Interview with Elvis Robertson of Lovely Textiles
Photo by Elvis Robertson
With a name like Elvis, how can you not aspire to fabulousness? Ms. Robertson has it in sheets. After studying graphics and illustration at St. Martins School of Art, and stints at various ad agencies and design companies, Elvis decided to fly solo with her bespoke textile company, Lovely, producing delicately handcrafted pieces she says are inspired by “English eccentricity, handicrafts, and a celebration of people coming together to share skills and produce pieces.”
Her primary ethos: Community and loveliness. A believer in recycling—she mostly works with vintage fabrics—and working within the community, Elvis uses textiles to “bring people together with the emotional and deeply intimate links that we all share with fabrics and stitch.”
Look below the fold for more in her own words. (You can find more of her gorgeous textile work on her Web site.)
Photo by Elvis Robertson
1. How did you get started in sewing and quilting?
I’d sewn since childhood and when I was studying graphics and illustration at St. Martins School of Art, I introduced stitching and knitting to my work. However, Lovely began when I took some samples to Browns of St. Molton St. in London, for some general advice. They were immediately excited about what I’d done and suddenly I was also designing a gift range for The Cross in Holland Park and receiving press coverage.
2. What are memory quilts and how did you become interested in making them?
Memory quilts are made using vintage fabrics and embellishments pieced together like memory. People commissioning them have very precious pieces from their past worked in, or sometimes nothing at all. The idea is that they live with you. Some are intended as heirlooms, others as artworks and each of them are a journey into the client’s loves and relationship with fabric.
3. How important is it for you to use vintage and sustainable materials?
Enormously important. I will occasionally use a classic piece of modern fabric if a client requires it, but prefer to use fabrics with history. I feel we don’t need to continue creating more and more waste and use fabrics with history, handcrafted detail and emotion behind them to underline that fact.
4. What are your favorite fabrics to work with?
Antique lace doilies that have been hand produced, amateur embroideries, vintage trimmings, patterns I can quilt around, mercerized cotton, amusing patches and badges, faded velvets, pale blue chintz …
Photo by Elvis Robertson
5. Your quilts are so lush and romantic. Where do you get your inspiration?
Textile history, my collections, my clients … insomnia helps!
6. What else do you like to do, besides sewing and quilting?
I’ve just had a baby, so not much at the moment …
Prior to that I used to spend a lot of time at the beach, walking, photographing, beach-combing, etc.
I used to work in community groups for people with special needs.
Socializing is big for me, eating with friends, going to exhibitions, watching international films, playing with my home, hanging out in my garden with ladybirds and grasshoppers.
7. What is your favorite eco-crafting tip?
Be a child and look at things with an excited eye rather than a functional one.
And get lots of storage space!
