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Sue Babbs |
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Biography
I have been working with fibre* for as long as I can remember. For the Christmas just before my seventh birthday, I followed the thread from my bedroom to my parent’s’ room, and discovered my first Singer sewing machine - a sturdy, child’s version which sews a rather nice chain stitch on the reverse side of the fabric. By that age, I was already knitting and hand sewing, and developed a passion for making soft toys shortly after. In my teens, I taught myself to crochet – and only recently discovered that my maternal grandmother had been passionate about crocheting in her younger days. Crocheting and beading were sources of income as I made clothes and jewellery* to sell to relatives and my mother’s friends and work colleagues. That sewing machine only dripped machine oil on a project once – the bodice of my wedding dress. Thankfully, my father had some dry-cleaning fluid which he used to remove the stain and I was able to finish making and wear the Liberty silk dress. I started making bobbin lace in 1988, when my son was 10 months old. I was hooked immediately by the rhythm of the movement of the bobbins, and the complicated patterns that appeal to my mathematical mind. In the 1990s, I expanded my lace-making horizons by taking the English City and Guilds’ course in Lacemaking Part 1. For years I put aside the embroidery, sewing, knitting, crocheting and was totally absorbed by the lace-making. Nowadays I dabble more widely in other crafts, but I am most at peace when making bobbin-lace. *The spellings of fibre and jewellery are deliberate as I am English. |
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Footwear | Paradigm Shifts |
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Umbrellas | |
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Last Updated January 7, 2020