Freitag on a Tuesday

At the age of fourteen I won a school prize for my hand-sewn buttonholes.

Thank you - your applause is appreciated.

I think they actually weren't that good - just not quite as bad as the zip I'd put in or the blouse I'd made. I hated sewing generally, though it was quite fun on the old treadle machine that was worked with your foot. With the treadle, the sewing was fun: the nearest we got to a theme-park ride in those far-off Seventies days. However, the initial results, at least, were rubbish,

Anyway, perhaps they hoped that rewarding me for my hours of forced labour in the buttonhole department might spark a lifetime interest in such things. Instead, I resolved that this was it. End Of. Never again would I wield a needle, except maybe to turn up the occasional pair of trousers.

Today I met someone whose skills in all things textile are at the other end of the scale from mine. I visited Katrin Freitag's textiles studio.

There I found machines which even I recognised and could work out that they were intended for sewing things together:

The green spiky things in the background are called plants, I'm more confident identifying those.

Then there was this:

I didn't have a clue but apparently it's an overlocker. I used to do that kind of stitching by hand at school. Very, very slowly and with great resentment.

Katrin demonstrated how to do it very fast and with excellent results.

She makes unusual, interesting and beautiful things - textile jewellery, bags, slippers for example - and is in the process of setting up a website and an online shop to show them and to sell them.

I liked the pile of delicate, ethereal brooches:

They're made of tulle (my guess - I forgot to ask Katrin!). Each one is different and they're all beautiful.

If you'd like to know more you can contact Katrin here. It's great to see work that's original, interesting and looks good too!