Atelier Hope

I spend my time between my French atelier and Cornish studio, where I offer workshops in ‘altered textiles’ and slow stitching.

My work celebrates timeworn, humble,homespun fabrics, and other utilitarian, domestic, practical items such as tattered quilt sections, and worn clothing, mainly sourced from rural France. From these precious fragments I create textile art pieces.

The clothing and domestic items I use are not high end examples of a gentle woman’s stitching prowess but those created through necessity, not hobby, by hard working housewives.

The quilt sections for example are often created from scraps of worn or outgrown clothing and with blanket scraps as inner layers, these items were then added to over the years as they became worn.

They act as time capsules for the families that owned them. A history of the clothing and other textile items that were owned and worn day to day. Stitched together with small, hand stitches, and a testament to the hard working women who created them.

In my eyes they are works of art already. These faded, worn, darned and patched quilts or heavily darned clothing, have lived a hard life and it is now their time to retire. Like a textile archivist I peel back the layers and expose the wear that has been covered up and reinforced. I want every repair, fabric and area of damage to be preserved and have their moment to shine.

Once deconstructed I then embark on a process of re-building the piece. I like to work in some small way, as these women would have done; In natural day light or by an open fire. I think of the hands that created these quilts or made these clothes and kept them alive and functioning.

I prefer fabric that is so worn and fragile that you can tear it. With careful handling and minimal intervention I re-attach the chosen pieces to dyed, felted wool from old chateau curtain thermal linings. Using antique French embroidery silks my stitches act as staples to attach the fragile fragments to the backing. I love to see my stitches sit alongside those of the original maker. I leave stray threads as part of the story.

Workshops offered. Please contact me for more information.