A daffodils tapestry

Bohemia, 1900. Had to take this photo to mirror Chhaya Biswas' daffodils embroidery currently on display at the Women's Library (as part of our Stitch project)
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Writing up the stories about the exhibition pieces. Chhaya Biswas embroidered an intricate design of daffodils (that she drew on the fabric with pencil.) She had not embroidered for years but was determined to finish a design that would have daunted far more experienced embroiderers. The daffodil, she said, was her favourite flower. She had studied Wordsworth's famous poem as a girl in Bangladesh but had never seen a daffodil. "They told us that they were yellow and swayed in the wind, but I had never seen one." As a young bride in Wandsworth, at the age of 18, she saw her first daffodils on Wandsworth Common and was enchanted.

A personal touch

Visiting different groups in Wandsworth and talking about the project - today the Association of Somalian Women in Battersea - take examples of embroidery that is important to me.















Including a dress made by my mother for me so long ago that I hesitate to say when - on parachute silk and embroidered with spring flowers from Cornwall, where I grew up.



















Grape hyacinths



















Daffodils




















Tulips.


Parachute silk is in fact nylon - a fabric readily available in the years after the war