Quiltfest 2022
Irene MacWilliam BEM
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I live in Northern Ireland. In 1985 I went to a talk about appliqué in the Northern Ireland Patchwork Guild. I decided that I would have a go. I was not interested in reproducing traditional patterns so my early work was machine appliqué. I used to make my own clothes so I had a knowledge and understanding of fabrics and working with a sewing machine. I have never come to terms with the accuracy demanded by traditional patterns. I find ways of doing things that suit me.
I became hooked on free machine work as a result of a workshop in the early 1990s, the morning after it I woke in the early hours realising that now I could free machine I could draw and write in my work. I find free machine work so relaxing and I think is my favourite part of the process. I am not inspired to reproduce landscape or similar subjects. I just love to be given a theme so I can mull over it and tease out ideas. I have no particular style of working: I just use techniques that best express my ideas. I do a lot of free machining and other decorative techniques; I enjoy creating my own fabrics by dyeing, screen printing, stamping and sun printing etc. Many pieces incorporate text, sometimes almost hidden. |
I belong to various groups: The Northern Ireland Patchwork Guild The Northern Ireland Embroidery Guild Quilters Guild of the British Isles – QGBI Contrmporary Quilt a subgroup of the QGBI Crossing Oceans ArtQuiltFusion |
Over the years my work has included many pieces to do with conflict and the havoc and misery it causes to children and families. For 27 years I made an annual quilt about world wide Events of the Year with imagery and text. These are now in the permanent collection of the Ulster Folk and Transport Museum.
In 2019 I was awarded the BEM for Services to Textile Art in Northern Ireland.
www.irenemacwilliam.co.uk
In 2019 I was awarded the BEM for Services to Textile Art in Northern Ireland.
www.irenemacwilliam.co.uk
