The Aviary Studio

24/02/2024

Sweffling Village Hut 🤗

And these amazing pockets!!!

More soon :-)

24/02/2024

Some from today's fantastic denim patch & stitch workshop at Sweffling Hut!

What a lovely bunch of ladies, so warm and inspiring. It was great to get some insight into what it's like to be a participant in a workshop both in person and online, what it feels like to show up when you might not know anyone there. We also had a (very comforting) chat about some of the challenges of teaching. We talked about friendship, ways that we can come together as a community and how to let go of the need for things to be 'neat' and perfect, which it turns out is a great life mantra. It also turns out that talking about the things we find difficult makes us more relatable and...human.

I got to share some knowledge and I learnt a lot too.

What a joyful day.

This type of patching and stitching to repair is inspired by the traditional Japanese craft of Boro and Sashiko Stitching. Patched, repaired, re-patched and re-repaired over years of wear, passed down through generations, Boro cloth holds memories, stories. Families would save every last scrap and thread that they could. These cloths were not intended to be beautiful or stylish, they were made out of necessity in a time of poverty. Once living standards improved, a lot of these cloths were discarded, replaced with new clothing. Not many examples survived but those that did have become treasured. I was lucky enough to see a collection of Boro at the Brunei Gallery SOAS last summer, and could have stared at them all day.

Boro has inspired many artists and designers, and the look has featured heavily on many a runway without much mention of the history of the original craft. This trickles down to high street fashion and as so often happens people end up wearing things that they don't necessarily understand the significance of.

I highly recommend looking into the history of Boro textiles - it is fascinating.

Learning this kind of craft feels especially important now, in a time where we need to be repairing and not replacing our clothing so much ♻️🌍

18/01/2024

This mornings scene 🪡

Sashiko workshop coming up on Feb 24th at Sweffling Village Hut in Ipswich, Suffolk 10am - 1pm

I'll have loads of materials for you to practice on but feel free to bring a pair of jeans along to mend!

There is a link to the booking page in my linktree at the top of my grid (in the bio)

Otherwise, here it is:

https://sweffling-village-hut.sumupstore.com/product/artful-repair-mastering-denim-patching-and-sashiko-stitching-a-visible-mending-workshop-24-02-2023

04/01/2024

Join me for an in-person darning workshop! 🪡🥳
Jan 20th, 10am - 1pm
Sweffling Village Hut, Ipswich, Suffolk

Just a few places left - link to book in my linktree at the top of my grid ☝🏼

Suitable for all levels, even total beginners - so if you'd like to learn how to mend your clothes and give them a few more years of wear, come along and bring something you'd like to mend! 🪡🧣🧦👗

Don't worry - I will have plenty of materials for you to practice on and lots of fabulous colourful threads to choose from 🧶

We'll start with something simple, and once you've got the hang of it you can try some other patterns like dogtooth, twill, or a zig zag!

If you'd like tips on sock heel mends, or neckline holes, bring them along and we'll see what we can do 😁

It's a 3 hour session for £46, bookable either here:

https://www.instagram.com/reel/C1nimohtdpN/?igsh=bmo2cW15bXp5dGdo

Or

Go to the linktree at the top of my grid and select Darning at Sweffling Village Hut ✨🛖🛖🛖

21/11/2023

A very welcome surprise to see my cones on the front cover of 𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙅𝙤𝙪𝙧𝙣𝙖𝙡 𝙤𝙛 𝙒𝙚𝙖𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙨, 𝙎𝙥𝙞𝙣𝙣𝙚𝙧𝙨 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝘿𝙮𝙚𝙧𝙨 Issue 288!

Page 13 for a full page article on the progress of my denim weaving research & practice since receiving funding from the 𝗧𝗵𝗲𝗼 𝗠𝗼𝗼𝗿𝗺𝗮𝗻 𝗧𝗿𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗪𝗲𝗮𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘀 last year.

Thank you so much to WSD and to Theo Moorman Trustees, and to for supporting me on this journey 💙

14/11/2023

Come with me on a journey from yarn to denim in 10 slides 📸👖

Last year, with the support of the Theo Moorman Trust for Weavers & The Experimental Weave Lab I was able to spend some time researching and practicing traditional denim weaving!

As an environmental activist it was important to me to highlight the differences between traditional and modern day denim making processes; from cotton cultivation, to alternative fibres and growing methods, to indigo dyeing, weaving and finishing, and of course the social & environmental impact the industry both then and now.

Learning about each step, each ingredient, each process and the histories and cultures behind them opens up a window into the past, an opportunity to learn about not just the textile but the people, the places, the communities that have left their mark on what denim has become today.

