‘It’s writing your dreams with a needle”, is how the late François Lesage, the world’s most famous embroiderer once described the love for his craft.
Here in Ireland, a young Dublin designer, Jill de Burca, is realising her passion for the craft professionally in a bright little studio/workroom in Drimnagh where she creates everything from 3D flower headpieces to lavishly decorated, embroidered and jewelled gowns. Spools of silk thread and all sorts of boxes of beads and sequins decorate the walls. Her trusty workhorses include a 70-year-old sewing machine called an Irish Singer for satin stitch, "which is like driving a car".
In the course of her career, she has embroidered clothes for high-profile names in the fashion industry such as
Anna Wintour
,
Stella McCartney
,
Mary Katrantzou
, Erdem and actor
Gwyneth Paltrow
, among others.
Always fascinated by her mother's ability to take fabric "and make it into a thing", de Burca started her career with a course in fibre art in Ballyfermot creating surfaces out of material. Following this, she went on to NCAD in 2002 to study textiles under top textile artist Nigel Cheney, who was then head of fashion.
“I did a lot of freehand and appliqué and I loved translating different textures into fabric – that’s what made it come alive for me,” she recalls.
Immediately afterwards, she moved to the UK to work with Larch Rose in Brighton, a well-known textile and design studio, "where I learnt everything". Later, she worked with Jenny King, an RCA graduate specialising in high-end bespoke embroidery, as well as more commercial commissions.
It was in these two places where she polished her skills even further, working on production for fashion designers and private clients.
So she was ready to set up on her own when she returned to Dublin last year and created her first collection as well as one-off designs which she sells through an agent. A lot of her ideas are inspired by the natural world and by visits to the Natural History Museums in both Dublin and New York, embodying various techniques in which she is now skilled such as satin stitch, appliqué and digital print.
There are sweatshirts with jewelled embellishment, skirts with origami hems, T-shirts with burnt-out prints, dresses with embroidered bodices, and bomber jackets with appliqué birds – sporty luxe with a rock edge is how she describes it. “I try to make things that are beautiful, but not too pretty. Embroidery has made a big comeback in fashion. It’s very creative and a lovely way to work and a little addictive at times – but definitely a labour of love.”
