LYNELLE SLADE
Has quiltmaking always been a hobby of
yours? In the past, patchwork and quilting
was more than just my hobby. I was the editor
of several craft magazines, which meant it
was the focus of my working day – having
to produce 28 issues every year involved
sourcing more than 300 projects, along with
all the other content that goes into an issue.
It was with relief that I went on maternity
leave, although it would be a year or so before
I really found time to just sew and enjoy it as
my hobby again.
Did you start stitching when you were a
child? My love of craft developed at a very
young age. I was always dabbling and have
tried my hand at most things – copper art,
macrame, fabric-covered tissue boxes. You
name it, I’ve done it (except for the modernbeading and scrapbooking. By the time
they were happening, I was 100 per cent
patchworking.)
Are these talents in your genes? My
grandmother was always doing tapestry,
and I loved watching her progress week to
week. By about the age of 16 or so, I was
starting to favour fabric, needle and thread,
and it was about then that I came across Kaff e
Fassett’s Glorious Needlepoint – my eyes were
well and truly open, and I never quiet looked
at my grandma’s tapestry in the same way.
No more rural English country scenes for me!
Did you choose it as a career when you left
school? It was probably not a great surprise
to those around me that I decided to study
interior design, not that most people even
knew what it was 22 years ago. I was always
drawing, colouring and most of the time had
a camera at hand. I always had a strong sense
of space and how it worked. I guess it’s with
a similar sense that I make quilts. The fabric
always tells me what to do, maybe not straight
away, but as I collect bits and pieces in project
groups, it tends to start to speak to me.
Is there a set procedure to your quiltmaking?
When I know what I want to do, I always draw
it up on graph paper, to scale, and colour it.
Once I commit pen to paper, there is very little
hesitation about what is being drawn. Then,
when I start to make, I work off the plan and
usually don’t change anything.You have recently moved to the country,
haven’t you? About 18 months ago, we had
a tree change and moved to country NSW.
Before the move, I rang Karyn at Get Stitched
(Armidale) and asked about her classes. She
has several mornings when you can go along
and do whatever you want, and she slotted
me in for Tuesday mornings with a great bunch
of ladies. They’ve off ered friendship and,
of course, lots of local gossip!
Do you have a dedicated workroom?
The move made me go through my stash
with a very critical eye (even though I’m
already very particular about how I buy
fabric – everything is project-specific) and
de-stash quite a bit. Although the new house
is much bigger, I don’t have a dedicated
sewing room. I have a sunny corner of the
kitchen/meals area. It’s a great spot to sew;
the light streams in, and I’m in the hub of
the house, close at hand for the kids and the
kettle, and I can bake and sew at the same
time! Luckily, I’m a really neat sewer and,
at the end of each session, everything gets
packed up. I have a large, 25-drawer timber
unit in the garage, which helps with my
storage needs.
What do you do with your finished quilts?
Nowadays, a lot of the quilts in my head are
for my girls. I tell them that each little stitch
is a piece of Mummy’s love – soppy, but that’s
how they make me.Gett ing to know ...
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