With less than a week left to view Dundee Stitch & Textile Group’s mesmerising ‘The Journey So Far’ Exhibition here at Verdant Works Museum, some of the group’s stitchers shared the stories behind their beautiful works. The exhibition is included in museum admission and is on display until 21st July 2024 during museum opening hours.

In this blog, Angela, Alison and Muriel – creators of woven portraits, mixed materials and stitched photographs within the exhibition – uncover the processes and influences behind their remarkable pieces.

A poignant family portrait

One of only two pieces in ‘The Journey So Far’ to depict the human form, Angela’s ‘Granny Flo’ combines found and re-used fabrics to pay tribute to a family figure of great inspiration.

The word “portrait” traditionally evokes images of painted pieces or photographs. However, Angela describes the idea for her own stitched take on a portrait came from a prompt;

“This project came about from a challenge amongst textile community, set by Sue Stone, to create a portrait in stitch. As you can imagine, that’s really not an easy thing to do.

“At first, I didn’t know who to try and portray. Granny Flo was my mum’s mum. As it happens, she was a tailor by profession. There are stitches in this piece that my mum taught me, and that her mum will have taught her in turn.

“My mum was an exquisite embroiderer and was an inspiration – but my pieces would all be different if done by her.”

Angela’s work in the exhibition does not stop at this emotive portrait. The natural world is celebrated in both a landscape scene from a wintery morning in the Dundee Botanic Gardens, and two rings influenced by the patterns in mathematics and biology.

“’Coral’ was done in lockdown, I can’t imagine how many hours these took – they are very random pieces.

“There is some structure to it, for example where I’ve taken fabric and stuffed it to look like a sea urchin. These twirling strands come from a piece that I’d done for a mathematical biology piece that I was working on – the way it twisted reminded me of seaweed.

Dramatic scenes through quiet stitch

Alongside Angela’s ‘Coral’ works sits a scene from very different climes than Pembrokeshire beaches. In ‘Iceberg’ and ‘Iceberg 2’, Muriel uses technology as part of an impressive process to bring to life photographs of some of the world’s most spectacular natural features.

“These are actually made from stitched photographs. You can buy the sheets for this or you can create your own, using various solutions. You put the sheets through your printer, let them thoroughly dry, give them an iron, then peel off the backing – this is important, you break needles if you forget this part! – and put wadding behind it to give it the depth.

“Then, add some machine stitching, hand stitching, and finish off by adding beads. I used the semi-precious bead chips to mark scree and contours in the mountains.

“Usually the point is to know when to stop!”

With their undulating rock faces and the rough texture of semi-precious beads, the Iceberg pair transport viewers to ships slowly passing these incredible features. A trip to Gdansk during Muriel’s City & Guilds qualification inspired a piece on the beauty of cranes. Sometimes though, it can be the more abstract urban scenes that inspire Muriel’s stitch projects.

“I have made about five or six of these stitched photographs, each of them quite different.

“For example, I have another one which I did of a graffiti door in Kraków. We were there in December. Richard always has his camera, and stopped to take a photograph of this door covered in graffiti. Lots of other tourists then took a photograph of the door after him!

“You can really have fun with stitching on photographs.”

Delicate daisies

Described as one of the brightest pieces in the exhibition, Alison’s blue and yellow canvas of a field of daisies fuses patience and intricacy with an array of materials; none of which need to be expensive, as the stitcher describes;

“I got the idea for ‘Daisies’ from a book. I started with calico and acrylic paint – it’s supposed to be a thin paint, but I made it a bit thicker – and then used different scraps of fabric.

“I used string for the reeds – they are ‘couched’ on. I then painted that again, and used different threads for more couching on the top. The white stitches are what I call ‘lazy daisy’ or detached chain, with a little bit of stem stitch. I also used pieces of broderie anglaise.

“The piece is made up of layers of fabric, there’s no wadding. I normally use wadding, but not for this one.”

“I would emphasise for anybody thinking about embroidery and they feel a bit overwhelmed seeing all of the different styles; it does not have to be expensive.

“Calico is about the cheapest fabric you can buy, but anybody starting at home will have somebody’s old shirt or a t-shirt that they could cut up and use.

“It’s very therapeutic. It’s a change to be sitting worrying about nothing other than what stitch you’re doing next. It’s totally engrossing.”