Claire Edwards: Pushing The Boundaries Of Traditional Hand Embroidery - Stitchery Stories

Claire Edwards guest Stitchery Stories embroidery podcast Wide Art

Today we meet Claire Edwards, who embodies her brand name of Defiant Embroidery. Claire has a fascinating story. She discovered her creativity and passion for hand embroidery as part of her quest to discover her third career.

Enjoying her career in the RAF and then working with young offenders, Claire suffered some setbacks. She decided to take a totally new, unknown direction, and went to University where she discovered hand embroidery. Her story is very encouraging!

However, Claire has decided to push the boundaries of what is thought possible with traditional hand embroidery. She has started to combine her beautiful sculptural hand embroidery with unusual materials such as concrete and acrylic resin. Add in her theme around single use plastics and global warming and her affinity with the seas. And therefore, we have the basis for some beautiful, unique embroidery art.

Susan Weeks chats with Claire Edwards about:

Being inspired to ‘entomb’ her beautiful embroideries in resin
Why she started using unconventional materials
A LOT of trial and error to test resin and its effects upon her embroidery
Building up layers and creating a unique wall hanging
Our impact and damage to the natural world is a recurring theme
Coral reefs and an affinity with the sea
Raiding the recycling bin
Discovering creativity later in life!
It all started with crochet…
Life changing decisions and discovering her next path
Finding her way, developing her ideas and her embroidery ‘voice’
Beads are a big thing!
The challenges of entering the Hand & Lock competition
The phoenix as a personal reflection on life’s journey
Different ways to learn tambour beading
A trip to her local hospital ‘Accidents & Emergency’

And her awards:

2019 Bradford Textiles Competition – Embroidery – 1^st Prize
2019 Bradford Textiles Competition – Unconventional Materials – 1^st Prize
2017 Hand & Lock Student Fashion – 2^nd Prize
2017 Bradford Textiles Competition – Clothworkers’ Foundation Award – Unconventional Materials – Commendation
2017 Sponsorship – Madeira