Remembering the Liberty Jack quilt

I didn't know what to make for today's textile 'postcard', so I flicked through a few of my scrapbooks.

Just books in which I've stuck images from craft and fashion magazines, flyers, Sunday supplements, packaging, anything that's caught my eye. Doing that, I came across this photo of Janey Forgan's 'Liberty Jack' quilt. I remember seeing it in a quilting exhibition at the V&A and it made a big impression on me. Probably my favourite piece, and certainly the prettiest.

Made from Liberty fabrics, it obviously features the Union flag, but in a way that's meant to reflect the diversity of multi-cultural, multi-faith Britain. The multitude of different colours and prints come together to create a united whole. They work in harmony. Using Liberty of London fabrics is significant as they're seen as a quintessentially British brand, though if you look at the firm's history they've always sourced textiles, furniture, clothing etc from far afield, including India and the Far East.

I suppose this resonated because of all the royal coverage right now. Radio and TV are awash with coronation chatter, and that's fine for those who like the royals. The fans of Charles and Camilla are welcome to their street parties and bunting. But I'm indifferent to the Windsors. I'm not a vehement anti-monarchist. It's just that I'm not interested in the whole kafuffle. As part of the general celebrations there are a lot of Union Jack flags and bunting hung here, there and everywhere.

I prefer Janey Forgan's version of our British flag, her Liberty Jack as opposed to a Union Jack. A softer, kinder image, less redolent of archaic thoughts about Empire, and without being tainted by the mis-use of the actual flag by the Far Right.

Anyway, I decided to make my own little piece of Liberty Jack. Here it is under construction.

And here it is, finished. Hope you like it.

Comments

Threads of Freedom and charity shop bargains

It's Saturday afternoon, and I haven't done half the things I'd meant to. Partly because I spent most of this morning messing about with paints, stencils and the gell plate. Never mind, everything on today's 'To Do' list will join tomorrow's 'To Do' list ... it's hardly life or death if I don't haul the hoover around the room or pull up weeds in the front garden. I thought I'd show you what I made on Wednesday. I'd gone to my monthly StitchArt group, and this time we did something a little different. There's a project called 'Threads of Freedom' which is working with various community groups across the city. It's about creating little stitched pieces, some of which will be included in a textile panel to go on display at Leeds art gallery. There was lots of fabric we could choose from to sew with, and I picked this vintage tray cloth with the roses embroidery. My own embroidery's not a patch on those flo...

Another week's flown by ...

Saturday's rolled around again, and it's not been the most eventful of days. Cleaning and hoovering, a walk to the shops to buy groceries, an hour on the allotment, then home to do some odd tasks in the garden. The strawberry plants are sending out runners, so I've been dealing with those, plus deadheading the perennial sunflowers, and cutting back the gone-over flowers on the sage and marjoram. I'm sad to see those blooms gone as the bees loved them. This afternoon I spent a few hours finishing 'Dawnlands' by Philippa Gregory. It's a really good book, a page turner where you care about the characters and want to be reassured everything's going to work out well for them. Plus you become enraged about the corruption of the so-called justice system at the time of the Stuart kings and queens, about transportation of prisoners to the West Indies, and about the vile nature of the sugar trade in the 1600s and the vast profits made from it....

Folding a zine and an alternative use for a bank card

Hello again, and excuse me while I scratch my insect bites. I don't know what it is, but at this time of year I'm invariably itching like crazy because I've been bitten by bugs. It seems to coincide with blackberry-picking season, but whether that's purely coincidental I don't know. Whatever's biting me, I'm obviously a tasty morsel in their world! I might try using a highly scented oil like Tea Tree oil, see if that deters them. Anyway, let's get on to more pleasant matters - I'm having a go at making a zine style booklet. Because I didn't have any paper large enough, I joined together two A3 sheets of sketchpad paper, using torn pieces of book pages for the joining. I thought that'd look less noticeable than packing tape or similar. Having chosen my colour scheme I used acrylic paint and an unwanted plastic bank card to apply the paint. Plus a stencil, sponge and modelling paste. Applying paint with a ATM card wa...

rubykittyruby

Search This Blog