as to the lack of underclothes whilst climbing a very high wall in your nightshirt……

I found stitching the ladder the most challenging piece of work, a vintage pillow has only a limited space for inserting embroidery hoops and working straight onto fine linen needs stretching. I preferred to use some natural linen yarns and whip them into position making a more fluid line – finding knots and drawing them became a fascination.

above are the various ways I managed to stitch the ladder into position, with and without a stretcher.

Now to the window: in some dreams it is impossibly teeny tiny, in others I get to go through it – only to find a steep and shaky descent on the other side into more blueness, the one thing always in common is that it is always a brilliant and shining deep blue

the background of the sky is painted with cotton dye, then embroidered in silk threads, it is high up in the farthest corner of the pillow case

and here it is finished – washed, starched and pressed as a proper piece of Household Linen

I feel now that it makes its own statement without the added words; and why should it balance? I mean, what am I describing?

AND it is only after finishing this that I see this is a perfect portrait of how I feel right now – just coming out of the strictest lockdown period….uncanny!

However, we were well into the current lockdown before I had found the impetus to finish this work. And while stitching I realised that I just wanted to stop this whole project that excavates very personal ideas, dreams, mottoes, and observations….I did have more ideas that I planned to stitch, but now I no longer want to make them. It has taken me over 10 years, off and on, to get here.

Now I aim to celebrate….