Rachel's Melted Fabrics

As well as making things I also love to write. I've written six textiles books based on my art work.

I've always been interested in art and writing but I didn't start experimenting with textiles until my GCSE years at school. I'm ashamed to admit that the only reason I took Textiles lessons in the first place was to avoid having to do French - not that I have anything against the language, I'm just not very good at it.

When I started textiles classes I realised that it could be used as another form of art and you could draw with fabrics and stitches. I think that was fourteen or fifteen years ago so I've been developing my skills for a while now.

At college I did a GNVQ in art and design. We did rotations of textiles, photography, 2D and 3D fine art and graphic design. I wasn't intent on pursuing textiles specifically but when I got round to doing the textiles rotation I realised I really enjoyed it and it was where my strengths lay.

I applied to do a costume degree at The Arts Institute at Bournemouth so that I could use my textile skills for costume and this is where I discovered a lot of the techniques I use now.

I live right in the middle of the countryside and think that encourages me to look at nature for inspiration.

I've been told a lot that my style is like Gustav Klimt and I find the highly patterned nature of his work very inspiring. I don't look at anyone's work specifically but I'm sure things I've seen have filtered through my sub-conscious whilst I'm creating.

As well as sewing and melting I love knitting and spinning and looking through all the patterns on Ravelry.

I first discovered the art of distressing fabrics with heat tools whilst I was studying Costume for the Screen and Stage at The Arts Institute at Bournemouth.

These are some of the very first melted samples I produced. They were small samples that I later used as "collage" for my final major project costume designs.

I made these layered textiles pieces and then applied little blobs of puff binder to the surface. I used the heat gun to warm the puff binder and make it rise up but accidentally melted through some of the textiles layers.

Sewing Machine
Hot air gun
Soldering Iron
Glue gun
Cheese grater
Assorted fabrics
Recycled fabrics
I love cheap and nasty fabrics - they're the ones that give the best results!
Wadding/batting
Organza and net
Yarn and threads
Beads and Sequins
Recycled Junk

Above: Red Rabbit was inspired by a song by The Shins.

Above: This is a detail of peacock feathers from a textiles piece.

Above: Mother and Child features in my Foundling Book and is part of a series. Find the others in my textiles gallery.

Above: Autumn Art Quilt. You can find the other seasons in my textiles gallery. I wrote a "make"
on Folksy that details how this piece was made.