I'm a collector - not so much because I like having lots of things, but because I'm fascinated by the way the things people create or possess seem to absorb bits of the lives they encounter. Old things, things that have been part of lots of different lives, or even just one, feel like they have a sort of spirit. I wonder what really signals the end of an object's life. When it's no longer useful? Or loved? When it falls apart? When does that spirit leave it, or does it ever?

Textiles have a particular magnetism for me. There are textiles out there that are hundreds or even thousands of years old, pieces of fabric or fibres that have started out a newly created thing and been cared for and passed on and mended and patched and gone on and on and are maybe still going. When I find an old embroidered tablecloth or traycloth sitting in an opshop covered in tea stains, a well-worn pair of mustard cords with a broken zipper and a hole in the bum, or a single skein of pure wool yarn that first left a general store back in the 30s and has never lived the life it was meant for, I just can't resist. What could these things become? Whose life could they touch next?

I take things found, thrifted, or left over and use my care and energy to handmake them into something new, so they can keep their spirit growing.

But maybe a piece of clothing or textile hasn't reached the point of no longer being up to the life it was first meant for - maybe it's just worn, or damaged. Then, I mend it. Give it a chance to carry on a bit longer as a favourite sweater or the best fitting pair of jeans ever. For this I like to use visible mending techniques, because damage and repairs are all part of an object's history, and the history's where the spirit is. I use handweaving and darning on woolens and knits, sashiko and freehand embroidery on wovens, to restore a garment's integrity and send it back out there to carry on living its best life.

Maybe you have something like that - something with a tear or a hole or that the moths got to, but that you just can't bear to throw away. If you do, message me. Let's see what we can do.