Patch 098

PATCH MAKER: Doris
LOCATION: Lewes

MESSAGE:I work with the impact of chemicals in products. Living on the Sussex Downs and as  regular sea swimmer I am particularly concerned with water quality.

That is what my patch represents, my hope for clean water in rivers, lakes and seas, to allow flora and fauna to flourish and ultimately humans too. 

I love working with fabrics and used a French embroidered linen (left over from my curtains) with the bondaweb. I added more seaweed embroidery onto the patch that I had ironed onto the felt patch

using a kind of backstitch with some of the thread provided but also added some of my own.

I then found a shiny diaphanous fabric in gold and turquoise (another left over piece) which I fixed over the top with a blanket stitch to represent the surface of the water leaving one side open.

When I was at the sea next I looked for something from the beach to slip into the pocket I had created. That day a lot of whitebait had been beached, which were perfect in shape, size and colour -

but not in smell (I did not want to add rotting fish to the coat!), so I remembered I had bought some shiny paper fish in Vienna several years ago. They look very similar to the whitebait, except they are gold rather than silver.

Last night I added 3 of those, closed the pocket and fixed the fish with a stitch of gold each. 

 I deliberately did not buy anything new for this project but used or recycled what I already had on top of what the coat of hopes kit provided.

My thoughts go with the coat of hopes!

All the best,

Doris