Hello again, and happy Friday! I am thrilled to share the third installment of my series One Person, One Project featuring Tessa Perlow. Tessa is a textile artist whose work features embroidered and beaded garments and art. Prioritizing repurposed textiles and upcycled clothes, she imbues them with her exquisite visual language.
I’ve long admired Tessa’s work, and I’m excited that she’s one of the artists featured in my new book, Threads of Treasure: how to make, mend, and find meaning through thread. Get to know one of Tessa’s most recent pieces, and then learn more about her in my book.
The project elevator pitch:
Right now I'm working on upcycling a grey skirt with embroidered flowers. The embroidery is on the center of the skirt with a few large flowers in the middle and smaller ones bursting out with leaves. Sort of a classic or old-fashioned floral motif to get excited for spring.
What was the inspiration for the project?
My inspiration for this piece is vintage floral motifs like the ones you see on old plates or vintage wallpaper.
What materials and methods are you using in making it?
For materials I've got the skirt I'm embroidering on, it's a wool viscose blend which is sort of an unusual choice for me, I tend to be strict about using cotton and linen, and I've also got lots of various DMC cotton embroidery flosses. I'm using all six strands of thread so that the motifs are quite dimensional and just doing satin stitches and blended straight stitches for everything.
What obstacles are you facing with the project?
The biggest obstacle I am facing with this project is having a bit of repetitive strain injury in my dominant arm/hand!! I have to take lots of breaks and rest because I have a tendency to overwork. Even though the project is fairly straightforward for me or...something I have done many times on different garments, I have to be patient with it taking a while.
What are you learning from it that will help in future projects?
I think every project I work on tends to teach me something about my color preferences—whether I am satisfied with the color choices I make or if I think I haven't really hit the balance that I try to achieve. This project is a fun practice for me to see what colors of flowers I like together and however it ends up will be fine but If i end up wishing I made different choices I just make those changes in the next floral piece I make.
Thank you, Tessa! Be sure to follow her on Instagram and check out her Etsy shop* for one-of-a-kind pieces.
Talk to you next week,
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Sara Barnes
Embroidery illustrator and writer
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