Siân Martin’s work as part of Tailored was inspired by reading the story of June who started as a ‘burler and mender’ at Sunny Banks Mill. The story was written in the same year as the artist’s own birth, so an immediate connection was made. The Archive diary says that June’s job was to pull up knots – burling – every day for ten hours for £2 per week.
Although a labour of love and not a laborious task, when learning the skills of dressmaking as a child, Siân remembers being intrigued by the way a few tailor’s tack stitches could be used to accurately transfer the markings of a simple construction shape such as a tuck, through more than one layer of fabric. She remembers the magic of seeing how the stitches left their marks on the underneath when the layers were gently eased apart.
Her piece Process celebrates the traditional dressmaking skills specifically devised to accurately mark layers of fabric – a vital stage in the process of being able to create a 3D sculpted fabric surface such as a garment from a flat 2D fabric surface.
Repetitive and rhythmical stitching in Process celebrates this stage in the process of making a tailored garment.
