Photos of myself with my sewing machines

I needed to get some photos taken of myself and my sewing machines for some work that I have been doing. I got my husband to take these for me today.

The machine on the right is called 'Barry the Bernina' then there is 'Bettina the Bernina' in the middle and the overlocked is called 'Brian the Bernina'.

Barry used to be a high school sewing machine who had a very hard life. He then got a second chance when my mum bought him and had him for about 10 years. Barry then got passed down through the family to me. Barry and I have had a good relationship over the years, he can sew through anything and I don't think I could break him if I tried. He caught on fire once and had smoke pouring out the top of him. We simply pulled out the burnt bits, put him back together and he hasn't missed a beat since. He just goes a little bit slower, he is fairly old so this is understandable.

Bettina was purchased around the time of the 'great Barry fire'. No offence to Barry but I decided it was time to have a second machine and one that was a bit more modern. I generally swap between the two machines I"m working.

Brian is the latest addition to the family and is more of a 'get down to the hard work' kind of machine. He's a no mess kind of machine. Hard worker, but not much personality.

I love my machines, I can honestly say that Bernina are the best machines I have ever used. Being a teacher, schools often have different brands of machines. I come back to the Bernina every time as the most reliable, tough, hard wearing and easy to use machines. My school has 25 Bernina sewing machines and 3 Bernina overlockers. It suits me perfectly.

All five of my aunties have Bernina's and my Dad even has his own. He uses his for making truck tarps and silo covers.

I think you get the point by now as to what type of machines I like.

This is one of the better photos. I hate smiling for photos.

I thought I'd include this one to show how the whole family 

was trying to help out.

My work in an exhibition at Pepper Street Gallery

Below is a digital version of the invite for an exhibition called 'In your backyard'. I have a piece of work in this exhibition, the gallery details are on the invite.

How I work through an idea- Part 6

After pages and pages of planning I eventually make the final piece. Please note as I said earlier, I only show a portion of the pages here as the others still contain ideas I wish to explore further. I have only shown approximately 1/3 of the pages I actually completed.

Below is the finished work. I'm rather fond of this piece, you will notice it is the header on my blog and it also features on items such as my business card.

Please let me know if you have any questions regarding the process I have documented in these past few posts.

Paper collection

I was cleaning in my studio last week and found some of my paper collection. Over the years I have bought pieces of paper always intending to use them for something. As with lots of my collections, I never actually use the items and they just get stored away. The images below are of just a few of the papers I have waiting to be used.

How I work through an idea- Part 5

When I have worked out the basics of my work (this was done through making test pieces), I then do some more in-depth planning into how the overall piece will come together. This includes working out how my piece will be mounted/displayed. I experiment with display ideas such as stretching on canvas, traditional quilt backing, traditional picture framing, etc.

The mounting/display of a work is extremely important. It can make a work successful or an utter failure. I make my pieces so that they are not tied down to one type of mounting/display, this way I can change my mind as I go.

Below are two sketchbook pages showing ideas for mounting/displaying my work.

Thinking about mounting/display options

Final work almost organised.

How I work through an idea- Part 4

Making samples is one of the biggest and most important parts of my work. It is at this point that all my planning starts to come together.

once again I write ideas to go with my samples so that I don't forget my thoughts

often when I start making samples I find things are not really working out how I planned. I will then stop and go back to drawing again and often do some more research.