Category: History
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English Smocking
It’s been fascinating recently seeing smocking pop up in my Instagram feed. It feels like there’s been a flurry of new interest in this old technique recently. Traditional English smocking has a very fine history from farming smocks of the mid-19th century to to Aesthetic Liberty gowns of the late 19th century as well as…
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Criminal Quilts Case Study – Fanny and Ada Riddle
Criminal Quilts is my an exhibition, research project and book. The textiles I have created are inspired by the stories of women who were photographed on release from Stafford Prison between 1877 and 1916. I was fascinated when I first saw the photographs from the 1870s where the women have their hands on their chests.…
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Memorial Pincushions
My memorial pincushions are part of my new solo exhibition, Textile Traces, opening at Llantarnam Grange Arts Centre 25th May -7th July 2019. I am running a workshop alongside the exhibition to make your own precious pincushion using antique fabrics, hand stitch and decorated with pins. The workshop is £45 including lunch. These pincushions are…
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Suffrage Exhibition at Llantarnam Grange Art Centre
Suffrage is a new exhibition at Llantarnam Grange Art Centre focusing on textile art and political expression to mark the Centenary of Women’s Suffrage. I am one of the exhibiting makers alongside Morwenna Catt, Eleanor Edwardes, Caren Garfen, Rozanne Hawklsey and Sue Shields. The exhibition opens Saturday 6th October 2018. My piece, Prison Apron, explores the prison…
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New Autumn Workshops
I have drastically cut down the amount of public workshops I run since last year and now only run workshops with galleries and museums alongside my exhibitions. This has given me more time to spend on my own work and the chance to write a new book and so much more. My car is feeling…
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Criminal Quilts Work in Progress Showcase
Over the last 6 months I have been working with Wolverhampton University Fashion and Textiles Department as creative partners in Criminal Quilts. I will be showing a small display of new work in progress during the University Degree Show 9th-20th June. Monday to Saturday 10-4. Find the display on the first floor within Fashion and…
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Criminal Herstories
Criminal Herstories is a local history display for Staffordshire libraries related to Criminal Quilts. The display contains a large book based on a prison photo album, of images and information about the prison photo albums and our research about the women appearing in them. It also includes a patchwork made by project volunteers and a…
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Textiles and Dress from Below – Criminal Clothing Research
In June I will be presenting my research on the clothing worn by women in the Stafford Prison photo albums 1877-1916 (from my Criminal Quilts project) at an academic workshop at Wolverhampton University on Thursday 7th June. The event Textiles and Dress from Below: Ordinary and Everyday Textiles and Dress in Museums and Historic Houses looks at…
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Criminal Quilts : Sketchbooks
In between archive visits I have begun working on a sketchbook to gather my thoughts and ideas for the new work I intended to make for the Criminal Quilts exhibitions starting in summer 2018 – which is suddenly really quite soon! I’ve created a sketchbook for sharing with people when I do talks about the…
Ruth Singer 