A mid life crisis …can I really be 50?…and now unbelievably 70 turns around the sun are looming!  A return to school to study textile surface design during my mid life led me to abandon full time “official” work and concentrate on developing my fibre art skills.  I have been sewing since a young child and have merged sewing with applied graphic and architectural design work experience to create whimsical multi layered images, clothing and objects.

I learned to sew on my grandmother’s Singer sewing machine and it is one of three machines I still use today, but I also incorporate many non-sewing techniques. I am embracing new technologies with printing digital collage on fabric, but also employ traditional hand skills. Wet felting is one of my favourites, particularly using silk fabric with wool fibres to create nuno felt, which I embellish with hand stitch and beads. Physical limitations, both of space and body, are leading me in the direction of smaller items, in particular fine felted jewellery.