Fancy Work: Reading into the Silences and Learning That Not All Archives Are Forever

My Nana was a habidasher, my mother was a habidasher’s assistant, and my great aunt was the head seamstress on a shop floor.  This is a phrase I have written into my work many times, thinking about how there is a lineage of skill, of thread and knowledge between my maternal family. I will admit now that until I read Alice Hattrick’s Fancy WorkI have been ignorant on how much thread and sewing skills hold a rich history: an archive like no other.