Chloe Redfern’s embroideries are simple, brightly colored, and all-around charming, reminding us of our long-lost childhood. Focusing mainly on birds, she translates their detailed textures into stitch.
“One of my favorite things to embroider is birds; their colors and patterns lend themselves so well to being translated into stitch, I really enjoy working out ways to turn certain details into areas of pattern (such as feather shapes on their wings) and working out how to stylize and simplify certain areas,” she writes on her website. “I love to stitch pictures of other animals too, and I’m also very inspired by plants, gardens and the landscape.”
Drawing is an important part of her process, and when starting a new piece of work she usually makes preparatory drawings from photographs or her imagination. Sometimes she will also utilize collage as a compositional aid, cutting out pieces of paper to try different arrangements. When making an abstract piece, she will generally work more spontaneously, laying down stitch to see what emerges. “I find that this can often yield exciting results,” she admits.
“I love the possibilities of embroidery and the range of marks and textures that can be built up with stitch,” she explains. “I tend to use back stitch and stem stitch to ‘draw’ outlines, before using straight stitches of varying lengths to fill in space and add areas of pattern.”
You can enjoy her delicate works on her Instagram page or purchase a piece for yourself on her Etsy store.
