latest exhibition on now
62 Group exhibition Tailored at Hub
Hub
Navigation Wharf
Carre Street
Sleaford
Lincolnshire
NG34 7TW
30.03.24 to 07.07.24
My work on show
2023
whole work: 80x69cm
envelope: 19.5×25.6cm
pattern pieces & instructions: various sizes c.A4
drawing in Indian ink with technical drawing pens, fabric paint, painting, printing, bonding on cotton, paper, tissue paper
Artists Statement:
Paddy’s professional embroiderer grandmother taught her to embroider when she was 5. She made her first garment on her mother’s treadle Singer when she was about 8. After graduating in Embroidery at Birmingham Polytechnic, Paddy worked in haute couture at Bellville Sassoon in London and Marie-Paule in Montreal.
After over 50 years, hand and machine stiching have taken their toll on her body. Paddy has arthritis everywhere; her hands are particularly bad. She has continued to make patterns and garments – for herself, to commission, and for exhibitions – but now arthritis means she has limited mobility and can no longer do fine sewing or embroider by hand. Gloves do not fit her stiff and deformed hands, so she has drafted this pattern for imaginedvg gloves, enabling someone to make some pairs for her.
Paddy says, “When I look at the 2 traditional farmers’ smock coats I made in the 1970s and 80s, and wonder how I did it, but at least I can still draw!”.
Catalogue statement:
In the 1970s I worked in haute couture. Now arthritis means I have limited mobility with my hands. Unable to do fine hand-sewing, I have drafted this pattern for imagined gloves, enabling someone to make pairs for me that fit perfectly and elegantly around my bent fingers and nodes.
