Rags - contemporary embroidery 

Computer screens vary the colours of threads and fibres, so often when I purchase goods on line the colours don’t meet with my expectations. With restricted human contact during lockdown  this led to me abandoning my felt work.

Until I discovered Patricia Brown I was left with a heap of unused fabrics. She is a New York abstract artist who transferred her gestural approach to painting to stitch. Read all about her on textile artist.org

Not having a collection of paint cleaning cloths; I decided to allocate a cleaning rag for each painting.

Thoughts before I start

  • Avoid using a hoop (personally I find them restrictive), use a lining fabric instead
  • Avoid “twee”, it is so easy to fall into this trap
  • Avoid oil paint as it rots untreated fabric

First attempt


  1. Thick acrylic paint is too hard to stitch through.
  2. Dilute paint is easier to stitch and makes nice marks.
  3. I added more painted fabric to give the work interest and relief.
  4. The linen frayed so I secured it with blanket stitch.
  5.  To break up the monotony I allowed some seed stitches to break through the blanket stitch.


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