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Stitched Faces


I 've always enjoyed that imperfect line of  "not quite in control' free motion machine stitching....  I think it really suits creating portraits , giving them some character and even a quirkiness that hints of personality plus.  These ones below are from my " Red Cheeks" series from a couple of years ago, and are amongst my favourite stitched portraits. 


The current Stitch Club ( textileartist.org) workshop, by  Batool Showghi has inspired me to stitch more this week. Batool , of course, is in complete control of her machine stitching and her works are exquisite and they tell a moving story.  ... " Working with paper, print, paint and stitch, her textile art bears witness to displacement, silenced women and the damage that authoritarian regimes impose on ordinary lives.

Batool’s mixed media wall pieces are incredibly striking, but her artist books truly set her apart. Printed imagery of family photographs, birth certificate documents and her own Farsi handwriting are complemented by intricate machine stitching and paint.... " from https://www.textileartist.org/batool-showghi-threads-of-resistance/

Batool Showghi, Woman Life Freedom, One Body, 2024. 45cm x 45cm (18″ x 18″). Fabric, thread, marker pen. from https://www.textileartist.org/batool-showghi-threads-of-resistance/


 While I'm currently doing #the100dayproject, highlighting 100 women who have inspired me #100daysofinspiringwomen and it is close to the end, I started to think about creating a concertina book as explained by Batool and feature either the amazing women I've worked with in Papua New Guinea or in Nepal . The first photo in the blog isn't quite what I planned as a practice run for Nepal, but this one below looked like one of the girls in the village in the Eastern Highlands, PNG. While I like stitching onto botanical prints on khadi paper, I am still undecided which of the countries I should feature? 



When I put both of these latest stitched faces up for comment  in the Stitch Club , I got some good suggestions to create "Colourful Women of the World", instead of limiting to one culture - what do you think? 



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