Sarah Appleton - Textile Artist Blog

One of my favourite artists is LS Lowry and a few years ago I was given a wonderful gift of a cross-stitch kit featuring his 'Street Scene' [1935] painting. I've been working on it on and off in my limited leisure time since then and thought that I might start chronicling the progress via my blog in order to stay motivated and show off what I've done. The finished size is 32cm x 26cm, so avid cross-stitchers will understand what a big undertaking it it - but I'm determined to get it finished! Just to give you an idea of the time that goes into these types of projects here's a spot the difference for you:  Yes I did put it on the ground And after several hours of work here's my progress: As you can see - not a huge amount of change but it's somewhat fulfilling to take these progress pictures when you are working on a bigger piece. Maybe I'm a slow stitcher?! I think I might be, but that makes it even more rewarding in the end! I'll keep updating a...

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...

Yesterday was the official opening and Private View of the Textile Textures exhibition at Walford Mill Crafts , which some of my work is featured in. I feel very pleased and privileged to be included amongst some truly talented and established names in the world of Textile Art and this has given me a great lift, personally and professionally. Sometimes as a graduate you feel a bit lost out in the 'real world; but being included in an exhibition is an undeniable step in the right direction! Here's some pictures from the gallery: An overview of my zone: The 3D beadwork sampler I wrote about previously : Another strange, alien landscape textured drawing: Deep Sea Viper hand embroidery with audio reactive LED circuit (I program and install all the lights and circuitry myself): Hullo, I eat batteries Some hand embroidery n fluff n stuff: A framed textural drawing / investigation: Laser cut bugs in the window! Note to self: make more of these Sketch book...

I've spent all my spare time in the last month creating a new piece of work for the upcoming 'Textile Textures' exhibition at  Walford Mill . It's a recreation of an old 3D beadwork sampler I made during my internship at Hand & Lock a couple of years ago, which was influenced by Science Fiction . I tried to stay as close to the original work as possible, although not having access to the same materials meant that some of it had to change; however on the whole I think it came out even better than the original and I'm really glad that I had the opportunity to make it again for what will be a great exhibition! Here's some photos of the new work: Tiny fields of alien crops Although it's inspired by outer space, this work complements my Final Major Project degree work (which was inspired by deep sea creatures) in terms of colour pallet and general aesthetics. I really like that although both these projects were influenced by entirely dif...

With the new year in full swing I am now trying to focus more on refining my 'brand'; my style and the direction I would like to take my work in. I usually refer to myself as a 'Textile Artist' because I like that this is an ambiguous title which is difficult to define. My work to date often blurs boundaries between illustration, textiles, fine art, craft, costume and fashion, so it's kind of easier to sum that up by calling it 'Textile Art'. The first piece I created for this 'polishing' is what I'm calling the 'Little Bird' embroidery (imaginative, I know): This is only 3" in diameter, so he truly is little; a fun and quick little piece to start the new year with. The bird itself was inspired by a carved wooden mantelpiece I saw at a museum in North Wales recently: Little Bird is in the middle there; I changed him slightly from the original to make him mine and not just a copy. I also really like the plant and clock and have...

Like everyone else, I rarely have time to work on projects that are all for myself these days, but over the holidays I made time for a quick project I'd been planning for a while. I had a plain faux suede turquoise shift dress (apologies for the following terrible two photos): From meh... That I wanted to embellish and make more exciting, like so: ...to yeh! With just a little bit of embroidery around the neckline and pockets I think it looks much more interesting. Here's some better photos with detail: The yellowy greeny thread is your regular DMC / Anchor type but the blue thread is a vintage 1960s Swedish silk that I picked up from  Linladen  at the Festival of Quilts last August. This is a really good quality thread that I'll be saving for the most special projects! I chose the pocket pattern from Constance Howard's book 'Inspiration for Embroidery' and the herringbone stitch is one that I've been using in various projects for a while...

I am currently one of six third year Textiles students taking part in a small exhibition in the BUMF Gallery space at AUB. This was a great experience for me to see what goes into the making of an exhibition and to work as part of a team to co-ordinate the organisation. My exhibits Some more photos and kind words about the exhibition can be seen over at the  Sophie Mortimore Photography  blog here:  http://www.sophiemortimorephotography.blogspot.co.uk/2016/01/bumf-gallery-here-there-and-everywhere.html?m=1

There's a short blurb up about my work and experience at Hand & Lock, London on my University website today! Click to see pictures and read a little about my work: http://aub.ac.uk/course-info/course-news/textiles-placement-hand-lock/

Today I did a few small errands such as buying stationery, making tea for visitors and folding / packing shirts: But mainly I continued with my creative beadwork samples. Here are some photos of what I've done so far: As I said yesterday, I chose materials that I liked the colours and shapes of and began with this sample: As I'd been asked to find inventive new ways of using existing stock I used the oversized sequins upside down, which sort of reminded me of satellite dishes so as I went on sampling, I made myself a mental mood board of sci-fi b-movies and tried to make new shapes and patterns that were reminiscent of UFOs or strange plants that could be growing on other planets. Here are some images that might help explain what I mean: Barbarella War Of The Worlds illustration by Edward Gorey Plan 9 From Outer Space AT-ST I still have some more work to do on these samples but I'm enjoying the opportunity to be creative and have had some very ...