A Day in the Life of a Textile Artist

I always love hearing how other people structure their day, so I thought it might be fun to share my own day too. 

6:20am 

I was intending to get up earlier, but we know how that goes… I start the day with Bible reading and a protein smoothie. My intention is to have time for this before the kids get up at 6:30am, which is why I should definitely have gotten up earlier (and by extension, why I should have gone to bed earlier last night). I also review my priorities and tasks for the day, and scan my emails. We start the day as a family (with Bible reading and prayer) at around 7am.

7:15am

There is a whole lot of housework to be done today, as yesterday was spent with a migraine. First up, folding the laundry. Then into the kitchen to plan dinner. Fresh fruit and veggies will be delivered today, so it’ll be a dinner that uses the last of the veggies in the fridge. And withered apples mean apple crumble for desserts. Then there’s still time for a short but effective workout.

8:10am

School run, then mopping the floors. Today I did an extra run through the house to clear bench tops and the floor, and remove books from every conceivable couch/beanbag/table.

9:20am

Time to deal with emails and package orders. On a day when there is less housework to do, I like to get this done before the school run.

10:30am

I’m still going at the computer - it is a deep, dark rabbit hole! But I’ve managed a good chunk of work and will leave the rest for another day. There is a significant amount of computer work to do in a week - processing orders with Australia Post, responding to enquires, drafting blog posts and newsletters, planning social media posts, updating the website and more. Usually on Friday morning I will spend up to 3 hours at the computer. And then Monday will be another computer-heavy day, responding to everything that has accumulated over the weekend.

For now, I’m ready to head into the studio!

10:45am

I always make a cup of tea before heading upstairs into the studio. Today I’m excited to finished the last few seams of an artwork I have been working hard at over the last few weeks. It’s got a tight schedule, so I’m happy to see it get to this point. (Sorry - it’s top secret, so I can’t show it to you yet). 

12:40

Those final few seams always take far longer than anticipated (you’d think I’d understand that by now). I’m still not done, but my tea has gone cold, and it’s time for lunch. My daughter made some delicious cinnamon scrolls for lunch yesterday, but I was too sick to eat, so I’m enjoying mine today. Not very healthy, but very yummy!

1:45pm

The final seam has been stitched! Now I get to press the artwork flat (any of my workshop students will know how exciting that step is. This artwork is the most detailed one I’ve ever made. So many tiny pieces! So it’s exciting to see it come together so well. The next steps on this project are to layer and quilt it. The quilting will have an embroidery-style component to it. But that’s for another day.

Next up in the studio: converting my cutting table into a printmaking table. I need to screen print some background fabric for a fun commission coming up. So I’ve laid out some layers of batting (it’s seen many print runs already!) and a layer of calico. I’ve cut a piece of background fabric, selected some silk screens, cut out some raindrop shapes from paper (to act as a resist stencil) and pulled out the fabric paint.

2pm 

The printing will have to wait, as I have a few errands to run before school pickup - we’re out of bread and milk (a recurring theme in our house), and I need to pop past Bunnings too.

4:25pm

The kids are home from school, the groceries and the fresh fruit and veg have been packed away, dinner has been prepared (ready to go in the oven) so now I get to mix up some fabric for my screenprint. I thought I could get away with just white and blue, but it ended up needing all the colours (a touch of red and yellow makes it a more ‘real’ colour).

Then it’s printing time. The first print isn’t so great (I should have run the squeegee over it a second time) so I turn the fabric around and repeat on the other side. I also print a few off cuts while I’m at it. It’s good to have made a start on this. There will be a few more prints to go (definitely some gum leaves still) and I’m also wondering whether the raindrops are too large. I’ll have to mull on that over the next day or two. 

Once the screen and squeegee are cleaned up (such a messy job!) there is one last studio job for today… I bought some carpet tiles at Bunnings to make new mats for my piecework trays. The carpet stops the fabric pieces from slipping around, and also acts a bit like a pincushion. I had four trays already, and made up six more (we have plenty of these trays, I just didn’t have carpet in them all yet). Having a lot of trays allows me to lay out a lot of quilt sections, ready for stitching together.

5:30pm

I join Phil on our front balcony for a drink and to debrief our day. This is child-free time, and a valuable part of our daily routine. Dinner is a little haphazard today, as Phil takes one child to his piano lesson while the rest of us finish chores and dinner prep. We finish off dinner altogether.

8:30pm

We snuck in an episode of LegoMasters with the boys after dinner (this doesn’t usually happen on a school night, but I think we’re in denial that school holidays are over 😊). The younger boys are now in bed, and I will spend the rest of my evening hand-piecing. This is a large floral artwork that had to be put aside for a few weeks, so I’m happy to be making some progress on it again. It’s also at a much more manageable scale than the top-secret artwork that I’ve been busy with, which is welcome relief. I usually listen to audiobooks or podcasts while stitching.

Thanks for sharing my day!