Many years ago a friend introduced me to free motion embroidery. I didn’t pick it up again until 2020 when I left my job to care full time for my daughter who was undergoing health issues related to her liver transplants.
I inherited my mother in laws sewing machine and lots of gorgeous fabric so I took another look at free motion embroidery. Like most people, I started with youtube videos but using an embroidery hoop just didn’t feel right to me. So I tried using interfacing but found it wasn’t holding my fabric taut enough and it was puckering all the time. Finally I found a very stiff iron on interfacing that worked really well for me. It meant I could use a range of fabric including the chiffon in the picture below!
Fantails are one of my favourite birds so they featured a lot in my early work. I also draw kiwi, New Zealand’s native bird and create artwork using birds and words especially positive or quirky statements. This early work proved popular when I started selling it in my local art shop and via social media. I still love how freeing it is to draw using my sewing machine.