About Me
Hello. I am seventy five years old and this is my very first degree
Together with the birth of my daughter came the birth of a lifelong love of design and dressmaking as I could not afford to buy what I wanted her to wear. That was my starting point and for over fifty years I have continued to perfect this art. From being purely self-taught to embarking and journeying on this road to a BA degree. My reward is yet to come.
I have covered many forms of the design and dressmaking process from wedding dresses to christening gowns and beyond. The only insights I have ever had was watching my aunt sew on her old treadle machine. Sitting on the opposite side, yet never being allowed to touch, and being fascinated by the process and what emerged through the needle to my viewing side. My grand mother also sewed and made my mothers wedding dress which I still have and guard with my life. Sewing has kept me going through all the drama’s that life has thrown at me including being hospitalised with Covid 19, yet here I am.
INSPIRATION
LOVE LETTER THROUGH HOPPING
My concept is childhood working holidays with family and friends. Hop picking was the only holiday I had until I left school, it was such an adventure that I wished I could have taken my own children so that they could have had the same experience. Hops were, and still are, the fragrance of Heaven and just being among them reminds me of the wonderful holidays we had and the loving family that have now passed.
The fashion of the crossover overall, the hop poles resembling pin tucks, the oast house create the funnel shape and the tendrils of the hops likened to the spirals of satin bias. The corset always worn by my aunt, the grandad shirt as a sign of the times and the cap always my dads favourite.
MY WORK
PORTFOLIOS
DETAIL
detail of oversize shirt, corset and cap
calico, graduated weaving of organza ribbon, satin bias binding
family is first, last and always.
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