The Collection's Journey – A Needle’s Journey
finished embroidery pieces before framing
This collection holds a special place in my heart - it’s my first cohesive body of work and the first I am sharing publicly. The journey of creating it has been long and layered, and I’ve learned so much, not just through the making but also in the steps that followed. But let’s go back to the beginning.
In 2022, I traveled to the US to spend time with my husband’s family and friends. Along with my sketchbook and art supplies, I packed a small piece of fabric, a needle, and some thread. Stitching has always been a soothing process for me. I started making small stitch samplers during the pandemic, using fabric scraps from my sewing projects. At the time, I didn’t have the energy for larger sewing pieces, but I still wanted to keep my hands busy. Stitching was my way of doing that, one small piece at a time - small enough to fit in my sketchbook and travel with me anywhere.
I experimented with different fabrics, ultimately choosing raw cotton from pattern trial samples I had accumulated over the years. As a pattern maker and designer, I’m always experimenting with materials and toils to test out new patterns, and raw cotton is a familiar, well-used canvas. It holds markings, notes, and ideas from past projects. I packed some of these scraps like loose sketchbook pages and took them with me.
During my travels, I visited the Smithsonian Art Gallery in Washington, DC - a place I always return to for inspiration. That September, they had a textile art exhibition, and seeing those pieces fueled my creativity. Shortly after, we spent a weekend on the East Coast with friends, collecting driftwood, bark, shells, and photographs of found textures. These natural elements became the starting point for the first stitched piece of the collection. It was inspired by the driftwood I found on that trip, mixed with the unexpected shapes from my fabric scraps.
From there, the collection evolved naturally. After Washington, we traveled to Miami - right in the middle of hurricane season. Exploring the city was difficult, but we took refuge in museums, and their exhibits left a lasting impression on me. If you ever go, I highly recommend visiting, but maybe avoid hurricane season! The first piece wasn’t finished during that trip, but I kept working on it in small pockets of time, letting the process unfold at its own pace.
Returning home, I found another source of inspiration: the walnut season. I harvested walnuts and experimented with making natural dyes and inks. Incorporating this into my collection felt like a natural step. I used the walnut ink to dye threads and fabric, adding a warmth and organic texture that complemented the stitched compositions. One experiment led to another, and before I knew it, the collection had taken shape.
The compositions were guided by the fabric itself. Cutting up the old pattern samples into smaller pieces, I embraced their existing seams, curves, folds, and darts - allowing them to shape the stitched work. I wanted to move away from the traditional rectangular embroidery canvas and instead let the fabric’s unique structure guide the forms. This approach created inspiring backgrounds for my stitches, where every thread became a response to the material.
Over the course of a year, I stitched fourteen pieces, working on them in my free time. The process became a meditation - following the needle, leaving a trail, slowing down, and being present in the moment. And then, one day, I made the last stitch, tied the final knot, and it was finished.
When I started, I had no expectations. The first piece was simply an experiment, stitched without an end goal in mind. But one stitch led to the next, one idea to another, and before I knew it, a collection had formed. Along the way, I shared glimpses of my process, and the response was incredibly encouraging. That’s what gave me the final push to share this work in a bigger way.
This journey is what led me to create my website - to bring this collection into the world and to connect with those who resonate with it.
I hope you find as much joy in exploring these pieces as I did in creating them.
Thank you for reading and please stay in touch to get updates and news from my studio. Sign up for my newsletter here.