Delve into my work: 'Use The Fabric - Liberty' Project Insight. When my son became old enough for me to work on sewing and painting at home without him trying to eat the paint or pins, I began to dust off my art equipment and haberdashery. I started to take vintage suitcases out of the attic where I stored my collection of fabric, accumulated since I started making clothes as a teenager, hauled from home to home where I didn't always have space to set up my sewing machine. I had in mind to explore 1930s floral prints which I could work on whilst listening to the 1930s music that I perform as a jazz singer. I contacted Liberty to view their archives. They said no. They did say that they would be exhibiting some 1930s prints as part of their 150 Years of Liberty London celebrations. Determined to Use The Fabric, I took my overlocker out of a cupboard and behind it was a brown paper package with a post date from the early '90s. Inside was a stash of Liberty print samples I had received and loved as a teen but had stored away waiting for the right project to use them. Here were the floral patterns I had in mind. Liberty were celebrating 150 years of business, I could liberate creative ideas after holding onto my materials for what felt like 150 years. In this project, I explore my love of pattern, colour, nature, fashion history and drawing through the examination of Liberty prints and use of free motion embroidery for portraiture. I consider our connection to nature joining continuous line drawing of features into floral shapes, linking life patterns together. I realise that giving life to what I already have is helpful to the natural beauty these prints are totem to. I think about the 1930s and 40s ethic to make do and mend while I listen to jazz standards and observe an ecologically sound process of utilising what is already around me to express my creativity. As I draw female faces, I ponder feminist politics behind traditionally female practices, the war effort, the balance between domestic tasks, childcare and creative endeavour. The economics behind my access to space to set up my sewing machine. The imperialism behind the history of the prints I am using. The privilege given to me by my parents who bought me this replacement machine for my birthday after the 1970s machine I had used all of my life, learned to make clothes on, made my wedding dress with and stored for the decade in which I became a mother, became irreparable after a week of fresh use. I am grateful. I am happy making again.