Join Alke, Lindsey and Katy online to hear them discuss ways in which the textiles we already own (or have been handed down to us) can be used and repurposed to share visual stories about our lives and values. These become personal tactile textile stories - threaded, stitched and woven - that can be worn, held, touched, displayed, and even snuggled under.

We are interested in exploring with you how personal histories can be shared with others via:

• Heritage/heirloom textiles (where fabrics are used that have a personal connection to somebody or some place/time, such as old clothes, but also domestic textiles like tea towels, tablecloths, hankies, curtains, soft furnishings, etc.)

• Illustrative narrative textiles (where imagery and pictures are created through embroidery, applique or similar, that tell a story by literally illustrating a life)

• Data-driven textiles (this is a more abstract approach to storytelling where patterns are created by visually communicating specific data points)

• Collaborative approaches to creating stories via textiles. Such as the making of a quilt where a group of individuals contribute one (or more) block(s) to then be made into a cohesive whole.

We can't wait to meet you and hear how hand-me-down histories could apply to your life.

Introducing the hosts:

Dr Alke Gröppel-Wegener - Alke started sewing as a little girl, and has been doing it ever since. She worked as a costume designer in the early 2000s, learnt to weave on a floor loom while studying at the Penland School of Crafts and kept playing with text and textiles while doing a ‘proper’ job as an award-winning educator in higher education, even making a quilt as a personal development review. Having left her position in academia to create a better work-leisure balance, she runs Tactile Academia and is currently exploring craft in the context of storytelling (and travelling the world whenever she can).

Lindsey Vigurs - Lindsey is one half of DEAD GOOD, and an experienced illustrator, designer and artist. She has always enjoyed working with textiles within her arts practice and is as comfortable on a sewing machine as she is with a sketchbook and pen. Dressmaking is a passion (most recently sewing a vintage clownsuit) and, although not a perfect seamstress, she can run up basic garms and costumes. Lindsey has created textile illustrations using found materials, repurposed clothing and industrial scrap. Sculptural hospital gowns, Frankenstein plushies and hideous dolls are all in her repertoire.

Dr Katy Vigurs - Katy is the other half of DEAD GOOD, and Lindsey's sister. Katy and Alke worked together as creative academics for nearly a decade. Katy is a social researcher by background with an interest in lifeworlds and life histories. Through DEAD GOOD she helps others tell their stories in imaginative ways. Katy is a total sewing newbie, and just about knows her thimbles from her bobbins. Last year she attended some community classes on darning, Sashiko and needle felting and now she's hooked (pun intended). She's full of ideas and is enjoying learning new crafting skills.