The final flourish!

As a member of the Stitched Textile Artists I have enjoyed creating an installation presenting objects  relevant to the theme 'Collections' which will be part of a body of work exhibited by STA at ACEarts Gallery, Somerton, Somerset in November / December 2024.

 To summarise, my work represents a collection of exquisite lace bobbins and lace motifs worked by and entrusted to me by my Aunt. These, plus vintage family photographs featuring my Aunt and my mother playing as children plus my Aunt's poetry capture moments in time. I have been inspired to preserve these precious memories and their meaning within a child's dress using a process of printing, altered photographs, collage, layering and stitching thus ensuring their safe keeping.

The dress is accompanied by a hand crafted book to tell the story of the project's conception.

The front of the child's dress:

The bodice is composed of an original vintage photograph as a base layer over which I have laid the same image printed onto cotton organdie, cut outs of the girls plus a free machine stitched outline  also worked on cotton organdie - all of which together create an impression of time passed and lingering memories. I have also incorporated within the layers images of the lace motif  which originally inspired me to bring the concept of the project together.

The girls' dresses on the photo feature some beautifully embroidered daisies and so I have worked these by hand within the bodice, skirt and sleeves using eyelet and lazy daisy stitches. 

The waistline is accentuated by some machine wrapped cord couched into place from which hang my representation of the lace bobbins crafted with papier mache and wrapped with cotton thread and beads. 

My Aunts love of poetry is demonstrated around the dress hem, on this occasion she has quoted Shakespeare but a selection of her poetry is also featured in the book accompanying the dress.

The back of the dress:

The back of the dress is plainer but the bodice features my interpretation of my favourite lace motif worked by hand using a cut work technique which encloses another vintage photograph of my mother and my aunt.

Display of the dress as a centrepiece

My idea is for the dress to be suspended from above inviting visitors to walk around enabling them to view the dress from both front and back. On the table top below the dress I plan to display the hand crafted book to accompany the dress along with artefacts which are relevant to my  collections theme.

 I have added strips of my favourite poem composed by my Aunt worked in stem stitch and decorated with hand stitched daisy chains along the edges of the table. The daisies are worked as before but connected with a detached chain stitch. 

The book 

The book is hand crafted and tells the story of the project's conception; it is featured in the previous chapter page by page.

Also featured on the table top:

The original lace bobbins:

Sewing paraphernalia: Vintage cotton reels, needle and thread, thimble, scissors and daisies overflowing from a vintage glass pot. Plus some exquisite porcelain roses crafted by my aunt. These are enclosed in a glass dome to protect and keep them secure.

Delicate bag fashioned from 2 lace doilies:

Ideas for the customised vintage picture frame to present the original vintage photo:

                                                               The finished frame:

       

                                   

                                       Customised vintage picture frame to present my artist statement

A. Resolving the styling of the dress and looking at options for the sash

Dress front thus far with the altered vintage photo incorporated into the bodice; daisy detail worked in eyelet and lazy daisy stitch to represent the embroidery featured on the girls' dresses; a line of poetry worked in stem stitch along the lower edge to represent my Aunt's love of poetry and the papier mache bobbins to represent the originals bequeathed to me by my Aunt:

The dress back with a central motif worked in hand stitched cut work to represent my Aunt's lace motif. I need to consider further additions of daisies to the bodice back and skirt:

Options for the sash: I had a vision of stitching a strip of my Aunt's poetry  along the length of the sash but it soon became clear that this would be too heavy and cumbersome. Instead I decided to use a length of cord machine wrapped with white, grey and silver threads which worked well couched along the lower edge of the bodice. An idea had been for two of the papier mache bobbins to be suspended from the sash but I was unhappy with their alignment; this was remedied with the use of two acorn cups  painted white and into which a hole was drilled to accommodate the ends of the sash which then wrapped nicely around the bobbins and allowed them to hang nicely as seen on the above photo of the dress front.      

B. Compilation of a book to accompany the dress to tell the story of it's conception

I have compiled this little book to tell the story of the  conception of this project and to demonstrate, through my own emotional responses, how I have used the dress to show and celebrate the worth and value of the work represented within it. I feel that through my own approach and artwork I have  brought past memories and the present together.

I made a batch of hand made papers with which to construct the book. I wanted to achieve a worn look and used a  selection of finer and tissue papers  to make a paper pulp which I felt would compliment the lace motifs made by my aunt. The book is composed of 4 signatures which are bound together in a basic codex method [information from Cover to Cover by Shereen La Plantz]. This basic structure has facilitated the addition of one of my papier mache bobbins to decorate the spine of the book. 

This is the front cover adorned with the lace motif which inspired the project plus one of the vintage photos featuring my aunt and my mother. I feel the papier mache bobbin attached to the spine compliments the textures of the hand made paper:

Pages of the book in first signature featuring the introduction and lace motifs worked by my Aunt:

Signature 2. The bobbins:

Signature 3 The bodice: 

Altered photos:

The bodice back:

Sleeves:

Signature 4. The poetry:

My Aunt composed and published many poems 'to paint with words' especially in her later life. I have chosen this font for the text as she used an old type writer to write as her hand writing deteriorated. She used a quote from Shakespeare's Midsummer Night's Dream to embroider a sampler depicting the family farmhouse, her own personal take on Shakespeare - which I have used to embroider the hem on the dress.

"I know a bank where the wild thyme blows." Personally I love the  suggestion of movement in these words as I conjure up my own memories of the hillside pastures she is referring to.

I have selected a few of her poems to reflect the love she felt for her homestead in rural Somerset. She used colour in her poems and describes her surroundings in a very painterly way.

My Aunt:

The next step will be to decide how I will present the dress as I prepare to exhibit it with The Stitched Textile Group in the Ace Gallery, Somerton,  Somerset.  I envisage suspending the dress inviting visitors to walk around it. 

I have a strip of embroidered poetry text from which to hang it in some way incorporating an embroidered 'daisy chain.' I need to consider this carefully. Feeling excited!