What Millie did next

Having painted what I could, Millie lay out on my work-desk overnight to allow the paint to fully dry.

As I mentioned yesterday, with reference to the lack of poor or working class clothes in museums, it made me think on my favourite form of slow-sew stitching -  Japanese Boro ( ぼろ) mending. It is derived from the word boroboro meaning tattered or repaired. The mended cloth then, over years, develops a wonderful beauty and history - each one having a unique story with patches being added and reinforced by simple stitches.

I have been using boro mending on work jeans for Himself and decorate my clothing as well as fabric journal covers. So, I decided to gently include boro into Millie's skirt. Linking mending with embellishment to create an object of 'impermanence and imperfection' yet functional and beautiful leads to another traditional Japanese aesthetic - Wabi sabi' - which is used to describe the appreciation the beauty of the imperfect and incomplete.

One of the many hazards (and there were many) of working in a textile mill before present day health and safety legislation, was the exposure of mill workers to cotton dust which to respiratory disorders with some progressing on to some fatal lung diseases.

Himself is a modern day textile worker and despite wearing a mask with filters is still is affected by cotton dust although thankfully no way near the extent of the unprotected woman who laboured at the linen weaving machines.

So - stitching this doll is also my way of not just acknowledging the hardship and and hard working Millies, but also present day textile workers here and around the world.