Stitching Stories: The Red Dress & Sambhali Sutra
Bringing Together Global Voices Through Stitch: The Red Dress (2009–2023) and Sambhali Panels (Rajasthan, India 2019)
The Red Dress is a 14-year, award-winning global collaborative embroidery project (2009–2023), conceived by British artist Kirstie Macleod. The garment serves as an artistic platform for individuals worldwide—primarily women, many of whom are vulnerable and live in poverty—to share their personal stories through embroidery.
As part of The Red Dress’s ongoing world tour, the garment will be exhibited alongside panels from Sambhali at The Barn, Hawkers Farm, Dorset, from 29 November - 5 December 2024.
The Red Dress is a 14-year, award-winning global collaborative embroidery project (2009–2023), conceived by British artist Kirstie Macleod. The garment serves as an artistic platform for individuals worldwide—primarily women, many of whom are vulnerable and live in poverty—to share their personal stories through embroidery.
As part of The Red Dress’s ongoing world tour, the garment will be exhibited alongside panels from Sambhali at The Barn, Hawkers Farm, Dorset, from 29 November - 5 December 2024.
Image: Kirstie Macleod with FanSina embroiderers, Sinai. Photo courtesy of Georgina Sleap. Image above: Lekazia Turner, Embroiderer from Jamaica. Photo courtesy of Mark Pickthall 2022.
Between 2009 and 2023, sections of The Red Dress traveled across the globe, continuously embroidered by a diverse array of hands. Made from 87 pieces of burgundy silk dupion, the dress has been worked on by 367 women and girls, 11 men and boys, and 2 non-binary artists from 51 countries. Of the 141 commissioned embroiderers, all were paid for their work and continue to receive a share of exhibition fees, merchandise sales, and the opportunity to sell their own work through The Red Dress Etsy shop. Additional embroidery was contributed by willing participants at various exhibitions and events.
The Red Dress has been exhibited in renowned galleries and museums worldwide, including Gallery Maeght in Paris, Art Dubai, Museo de Arte Popular in Mexico City, the National Library of Kosovo, the National Waterfront Museum in Wales, the Fashion and Textile Museum in London, and at an event at the Royal Academy in London. It has also been featured in the Frick and Fuller Craft Museums in the USA and won first prize at the Premio Valcellina Textiles Award in Maniago, Italy, in 2015.
Image: assorted embroideries from Kirstie Macleod Spiders web, Mariel Osborne, Hand & Lock and FanSina, 2009 - 2020. Photo courtesy of Sophia Schorr-Kon.
The exhibition will also showcase a series of large, vibrantly stitched panels created by vulnerable women supported by the Sambhali Trust in Rajasthan, India. Each woman created a piece that tells her personal story and explores what it means to be a woman in India.
The Sambhali Trust, founded by Govind Rathore over 17 years ago, is dedicated to empowering disadvantaged women and children in Rajasthan. Its mission is to break the cycle of poverty and dependency by providing safe spaces and vocational training. To date, the trust has reached over 57,000 women and children.
Image: assorted embroideries from Kirstie Macleod Spiders web, Mariel Osborne, Hand & Lock and FanSina, 2009 - 2020. Photo courtesy of Sophia Schorr-Kon.
The exhibition will take place in the historic setting of Hawkers Farm, offering breathtaking views across the Blackmore Vale. The creative vision of Jennifer Morissee, who transformed an old milking parlour into a sustainable sewing hub, has made the farm home to Hawkers Re-Creatives. Here, visitors will find Wear Me Out, offering special occasion outfits and hats to borrow, and Second to None, a collection of natural fibre second-hand clothes for sale. The hub also hosts mending and redesigning workshops. Jennifer is also the founder of Defashion Dorset, an initiative connecting local fibre producers with makers to promote a sustainable, local clothing culture.
Learn more at:
www.reddressembroidery.com