Alf Pitcher, my father-in-law was in the Royal Navy during the Second World War. My husband clearly remembers playing with his Dad’s Royal Navy issue sewing kit and now after searching the old sideboard in the living room my brother-in-law John has found it and I have it safely stored for inclusion in my 2018 exhibition.
and in a similar vein this memory from H. Wade.
I have now catalogued hundreds of your memories and have been looking for some common threads. Knitting, crochet and sewing dominate. No surprise really as most of the memories were collected at the Knitting & Stitching Shows.
Of the knitting memories I found this one from Pamela Richardson particularly fascinating.
“While in the Navy, Uncle Sid learnt to knit and throughout their married life they would share the knitting of any garment. Auntie Joyce would knit the front and back and Uncle Sid the sleeves. It worked for them.” This is a beautifully visual memory and I can just see them sitting either side of a fireplace in armchairs; she knitting the body and he knitting the sleeves.
Pamela’s Uncle Sid and Auntie Joyce Jaggs at their wedding in 1953
Here’s an interesting a fashion faux pas from Maggie!
…………. and I’ve been experimenting with printed paper, organza and stitch – memory of a paper dress from Susan Enticknap. Experimentation gives me some more thinking time.
Clear thought is essential for me to process what I’m actually going to make. More soon .
Woman With a Fish, AKA Sue Stone, is a totally unique and original Grimsby voice. An artist and maker who works in hand stitch, machine embroidery and mixed media to juxtapose often gritty modern urban scenarios and graffiti art with between the wars, homely, nostalgia. The medium of thread making the contrast both jarring and engaging. It’s also funny, but in an odd sort of a way, as opposed to rolling round the floor in err… stitches. The quirky humour coming from a meme sewn into all of Stone’s work, which is the fact that at least one of her subjects is always carrying a fish. An all to common occurrence in this part of the world.
Big fish, little fish… hey we forgot the cardboard box again. 
womanwithafish 