Jo Gallant

Pink Route

I make cushions and one-off decorative wall panels on themes from wide skies and hills to quirky birds and animals, and the detail of meadow flowers and grasses. I have recently started experimenting with transferring these designs to simple jackets.

Behind the Scenes
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About My Practice

I was bought up in Norfolk but moved to Scotland in the 1980s when I set up my first textile studio in Sutherland, then to Galloway in the 1990s, where I now live on the edge of the Forest Park, surrounded by trees, hills and wildlife.
I have always liked making things in cloth, have a degree in Fashion/Textiles, and am inspired by the landscape, its textures and colours and the wildlife which inhabits it. These influences have fed into my current practice. I start with dye-painting onto a variety of natural fabrics from fine silks to linens and cotton velvets, which I then put together using a combination of piecing, applique, and free-motion machine embroidery.

Tools & Materials

My materials are mostly linen and cotton in a variety of weights and textures, fibre-reactive dyes, and thread. My main tools are my iron, my scissors, and my sewing machines. I try to reduce waste as much as possible by careful planning and cutting of the fabric to size before dyeing it, and using fabrics which have been handed on to me.