Equinox Best Of British Jewellery Exhibition

If you love jewellery, don't forget to visit the Equinox shop in Fleet to catch their 'Best Of British' jewellery exhibition. The exhibition showcases the work of numerous contemporary designers.

The exhibition is being held in the Equinox shop in Fleet from 18 February until 14 April 2012.

The patchwork union jack wall hangings are displayed in the windows for the duration of the exhibition and will be available for purchase when it ends on 14 April. If you are interested in purchasing either of these handmade pieces, please contact Equinox here.

The photographs are copyright Equinox 2012.

UPDATE: These flag wall hangings are now available at reduced price in my Folksy shop!

Patchwork Union Jack Wall Hangings

Morning all!

Here are two roughly A1-sized patchwork union jack wall hangings that I finished recently for a commission. They are made to illustrate the theme for an exhibition of contemporary jewellery, called "Best of British". The exhibition in being held in the Equinox shop in Fleet from 18 February until 14 April 2012.

The wall hangings are displayed in the windows for the duration of the exhibition and will be available for purchase when it ends on 14 April. If you are interested in purchasing either of these handmade pieces, please contact Equinox here.

Austerity Britain #8

Green Britain #18

 The wall hangings are made from a mixture of cotton and cotton mix fabrics, including re-purposed fabrics. The following processes, taking around 15 - 20 hours of work per flag, are involved:-

• making the templates to the required size
• selecting the fabrics and deciding upon the fabric placement
• cutting each piece of fabric to size
• piecing the individual units of fabric into a whole, using a sewing machine
• layering the finished top with a cotton batting/wadding and back piece
• hand quilting the layers
• addition of an edge binding strip and hanging sleeve using a mixture of machine and hand stitches
• addition of label on reverse and wooden hanging dowel

Smaller versions of the flag wall hangings are sometimes available in my Etsy shop, Fire Horse Textiles.

Austerity Britain #7 Rag Rug Wall Hanging

I finally finished a rag rug wall hanging folk art representation of the Union Jack flag that I have been working on for about a year, on and off. It is made from a variety of red, white, blue and cream coloured fabrics. I tried to use almost all recycled clothing and charity shop finds to make the artwork.

It can be wall mounted with a hidden baton (provided), or could be used as a small rug in a low traffic area.

The pieces of fabric are 3" long and are 'prodded' through a hessian background, giving a pile of just under 1.5".

This close up shows the texture and whorls of the cut ends of the fabric.

The wall hanging is available for purchase in my Fire Horse Textiles Etsy Shop at £149 + shipping.

Green Britain #16

After having a break for a while, I was tempted into making another 'Green Britain' wall hanging by a customer request from a British lady, now living in the US. This is the largest I have made to date as a quilted wall hanging and was made over the course of about 16 days.

This wall hanging is my folk art version of the Union Jack flag, made from a patchwork of various cotton fabrics (some cotton mix). Some of the fabrics are reused/recycled.

This textile piece is my aspiration for the UK. The original artwork was designed and made back in 2008! The colour green now has a double meaning, and the fact that it includes reused fabrics and handwork expresses my own personal philosophy.

The wall hanging was machine pieced, layered with cotton wadding and a backing piece, and hand quilted. A binding strip was added, and the whole piece was tea dyed to give the wall hanging an 'antique' finish and textured, wrinkled surface. A small card with the title, year and my details is on the reverse. The wall hanging measures approximately 48" (121.5 cm) wide x 28.5" (73 cm) high.