The last few days of finishing the samples, with help from the lovely Yemi in the studio.

Looking at all the samples together, the 'quilting' theme becomes very evident. I have been reflecting on this, and my obsession with hand stitching, and particularly the 'kantha' stitch, which is a running stitch used in India, to quilt many layers of old fabric together.

There is something so satisfying about taking many random elements - fragments of different types of fabric, each with their own personal meaning - and to layer them together through a simple, meditative running stitch. The new textile formed is heavy in weight and there is something so reassuring about this - it has been so neatly embedded and brought together. The many 'fragments' have been brought together, so there is a new 'whole'.

As Lucy Norris says in the TED Upcycling Textiles book of essays (due to be published soon): "Quilting and patchwork are techniques that involve the destruction of objects which hold within them emotional attachments to specific people, places and moments in time, and stitching them into newly rearranged wholes, preserving certain memories while radically re-contextualizing them".

Its also the ultimate in 'zero waste cutting'! Using quilting shapes and templates is so efficient and there is something so lovely about using these age-old techniques that have been specifically developed to encourage resourcefulness.

More thoughts to follow, but I will be trying to write some of them up to go along side the samples at the show.