ABOUT US

I love the Australian landscape and derive much of my inspiration from my home in Red Hill, Victoria (Australia) and the surrounding hinterland area of the Mornington Peninsula. I enjoy walking in the bush and wandering around our garden, observing the seasonal characteristics of the leaves and plants that grow here. I love to spend time watching or listening to the birds, insects and other wildlife that come to visit us. As a result, not all, but most of my work is centred around botanical or natural themes.

Although I’ve stitched and crafted for pleasure for many years, my passion for all things textile flourished and diversified around 15 years ago, whilst studying Textile Art and Design at Box Hill TAFE. It was there I discovered the many possibilities of fabric dyeing and printing, including natural or eco dyeing.

My work mostly combines machine (and some hand) stitching on my own dyed or printed fabrics and, along with natural themes, I love exploring line, colour and texture.  I tend to draw or stitch in an impressionistic or stylised way, as that seems to be the most natural way of working for me. I’ve found after all these years that you just have to work the way you want to and if it makes you happy, go with it. That’s all that matters, so don’t worry about what anyone else thinks.

I love to experiment or “play” as a fun way of learning and problem-solving. It often leads to many “happy accidents”, which can pave the way for future work.  I also enjoy exploring the design possibilities of the natural world, in conjunction with other art media, to create two and three dimensional stitched works, including hand-made cards, journals and boxes. At the moment, I’m loving working with my gel printing plates to create digital papers for papercrafting, scrapbooking and journaling.

I’ve been fortunate to have some of my articles and projects featured in various publications, including the popular textile art magazine Embellish and have sold my work in an around the Mornington Peninsula, via fashion and gift shops, galleries and art exhibitions. I currently have a new range of eco-dyed silk scarves available at the Mornington Peninsula Regional Gallery.

Before Covid, I taught creative machine embroidery and fabric dyeing  at my home studio and delivered workshops, talks and demonstrations to various groups and organisations within Victoria, including the Royal Botanic Gardens, Cranbourne, where I was able to showcase eco dyeing using some of the wonderful eucalypts found in the Gardens. 

Now, post Covid,  I’m focussed on sharing my knowledge and experience online with a wider audience and hope that for you, as part of the wonderful and ever-evolving worldwide textile arts and crafts community, this website will not only be of interest, but will inspire you to go and create your own amazing work. Although I’m not doing face to face teaching anymore, I am always happy to answer any questions you may have, regarding the content or products available on this website, either via the Contact Us page or the messaging icon at the bottom of each page. 

Tina Whiteley