Sarah Appleton - Textile Artist Blog

When I wrote my first blog post about making a block for  Little Amal's Skirt of Welcome  I never expected there to be a second part to the story from my perspective. But after posting a picture of the square that my Mum and I had made on my Instagram  I was surprised to be invited by  Annie Symons  to head up to London to help out with assembling the skirt. I was even more surprised when after I jumped at the chance, my Mum said that she was also up for the adventure too, so in October we headed from Dorset to Highgate Library, with sewing machines in tow. There we met up with a whole team of ultra talented creative people; some sewing, some ironing, some organising and all super friendly and welcoming. I was overjoyed to see our block coincidentally waiting at the top of the next pile on the table to be sewn in as soon as we arrived.  I did various jobs throughout the afternoon, including sewing, trimming, unpicking and sewing again, measuring, cutting, m...

In 2015 I was approached by Bournemouth Borough Council to create a bespoke covering for a very important unveiling ceremony honouring Cecil Noble, a hero of the First World War and Victoria Cross recipient. Yesterday I was reunited with the unveiling cloth when I was invited to a second ceremony, this one honouring Charles Riggs who was also awarded a posthumous Victoria Cross. The ceremony was held exactly 100 years after his death on 1st October and as I found out from my Mum, I also had a Great Great Uncle who died in the war on the very same day. It was lovely to be reunited with such a meaningful piece of work that I haven't seen for so long. I put a lot of thought and energy into making the ceremonial cloth and I worked on it at the same time as finishing a major assignment for university and somehow fitted in a trip to Venice as well?! Well played, Past Me. I used hand embroidery, hand sewing, machine sewing, CAD embroidery with velvets, faux leather, braid, tassels a...