The Stitch Safari Podcast

Each of these quilt-making disciplines holds a valued place in that huge quilt-making pie - adding to the depth and complexity of this beautiful, ancient craft.  Each is distinct from the other, each is highly valued and each has its own absorbing history.

American pieced quilt blocks derive from almost every aspect of life and society including nature, household objects, politics, history, the stars, and people or places.  It really is a case where art reflects life.

Quilts and quilting are and have always been, a worldwide phenomenon - a way to connect, communicate, celebrate, acknowledge or simply remember, and enjoy.

 One of the most important gowns the Queen would have worn during her long life was her wedding dress, designed by Norman Hartnel at a time of clothing coupons in an austere and deprived post-war Britain.

From the sensible to the va-va voom , lingerie is revealing, in more ways than one, be it sex, gender, class, morality, or style - and it’s an amazing and intriguing part of our fashion history.

Words like Sew Bros, Seamsters and Manbroiderers have now been added to the stitch and embroidery lexicon, but what are the reasons why more men want to stitch?

The corset is a garment of feminity, grace and glamour and is a very cleverly engineered garment, one that perfectly balances function with aesthetics.

Shoe obsession is nothing new.  From the exquisitely embroidered Chinese Lotus shoe to the stunning Indian Mojaris, societies world-wide have exhibited their culture through their couture - and their footwear is no exception.

Remembered as an innovator and revolutionary, many critical artistic genres owe a great deal to the dedicated work and example of Constance Howard. She nurtured the idea of embroidery as an art form and vehicle for artistic self-expression.

Historic images of ornate, over-the-top embroidery tends to make us think it was destined for use by women - but no, fashion in the middle of the 17th century saw the evolution of a new style featuring elegant embroidery, and it was all for men.

People embroidered war embroideries for many reasons - for some it was a means of income, for others it was a form of therapy and rehabilitation.

Judy Chicago, feminist, artist and art educator is best known for her seminal artwork, The Dinner Party 1974-79.  This conceptual art installation also incorporates the use of embroidery.

This episode focuses on some of the embroidered embellishments created for this delightfully charming, thoroughly modern, fictional character, Phryne Fisher by Australian costume designer, Marion Boyce.

In this episode, I'm honouring two amazingly talented and creative embroidery artists - Sonia Delaunay and May Morris - two very different aesthetics, yet both used stitch in their work.

From something as simple as a needle, thread and cloth, women created thought-provoking, powerful and inspirational messages - showing us the materiality of the history of the women's suffrage movement.

Far from being either small or insignificant, women's tie-on pockets, of which many were embroidered, were a portable and flexible item, forming insights into the lives of women and the things that mattered to them.

Maison Lesage is a French dynastic embroidery house that now operates under the brand Chanel.  Its history dates back as far as Napoleon III.  This episode begins with WWII.

Say hello to the stunningly beautiful, elegantly innovative and seductively alluring world of French Haute Couture embroidery and The House of Lesage - a journey through the who's who of couturiers worldwide and the French embroidery house that helped interpret their dreams in stitch.

A fascinating journey into three extremely simple embroidery techniques that have grown to encompass and embrace modern technology and advances, yet are basically worked exactly as our ancient forebears would have worked them.

This episode is about deep-diving to unearth some of the more unique and unusual tools and materials created by utilising Mother Nature.

Mexican Otomi embroidery, or the more simplified Tenangos embroidery, is a vibrant celebration of riotous colour using a mix of both ancient and modern culture, showing the Otomi's ability to overcome adversity.

Used for centuries, the exoskeletons or hard outer casings of the Jewel Beetle, have been incorporated into decorative jewellery, objects and stunning embroidery.

In this episode, the focus is on three very distinctive embroidery techniques easily associated with India - Indian Shisha work, Phulkari embroidery and the often overlooked, yet exotically beautiful Beatle Wing embroidery.

  Indian Kantha embroidery breathes new life into old textiles and is one of India’s most treasured examples of artisanship.  The basis of the art of Kantha is the spiritual practice of ‘making whole again that which is fragmented or broken.’

Welcome to the kaleidoscope that is Indian textiles - a vividly colourful and unendingly inspiring world where embroidery, design and techniques are as varied as the very culture of India itself.