women's work remembered

i've been trawling tthrough past work to remind myself of the processes i go through when stitching meaingfully - i could not find pictures of my completed pinny and realised that i had not recorded much of my process - so i dug out the actual piece  and here it is:

i really enjoyed making this as a tribute to the work of women stitching for pleasure, for work, and out of sheer necessity - the work was often unseen, undervalued and yet so important as a foundation for so much in day to day life (a subject of books and academic study now)

it was an opportunity to bring together samples of work by other unknown women with some of my own - there are more photos here, but i have added some below to illustrate my thinking

from an early age i was put off creativity, and embroidery in particular, by my grandmother - her standards were very high and she expected the back of the work to be as tidy as the front - as an 8yr old i found that too much and gave up embroidery - so i wanted this apron to be completely reversible, so that it could be viewed from both sides - or if used, both sides had to be equally attractive, but stains of use would be welcome too

this took a bit of planning but that was half the enjoyment for me 

the stitching around the dorset puffs continues underneath on the reverse, and the ends of threads were left exposed

i stitched the reverse of the appliqued flowers on the corner in different colours- at the top right the reverse of a needle lace circle is visible through a cut-out

the added stitched work is a mixture of 

scraps from unfinished work by others - a testament to the many UFOs stitchers have!

samples of my own - includes darning techniques and other functional stitches, needle-lace and other decorative stitches

family relics, manipulated for inclusion

work made for sale - with additional embroidery by me 

this piece was made by a woman in Afghanistan as part of the Guldusi Project   - my first meaningful stitch work "Tea with Latifa" was created for an exhibition to promote this project - i bought the square a while ago and had been wondering how to use it for some time - it seemed perfect to include it here as a tribute to the women whose lives have been altered by stitching for an income