2020
Well, what a year this has been……The Covid pandemic certainly brought a lot of hardship and distress for so many. Its taken its toll.
There’s not been any demand ( I wonder why) for bridal gear this year, so many disappointed brides….
I spent the first lockdown in March 2020 making masks, wash bags and scrubs for our beloved overworked NHS and care staff from donated sheets and duvet covers or my from my stash. I am someone who likes few different projects on the go at once so had to make something else in between to relieve the monotony.!
I had previously started a commission of a dress in Dec 2019, fittings got delayed due to snow and then Covid so it was September 2020 before the lady received her outfit after more tweaking due to weightloss!
A new grandson arrived March 2020 to join his 3 year old big sister so I have been making all sorts of things for them including teddies, clothes, dressing up outfits, playmats to name a few. I d forgotten just how much I loved making children’s clothes. Lots of other babies arrived this year so the sewing machine was well used.
The internet was a life line for me, whether it was for the online textile stitch club I joined, watercolour painting or pilates, all were a Godsend. I learned lots of new things about textile art and sewed anything from plastic bags to paper, made fabric books with random stitches which I thoroughly enjoyed. Random and messy, uneven were words that didn’t usually describe my work, not in bespoke clothing and hats anyway! I found it quite liberating I must admit. Small watercolour projects were great for a filling in between other jobs. And pilates, well, helping me to keep moving!
The knitting and stitching shows couldn’t go ahead butI kept in touch via the website and saw they had a textile portrait competition, I thought why not have a go. I really enjoyed the process, combining my love of drawing faces and fabric seemed an obvious thing to do. I didn’t win a prize but that wasn’t important, it was engaging with others. I did vote for the winner though!
During the summer our local town council commissioned me to design some fabric and make masks to be given to the local shops in town. I had great fun doing this and its nice to see people wearing these bespoke masks.
I hope you like the images of some covid projects and here’s hoping we all get back to doing normal things again soon…….
