Anne Williams chats to textile artist k3n about her shift to a slower and more sustainable way of working
Textile artist Kathryn Chambers, more commonly known as k3n, has been stitching since she was a child – when she recalls using her mother’s dressmaking scraps to make small items like dolls clothes and cushions. She made her first quilt – English paper-pieced – in her thirties. Her work subsequently developed into textile art constructed with commercial fabrics and Procion-dyed cottons. Then, around fifteen years ago, concerned with the environmental impacts of using new materials and chemically manufactured dyes, she began looking for more sustainable alternatives.
In tandem with this, after years of sewing by machine, k3n was increasingly drawn to a return to hand-stitching. Largely this was to slow down her practice, but also to reduce her consumption of materials. Slow stitching – sewing using simple hand techniques – has since become central to k3n’s life. “Slow stitching is so much more than just hand-stitching. At its heart, it is a focus on the process. I find it a meditative and mindful activity and if I don’t stitch for more than a day or two, I really miss it,” she tells us.
A RE-INVENTED PRACTICE
These days, k3n exclusively uses recycled cloth, such as old clothing donated by friends and family and household linens sourced from flea markets. If offered them, she uses others’ leftovers, too. “Back when I was teaching in person, I was known to hunt for scraps in my students’ wastebins at the end of the day,” she laughs.
When seeking out old fabrics, k3n looks for natural fibres such as cotton, linen, silk and wool, though she will use materials with a synthetic component if they pass the needling test. She says, “The process of stitching is so important to me that any cloth I use must be a joy to work with. To make sure something is suitable, I trial it by ‘stitching’ with an empty needle before committing to it – an invaluable tip given to me by a friend years ago.”
To prepare scavenged cloth, first k3n gives it a wash. Flat fabric can then be stowed away, but clothing is cut up and separated into large pieces and smaller scraps, with other useful elements such as zips, buttons and seams also
