When you first see Merylin Briggs’ artworks it’s easy to presume that it’s been created using paintbrush and paint. Lean in closer and you’ll discover that things are not what they seem because Merylin is a fabric artist and her works are made from small snippets of coloured fabric stitched into place to form a picture.
It takes great skill to create such detailed work and Merylin is definitely no Learner Driver when it comes to using a sewing machine.
“My mother was a milliner and made such wonderful hats,” Merylin says.
“I guess that’s where I got my interest in making things from fabric and I started my career as a dressmaker when I was just 15 when I worked in a very exclusive bridal wear shop in Melbourne.”
After making literally hundreds of bridal gowns Merylin finally packed away her lace and satin about 20 years ago. But the urge to work with fabric and keep her hands busy never really went away and it wasn’t long before she started looking at fabric in a whole new light.
“I’d seen a woman cutting shapes out of fabric to make a picture with the pieces when I attended a fibre art convention in Melbourne. I loved the idea but didn’t want to copy her so I developed my own technique of chopping up fabric and creating more detailed shapes.”
Merylin’s process starts with scouring the internet for unusual and exclusive fabrics, usually batik. She’s fussy about quality and her fabric of choice is batik due to its very fine weave and the consistency of the print on both sides.
“The pieces I cut can be so small I need tweezers and a magnifying glass to arrange them on a sheet of stabiliser fabric. Sometimes I have to add a layer of really fine tulle simply to hold the tiny pieces in place so I can sew them on.”
Starch. Cut. Position. Sew. This process is repeated over and over again and Merylin uses the Rolls Royce of Bernina sewing machine to add an array of decorative stitching. The stitch counter on Merylin’s machine shows she can clock up 300,000-plus stitches in a single artwork. What she doesn’t count is the vast number of hours each work takes to complete.
“There’s always a lot of time spent on the initial design and choosing what piece of fabric will work best and where. I do a lot of what I call ‘Fussy Cutting’ as I can have a whole metre of patterned fabric but all I want is one tiny bit out of the middle.”
Merylin says she gets much of her inspiration from her local environment. Water, rocks and trees are common features in her pictures but they’re not her only subjects of choice as she’ll sometimes see a picture in a magazine and take inspiration from that.
Merylin is also inspired by colour.
“I absolutely love colour. I know I’m not unique in that but to me it’s very, very special. I’m drawn to it and the choice of printed fabrics is always fascinating and almost limitless.”
It’s often said that ‘the devil’s in the detail’ and in regards to Merylin’s creations it’s more a case that the art is in the detail.
You can find Merilyn and her wonderful creations on Facebook at Merylin Briggs Artist.
