I have always been surrounded by art and textiles. My mother had been a seamstress and even in her seventies was creating wonderful patchwork with beautiful hand quilting. She still fills her home with a wide selection of textiles from around the world. My father was a painter and then moved into geometry especially with a spiritual reverence and became an architectural consultant. He filled the house with many artefacts, paintings and things of beauty from the natural world. As a teenager, my older sister, and I used an old hand powered sewing machine to create textile items. Often buying material and second-hand clothes which we spent all Saturday working on to make our outfit for that night’s party.
I completed a textile course at the Chelsea School of Art which furthered my interest in silkscreen printing, dying, knitting and weaving. I made children's clothes which I then sold at craft markets. I first dyed the threads and yarn, then either hand knitted them or wove them into fabric to create the co-ordinating garments: my first daughter being a wonderful model. I later taught dressmaking and other textile crafts for the ILEA.
We moved to Devon when our third child was born and I concentrated on bringing up our two, then three, daughters and son whilst continuing to make textile items; mostly fabric bags, purses and cushions which I would then sell locally. I still sell locally mostly through the annual Crux Craft Fair. Crux Craft Fair has been going for twenty-five years now and started with seven of us in a small barn conversion. It has grown to over 30 designer-makers selected from the South West area.
I moved into felt about 10 years ago taken up for a teaching project I was involved in and I have never looked back. I am a member of the International Feltmakers’ Association, and teach feltmaking locally and abroad with the Prince’s Foundation of Traditional Arts. From a studio that my husband built for me, overlooking our beautiful garden, I continue to make a wide range of textile creations, with fabric, embroidery, items from nature, hand dyeing, and felting, especially with locally sourced wool. I enjoy working with wool with all its wonderful endless possibilities.
Copyright © 2020 Amanda Critchlow - All Rights Reserved.