Tag Archives: textile

Postable Presents

Posted in Books by

Small gifts from Ruth Singer ready for shipping

Some ideas for small, postable gifts and digital gifts for the crime or craft-loving person on your list. Or you can add these to your own Christmas list. I’m happy to gift wrap and send to your recipient with a hand written card too, to save two lots of postage. Just leave a note in the order form and I’ll contact you to confirm. Browse the whole shop here. I’ve also got digital products for instant arrival and gift vouchers – you can choose to email a PDF or I’ll send a printed one in a card.

Book and Cards Gift Bundle £25
Mini digital print £15
Rainbow Pin £75
Gift Voucher from £5
Colouring book – from £5
6 Point Star Original Print £37
Cover of book Fabric Manipulation by Ruth Singer featuring purple pleated trim on white
Fabric Manipulation Signed Copy £16
Workshop 29th January £75

Hand stitched textiles – creating cloth with meaning

Posted in Art Textiles, My work, Work With Me by

I am hosting a new three-day course at the lovely West Dean College, this June, one of only three workshops I am running this year.

This art textiles course aims to be a relaxed and enjoyable adventure into creative textiles following the studio practice of textile artist Ruth Singer. Over the course of three days you will explore a range of slow, thoughtful textile practices to create cloth with meaning.

The course begins with an exploration of antique and personal textiles, the stories they hold and how you can use them to tell personal narratives. You will experiment with simple, effective hand stitch to add pattern and text onto fabric, as well as fabric manipulation techniques such as reverse appliqué, shadow work and trapunto quilting to add texture and structure. Also experiment with using found objects, scraps, natural materials and vintage haberdashery. You can choose to create samples during the course or keep working on a piece to make a finished artwork, such as an heirloom pin cushion. 8th – 11th June. Book here. £383.00 for the course, plus accommodation.

Trapunto Quilting Research

Posted in Books, Textile History by

My love of corded and stuffed quilting runs very deep. I first taught myself the technique about 15 years ago after seeing it used in 1930s couture garments at the V&A when I worked there. I later discovered the Tristan Quilt, a 14th century trapunto quilt, which is in the V&A but it wasn’t on display while I worked there. Over the last few years working as a professional artist / maker / tutor and writer of books, I have continued to explore trapunto / corded quilting as much as possible. I have covered the technique in basics in my first book Sew It Up, and then in much more detail in Fabric Manipulation. I have also taught the basics of the technique to hundreds of people, including for the last 10 years at Festival of Quilts. I’ve continued to research the technique by visiting museums and arranging store visits to see original pieces (mostly 18th century), and collected old quilting books which occasionally mention the technique. I have already created a very brief history of the technique which is online here, and have copies of the two main books on the subject, but there is much they don’t cover which I want to explore.

I’ve now received a small professional development grant from The Textile Society to take this research forward on 2020. I will be visiting museums, exploring online catalogues and reading books to create a list of corded & stuffed quilting in collections in the UK, and start working towards a book which will cover both the history and the contemporary practice of this wonderful, under-appreciated technique. If you have any examples in your personal collections or know of any in museums, please do get in touch.

The two photographs are my own pieces made for publications, inspired by historic examples. I will be teaching the techniques again at Festival of Quilts in 2020 and will be running a masterclass at some point in 2020-21 too. Please join my mailing list to be first to receive workshop and talk information.

 

Commissions

Posted in Art Textiles, My work by

In recent months I have completed a couple of commissions.

 

The large panel is worked onto blue linen with scraps of antique fabrics including 18th century tapestry, 19th century embroidery and 17th century brocade. I’ve added lots of hand embroidery details and several found objects embellished with hand stitch and silk threads. The objects include medieval metal detector finds including belt ends and buckles. I love these little details and the historical stories in the textiles, all of which are meaningful to the customers.

 

Another commission made last year.

This piece is more focussed around textiles and sewing, with thread winders, tape measure, thimble and some of the customers’ own handmade buttons and reflects their love of colour! This one is mounted on cream wool felt.

 

Commissions like these cost £350-£500 depending on size, complexity and materials (plus framing, I use bespoke, solid wood frames without glass). Smaller pieces are also an option with just one or two elements.

If you would like to discuss a commission please get in touch for a free discussion.

Fragments Exhibition

Posted in Exhibitions, My work by

My new exhibition Fragments is now open at Minerva Arts Centre, Llanidloes, Wales and continues until 16th September 2017.

The exhibition includes several new pieces of work inspired by quilt history and some older pieces which fit into the same theme including my paper quilt, the Criminal Quilts : Hanging and Star Quilt. The new work has developed from my research visit to see the quilts in February this year combined with my own collection of old and worn patchwork, plus at least a decade’s fascination with old quilts and their history.

Quilt Association collection

 

Two previous blog posts explore the process in more detail and all the pieces in the exhibition are described here.

Rethink your Mind

Posted in career, Inspiration, Life by

I’m pleased to have a new piece of work selected for the ReThinkYourMind Yellow Book project.

My piece Ash Map will be included in the new book for 2017 which will be launched this week after an awards reception at the House of Lords last week, although I was at the Contemporary Craft Festival so wasn’t able to attend the awards.

The theme for entries was ‘I feel better when….’ and for me this is walking in the countryside. The line of the piece follows the route of a walk and is stitched with the seeds of an ash tree (called keys) which I collected. This work and a number of others exploring the natural world and the therapeutic nature of walking were created in late 2015 as I was dealing with a painful relationship break up when walking was essential to calm my mind and focus on things outside of my own head. Walking a lot is nothing new for me, I have always loved walking, but these pieces are the first work I have produced which use this experience of walking as a theme and inspiration to making. I am continuing to develop new work around walking, my experience of the natural world and hope to have an exhibition of new pieces in 2018.

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Textile Memories

Posted in Art Textiles, Collaborations, Exhibitions, My work, Narrative Threads by

My forthcoming exhibition Narrative Threads explores physical and emotional engagement with cloth, exploring tactility, memory and personal stories, mostly around old domestic textiles. I’m interested in looking at how we feel about old fabrics; tablecloths with stains and dusters with holes and how the role of the artist changes a piece of fabric from something ordinary to something very special.

 

I’m starting to gather a collection of cloth memories and would love if you could add yours to my collection. I want to create a piece using scraps of cloth printed or embroidered with your tactile memories of cloth. It can be from any time in your life; distant childhood or just yesterday.

Please leave a comment with your memory, the type of cloth that it refers to and your name. If you use the form below, your comment will be emailed to me and won’t appear on the website.