It’s been exactly a year ago today that my beloved Nana passed away and it’s been deeply moving process to create a tribute to my grandmother, together with my mother.  The sense of repeating the same actions that women have been doing since to dawn of time (weaving and hand-sewing) has been a lovely way to honor my Nana.

I used rayon velvet for the tops and 100% cotton sheeting for the lining.  The embroidered motifs were part of the church’s last set of runners & banners.  I carefully removed them from the old runners and then stitched them to the new ones.   I think that this is the third time the embroideries have been re-stitched to something new, judging from the layers of thread on the back!

Noreen wove strips of brocade on her inkle loom and I hand-sewed everything together – I’ve been hand-sewing daily for weeks now!

The altar cloth:

 Embroidered detail from the altar cloth:

 A runner for under another memorial:

 It was important to have the textiles labeled, so I created a computer-printed label using pre-treated silk sheets.  It’s archival and a great way to permanently label any kind of fabric artwork.

 The pulpit banner:

And last, but not least, a matching pair of table runners:

I found the whole process was deeply moving and am so grateful that I was able to create the textiles!

Post from: Blisstree

finishing the memorial textiles