Me

I loved the old Singer sewing machine that belonged to my favourite aunt when I was very little, loved standing in front of it on one foot and the other peddling. One day the needle pierced my fingernail while I was feeding the invisible cloth through; I was 5. But that did not put me off. My life long love affair with textiles started without me realising…..

My mum used to be a seamstress. Our house was full of fabrics, threads, scissors and needles, and my heart full of yearnings to do things with them. Mum said I ought to just study hard, go to university and get a job in a nice office. She said sewing is far too hard, and there is no one to pay you a penny when you lay sick in bed.

I never got to study anything textiles related in Taiwan, but I was always stitching: I started making dolly clothes for friends when I was 9 and stitched the hems of  dresses that belonged to clients when mum wasn’t looking, I made cushion covers as birthday presents and furnished the lounge at home in my teens, I sewed my engagement dress by hand in my university dorm….. There was no cure.

For the man I was engaged to I came to England, and in this land my textile dream found its opportunities. I transferred from the B.Ed D&T course in Leeds Metropolitan University into the Credit Accumulation and Transfer Scheme to take all the textile-related modules I could squeeze into my schedule. I completed a BA Hons. in Constructed Textile Design in 1995.

I sold some work to galleries for a while, but then I spent the next 10 years doing small craft projects with my 2 precious little ones and sewing funky clothing for them. Now, it is time to let the wings of my textile dream beat free……..                                     

Pamela ,10th November 2006