| I have alway loved to sew and from a very early age I made `things`. My slightly stuffy
grammer school did not encourage me to pursue this interest, and on leaving I went to secretarial college. After marriage and children I decided to go back to college and studied fashion design. On completion I took a teaching course and started to teach Adult Education classes and then worked on both the National Diploma and BA Hons in Fashion and Textiles at Somerset College, finally becoming Curriculum Leader of the National Diploma.
In 2008, after nearly 20 years teaching I was given the opportunity to take voluntary redundancy. Working full time I had become increasingly frustrated at the lack of time I had to focus on my own work. Over the years I found myself more and more drawn to textiles rather than just garment construction and pattern cutting which were my specialist subjects.
I get excited by the sight of bits of cloth, threads, buttons, beads and other forms of embelishment. I now have the time to experiment and try new techniques, and after years of sitting behind a sewing machine I am enjoying stitching by hand.
I have continued to teach on a part time basis running workshops and classes locally. I have had some work exhibited at Ginger Fig in Taunton, and have recently been invited to become a member of One Craft Gallery a co-operative at Shepton Mallet. |
