I’m so pleased to share this conversation with Emily Jo Gibbs, a fantastic textile maker who I have admired for many years. It won’t surprise you that I love Emily’s work and we had a really interesting, broad-ranging conversation about the why behind the work. Emily's website and online course Find out about the Mary Linwood project and events programme Find out more about the Stitch Weekend, 22nd - 23rd Nov, Leicester Guildhall Find out more about my Maker Membership Join Ruth’s email list Visit Ruth's website
In this episode I’m talking to the brilliant creative textile designer Jayne Emerson, known to many of you as the creator of the No Rules Textile Society - a membership group full of inspiration and creative play. Jayne is also a textile designer for fashion and interiors, she’s written six craft books and creates courses and workshop both online and in person. We have a lot in common and had a great time exploring our shared and differing approaches and projects. I hope you enjoy this conversation much as we did. Jayne's website and membership Find out about the Mary Linwood project and events programme Join Ruth’s email list Visit Ruth's website
Dr Heidi Strobel is my guest in episode 56 about Mary Linwood. Heidi joined me from The University of North Texas, USA where she is is Professor of Art History. She is also the author of Mary Linwood: Embroidery, Installation, and Entrepreneurship in Britain 1787-1845 which has been invaluable for my exhibition research. Heidi and I have been in touch throughout this project and she’s been an amazing support in the development of the exhibition and in the general excitement I feel about being able to share Linwood’s work. This is a fantastic conversation in lots of depth about Mary Linwood’s life and work. If you need to start with an introduction to Mary Linwood, there are several previous episodes including a short intro in episode 45, as well as conversations with historians in episodes 49 and 55. Heidi's website Find out more about Ruth's Mary Linwood project Full details of the episode, including a transcript
This episode is more of the summer of stitch series, this time with the brilliant Dr Isabella Rosner, Royal School of Needlework curator, podcaster and all round historic embroidery enthusiast. She has been part of the Mary Linwood fan club for years and we had a wonderful time talking about all the complexities of Linwood’s career and making practice, and reflecting on her legacy and why she’s been so ignored in the last hundred and fifty years. Dr Isabella Rosner is the curator of textiles and contextual studies lecturer at the Royal School of Needlework. She is a 2023 BBC/AHRC New Generation Thinker and author of Stitching Freedom: Embroidery and Incarceration (Common Threads Press). Isabella also hosts the Sew What? podcast about historical needlework and those who stitched it. Website Instagram Sew What? podcast Ruth on Sew What? Podcast from 2021 Find out more about Ruth's Mary Linwood project Full details of the episode, including a transcript
Today’s episode is more in the summer of stitch series, this time with a very different kind of maker. Claire-Louise Hardie is a costumier and sewing teacher, expert in making clothes and understanding how clothes work and how they make us feel. This is a really fun conversation exploring very different things than this podcast usually covers and it was great to talk to Claire-Louise and share this with you. It's a great excuse for me to think about clothing construction, the importance of fabric in telling stories and all the nerdy details of working with museum objects, which I have really loved. I also love the way she ended this conversation by celebrating how sewing is such a varied activity and there are so many branches of it, united by this wonderful experience of making stuff. The Thrifty Stitcher Thrifty Stitcher Instagram Buy Claire-Louise's book Clone Your Clothes Join Ruth’s email list Find out more about Maker Membership ruthsinger.com/membership Full details of the episode, including a transcript
Continuing with the summer of stitch theme, in this podcast episode I am talking to the brilliant maker Jennifer Collier, who makes amazing objects in paper using textile techniques. I’ve known Jennifer for years and we’ve worked together and supported each other plenty but still needed to twist her arm to do this podcast, for which I am really grateful. We had a fantastic conversation about making and meaning and exploring the heritage of stitch and creative practice. Jennifer Collier Unit Twelve Gallery Craftspace Made in the Middle touring exhibition Join Ruth’s email list Find out more about Maker Membership ruthsinger.com/membership Full details of the episode, including a transcript
Wendy Ward - researcher, maker and campaigner around clothes, sustainability and emotional connection to the things we wear. Wendy is a PhD researcher at Sheffield Hallam University investigating product attachment, craft and broken-ness in fashion. Prior to her PhD she taught sewing to adults and wrote five best-selling sewing books. Wendy has long had an interest in sustainability within fashion, she worked at both extremes of the fashion industry: as a designer in fast fashion and for a small sustainable brand, then went on to explore novel ways to recycle textiles for her MA. Wendy and I have a lot of overlapping interests and lots to talk about. We explore sustainability in the home sewing world, emotional connection to the things that we wear and make, storytelling in making and wearing clothes sustainably and about her campaigning work around textile waste. Wendy's Instagram Template letter and lots of other links Join Ruth’s email list Find out more about Maker Membership ruthsinger.com/membership Full details of the episode, including a transcript
This episode is a reflection on how I chose to create Cultures of Care Gathering and the sessions, talks and workshops it involves. I also explore the idea of project books, my way of collecting inspiration and ideas into sketchbooks. I'll be sharing a number of project books at the Gathering, alongside my finished works. Find out about Cultures of Care Gathering Join Ruth’s email list Find out more about Maker Membership ruthsinger.com/membership Full details of the episode, including a transcript
It's episode FIFTY! and the podcast's 4th birthday this week. This is just a mini solo one, sharing some of the story of the Cultures of Care project and how I've brought it all together to create Cultures of Care Gathering 19-20 July. Find out about Cultures of Care Gathering Join Ruth’s email list Find out more about Maker Membership ruthsinger.com/membership Full details of the episode, including a transcript
