Hand Stitching and Fabric Collage

My grandmothers taught me hand stitching as a little girl. They were hard taskmasters, and if the stitches weren’t perfect, I ripped them out and did it over again. After many, many handkerchiefs, napkins, placemats and samplers, I set the embroidery floss aside, and when I took it up again decades later, didn’t even try to make the stitches perfect. I even use the sewing machine on occasion, alongside the hand work, for just the right texture and line. But I think the grandmothers would still approve. I like to stitch onto old textiles; the spirit of the women who made and used them the first time around endures and gives an added dimension of meaning.

My stitchings aren't all square, but website thumbnails are! Click on the photos to see what the whole piece looks like.