Elaine Ball

I suppose you could say I am genetically predisposed to working with textiles. Family history research that my parents did in the past, showed that on both sides of the family there were a lot of relatives in the textile industry. I grew up without a television, so there was plenty of time to create. My mother and both my grandmothers sewed, knit and embroidered constantly, and my sister and I learned everything we could. When I moved to Canada with my parents at the age of 14, I joined The Canadian Embroiderers Guild and never looked back. In high school I took theatre arts and took on the role of costumer for most of the productions we did. I started working at the Grand Theatre at the age of 17 and quickly decided this was what I wanted to do for a career. I studied Costume and Set design at the National Theatre School in Montreal for 3 years and shortly after started work back at the Grand. I have worked at several different theatres over the years but London has always been my home base. While a busy life has not always afforded me the time to create my own artwork, I have spent over 40 years working as a costumer and milliner. After making the decision to retire from my full-time profession 2 years ago, I have started to create on my own again, and nothing makes me happier than my sewing room floor covered in threads! My work generally starts with a photograph which I convert to a simple line drawing, cutting out most of the detail and just leaving a basic structure. I then trace this onto a thin tracing paper or dissolvable material and pin it to my fabric. Then I machine over the lines to create my base. Once I have removed the tracing paper, I start to layer sheer fabrics to create the colour effect I want. I do a rough hand bast to keep everything in place and then hoop my fabric and start stitching, referring to the photo for a rough guide. I use a spring needle on my machine with no foot, as I like the freedom to see and move the needle easily. I find using any kind of foot hampers the flow.