1. The Jean! 👖
2. Undyed 'hanks' or 'skeins' of ex-industry waste cotton ♻️
3. The natural indigo dye vat (minus ☠️ chemicals)
4. Oxidising between dips
5. The glorious 'hank-to-cone' winder funded by Theo Moorman Trust for Weavers 🙌🏼🙏🏼
6. Re-winding the dyed cotton back onto cones ready for warping
7. The warp, ready to be threaded onto the loom
8. The weaving process!
9. Fresh off the loom, no finishings just straight off to
to be cut and sewn
10. All the practice swatches developed along the way

I will be giving a talk tomorrow evening at Mid-Herts Guild of Weavers, Spinners & Dyers all about this process.

Thank you so much again to
and The Theo Moorman Trust For Weavers .wall

02/11/2023

Lots of work to do on these ones! More holes than jeans! (My favorite type of project) 🪡🥳

24/09/2023

Sewing with my favorite girl 💗

23/09/2023

Thank you so much to and for having me yesterday for our darning & visible mending workshop! I had the best day with you all and can't wait to come back in the new year for more! What a lovely shop and staff, and what a lovely group of ladies ❤️ didn't they do well!

11/09/2023

Getting kits ready to send out to participants of the 𝙊𝙣𝙡𝙞𝙣𝙚 𝘿𝙖𝙧𝙣𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙒𝙤𝙧𝙠𝙨𝙝𝙤𝙥 on October 14th!

The workshop is bookable with or without the kit - I know many of you have your own craft stashes 😁

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗸𝗶𝘁 𝗶𝗻𝗰𝗹𝘂𝗱𝗲𝘀: 🪡

- YARN! Some wools and cottons in a variety of colours and thicknesses (you can tell me what you want or leave it as a surprise 😏)

- 4 different needles

- an embroidery hoop (I don't include a mushroom as there are so many different types it's important you choose for yourself which one suits you)

- a knitted fabric to practice on

- some woven fabrics to practice on

(different experience darning on knits compared to wovens because of the stretch element in knits)

All of the yarns are industry waste discarded by UK textile mills ♻️🪡

Fabric samplers are also off-cuts from various cutting room floors across the UK ♻️

If you'd like to learn how to repair or customise your clothes, you can find out more about the online darning workshop by clicking on the linktree in my page bio and following 'Online Darning Workshop'

Or visit:

https://www.larkandbower.com/darning-and-visible-mending-workshops

Also, if you're in the UK, I'm doing two in-person workshops - one in Wi******er on Sept 22nd and one in Suffolk on November 4th, get in touch for more details on those 🥰

07/09/2023

Join me for an in-person Darning workshop at 𝑺𝒍𝒐𝒘 𝑳𝒊𝒗𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝑴𝒂𝒓𝒌𝒆𝒕
Orford Town Hall
Sat 4th November 2023
10am - 1pm

𝗔𝗹𝗹 𝗺𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗮𝗹𝘀 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝘃𝗶𝗱𝗲𝗱, just bring yourselves! (If you have something you would like to mend, you can bring that :-) otherwise I have plenty of samplers for you to practice on!)

Spaces are limited, so booking ahead is advised.

Suitable for all levels, even total beginners.

We'll start with something simple, and go from there! There will be cake 🍰 and a kitchen for teas and coffees ☕

You can find a link to the Eventbrite in my linktree, in my page bio, or you can try to copy out this url:

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/darning-workshop-at-slow-living-market-orford-tickets-705803676797

07/09/2023

Robbie's jeans, first of three pairs. This one had only three holes. The next pair are more holes than denim so that will be fun!

04/09/2023

Getting things ready for three upcoming darning workshops ✨🪡

22nd Sept The Hambledon, Wi******er
14th Oct (online workshop)
4th Nov Slow Living Market Orford

If you have clothes in your wardrobe that you'd love to wear again but they're full of holes, come along and learn how to mend & customise and give them a few more years of wear!

The ones held in Wi******er & Orford are in-person workshops, and the October 14th is online, so if you're not within travelling distance you can join & get a recording afterwards!

Links to the Orford workshop and the online one are in my linktree (in the page bio), details about how to book the Wi******er one will be coming soon, once the event is launched ✨🪡

03/09/2023

More repairs, and more hounds 🌞

02/09/2023

Doug's Evisu No. 1 Specials ✨🪡

22/08/2023

𝑫𝑨𝑹𝑵𝑰𝑵𝑮 𝑾𝑶𝑹𝑲𝑺𝑯𝑶𝑷
𝟰𝘁𝗵 𝗡𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗺𝗯𝗲𝗿 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟯
𝗢𝗿𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗱 𝗧𝗼𝘄𝗻 𝗛𝗮𝗹𝗹, 𝗦𝘂𝗳𝗳𝗼𝗹𝗸

I'll be teaching a 3 hour in-person workshop in darning & visible mending as part of Slow Living Market in Suffolk, which takes place over the weekend of 4th - 5th November ;-)

All materials are provided but please feel free to bring an item of clothing to repair if you want to. There will be lots of opportunity to practice first!

For more info, visit:

Come and learn how to repair your clothes as Slow Living Market Orford, with textile artist Sarah Ward. Do you have clothes that you’d love to wear...

04/08/2023

Three down, about 20 to go 👖💙