It all began in 1939 with Lavender-May receiving a beautiful, traditional, Singer hand sewing machine. Some 72 years later, I became privileged enough to take the honour of bringing her back to life. Winter 2010 brings a new generation into the world; another beautiful daughter. With my older daughter starting school in the Autumn of 2011, I began to think of a way to avoid the rat-race to which I
previously belonged. My own grandmother had passed away in the winter of 2009 and an old electric Benina looked at me everyday asking “why aren’t you using me?” So, determined to prove a point to my own, very practical and creative mother, I set about making a curtain for myself: Saturday afternoon and the smoking dust of the past, burns into the future of my very own living room (literally), with a panic in my eye I turn the machine off and remove it from the wooden table! And, of course, I call on Mum, good old Mum with a “help, I think I’ve broken the Benina”. To which, she coolly responds; “well dust down the Singer and see how she goes”. So, I did, and here I am, starting a few stitches,on a new path of discovery. Sentimentality is a funny old thing. I want this ethos to carry on through in the things I produce, every piece with its own story to tell. Reclaimed fabrics, once loved by someone, brought back to life, reincarnated into a new being. So, here I am, begging friends and family from ‘Knitting Nana’ to ‘Jack of all trades’, for scraps deep within their baskets, bags, lofts and alike. Personally scavenging and rooting through car booter’s bits and charity shop rails, inspired by the history and a sense of good will. It is evolutionary, it is ethical and most of all, it is fun!
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