This took some years to make and finally I gave it to Nishka and Manoj for their 9th anniversary last year. It was a very complicated piece to do as I had to work on the whole piece together. Subsequently I have learnt that patchwork should actually be done on squares which are then joined to make the whole! So much more practical when you are doing all the middle bits.
I started by laying out the whole backing cloth on the floor and did a rough sketch of the tree, just the bare skeleton. I had already separated the fabrics in to colours so it was easy to place the pieces of fabric according to the way the bits fell naturally. The fabric scraps are all from clothes that were made for all of us and hoarded by me all these years, carried in this large trunk from posting to posting!! Some clothes I have sewn and others were done by the house darzi who still comes with his little machine, sits in the middle of the drawing room and sews away, one of the perks of working in an old fashioned tea company!!!
I loved every bit of making this bed cover. It brought alive so many memories for me, as I attached a piece from a dress I had made for the girls, or a kurta of Ma's or a kaftan of mine and so on. There was great joy in seeing Nishka's face the first time she saw it and recognised many of the fabric scraps!! The other great thing about doing it with scraps is that you can actually create the design as you go along, so it is almost like a jigsaw puzzel! Each piece is sewn on using herringbone stich, and I enjoyed te fact that all of it is hand done.
Why a tree you may ask, well I love trees, they are so magnificant and certainly contribute to my moments of quiet! Besides Man likes trees as well, and over the years I have sent him sketches of trees form various laces, in charcole or crayons, so finally one in cloth.!