Deb McGuire is back! We recording a long conversation and I've split it into two episodes, of which this is the second. I suggest you start with Episode 48 first, as that's where Deb introduces herself and her work. This is a continuation of our chat which focusses more on Mary Linwood and my forthcoming exhibition about her (opening 13th September at Leicester Museum & Art Gallery). Much like the first episode, this is a fun chat between two people really fascinated by Mary Linwood's life and work. Find out about Cultures of Care Gathering Join Ruth’s email list Find out more about Maker Membership ruthsinger.com/membership Full details of the episode, including a transcript
In this series I’m exploring textile making and the many complex meanings around textile making practice. This episode is the first of a two-parter with quilt maker and historian Deb McGuire, because we had so much to talk about that we made two episodes! There’s such a lot of overlap in our interests that its not surprising that we talked for ages! We talk about her work in quilting in a frame, her research and lots about the emotions of sewing and working with others. Find out about Cultures of Care Gathering Join Ruth’s email list Find out more about Maker Membership ruthsinger.com/membership Full details of the episode, including a transcript
It's been a while, but Making Meaning is back! This series will be full of conversations about textile making and meaning. This episode is with Jayne Childs. We talk about lace and heritage and the passion to innovate and create as well as the history of materials and methods. We talk about creating artwork and wearable pieces, about the stories that old cloth can tell, about telling new stories through contemporary practice and about collecting and reusing lace. You can find Jayne’s work at: https://jcmiddlebrook.co.uk/ Join Ruth’s email list Find out more about Maker Membership ruthsinger.com/membership Full details of the episode, including a transcript
Series Five of Making Meaning is here. A lot of this series will be focussing on textiles, although there will be some other stories, conversations and solo episodes coming up too. This week I am starting by sharing two of my talks from the Cultures of Care Group from the end of 2024. Cultures of Care Group is a free online discussion group about care in creative practice. Each month I share a talk about my reflections on an aspect of care in my creative work. In October and November 2024 the group discussed textiles, and I’ve combined these two talks into this one episode to launch this new series focussed on cloth and sewing, and all the meanings they contain. Join a future Cultures of Care group Find out more about my Mary Linwood project Join my newsletter Full details of the episode, including a transcript
This short episode is a brief introduction to my research project about 18th century embroidery artist Mary Linwood. The episode includes a very short history about her, and then details of the community projects I'm running over the next few months, that you can take part in too. You can find out about them below, as well as a bit more about Mary Linwood here. Stitching Emotions: Collaborative project for the Mary Linwood exhibition Connected Threads: A community textiles project Find full details about the episode, including a transcript: https://ruthsinger.com/2024/11/22/mary-linwood-and-me-making-meaning-podcast-episode-45
This podcast is again from my Cultures of Care Group and in a change to the usual, it includes the group discussion as well as my talk, which is my reflections on productivity as an artist and what that means to me now as a research-based artist more than a maker of things. I talk about making and doing what you want to do is a self-care practice and that my creativity is more than my productivity in a traditional sense. We talk at the end about the importance of textile making as a community activity, which actually leads perfectly into the next Cultures of Care Group sessions in October and November which focus on textiles and care. Find out more: https://ruthsinger.com/2024/10/08/productivity-and-creative-practice-making-meaning-podcast-episode-44/
My Cultures of Care project wasn’t intentionally all about nature and landscape connection, yet that is what a lot of it has turned out to be. This podcast episode is my exploration of how nature, outdoors and landscape in its widest sense have influenced my work. I talk about projects on landscape history and community projects making in nature and with nature. This was part of my Cultures of Care Group session for August. The next sessions are in September, October and November and are open for bookings now, and I would love it if you could join me then. The sessions are free. Find out more and read the transcript at https://ruthsinger.com/2024/09/01/nature-and-care-making-meaning-podcast-episode-43/ You can also find out more about my Maker Membership here https://ruthsinger.com/membership/
In my nearly 20 years of creative work, I've developed a real passion for creating artwork with the input of others, either in group making or through contributions of stories. This podcast explores what I mean by co-creation and what benefits it brings to me and those who contribute. Find out more and read the transcript at https://ruthsinger.com/2024/06/11/co-creation-making-meaning-podcast-episode-42/ The gallery of co-created projects is here https://ruthsinger.com/co-creation-projects/ These talks are part of my Cultures of Care Group sessions which are free online discussion groups, once a month. The next ones are in July and August, dates and links to book are here: https://ruthsinger.com/cultures-of-care/cultures-of-care-group/ Find out more about reflective writing course here https://ruthsinger.com/2024/05/26/reflective-writing-for-creative-practice/ and my Maker Membership here https://ruthsinger.com/membership/
I find being reflective in my creative work incredibly useful and have done for many years. In this essay / podcast I share how I came to reflective writing or journalling and some of the other ways I am reflective about my work with others. This was part of my Cultures of Care Group in May 2024. Find out more: https://ruthsinger.com/2024/05/16/reflective-practice-making-meaning-podcast-episode-41/
This new podcast episode, the first in a series of four, is a recording of my first Cultures of Care Group talks. For these sessions I write an essay to share on an aspect of care in creative practice. In this first session, April 2024, I chose to talk about research as a creative care practice. Find out more: https://ruthsinger.com/2024/04/23/research-as-a-care-practice/
My Cultures of Care project wasn't intentionally all about nature and landscape connection, yet that is what a lot of it has turned out to be. This podcast episode is my exploration of how nature, outdoors and landscape in its widest sense have influenced my work. I talk about projects on landscape history and community projects making in nature and with nature. This was part of my Cultures of Care Group session for August. The next sessions are open for bookings now in September, October and November are open for bookings now, and I would love it if you could join me then. You can also find out more about my Maker Membership here https://ruthsinger.com/membership/