Earth Sails

Sometimes I take the field patterns out to sea, with the intention of making a sail for the boat. I love the performance of hoisting of the sail whilst on the journey. Looking for new sea patterns whilst we are sailing, and combining them with the field patterns, influences the stitching I make on the sail. Filming the sail, the land and sea patterns, are part of my process.

‘Floating Land Sail’, was constructed on a sailing trip from Dorset to Cornwall in 2022. In my studio, I made a paper sail pattern, based on a tri-radial sail design, 3.5m x 1.4m. Whilst we were on the water, I sewed together, with waxed whipping twine, fabric printed with the land patterns, to make the sail based on my design.

The sail was hoisted whilst moored on the River Dart, at Dittisham, Devon.

My second sail, ‘Chalk Waves’, was made whilst sailing across the English Channel from Dorset to St Malo in France, May 2023.

I printed the sail stitch pattern, discovered on my sailing trip in 2022, onto organic Hemp. Scaling up to 5m x 4m, I used the colours of the walnut and chalk layers from the land, and a deep navy I saw in the sea. I over-stitched the sail as we went, the land and sea patterns I saw on the journey, influencing my stitch on the sail.

The sail was hoisted in both Guernsey in the Channel Islands, and St, Malo, France.

Floating Land Sail, (2022) my first Earth Sail’s journey from Dorset to Cornwall.