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Susie Gillespie
Susie Gillespie is a hand-weaver producing textile art in South Devon. A fascination for historic textiles and the methods used to produce them informs her work – which incorporates antique linen yarns, nettles and home-grown flax.
Susie does every step of the creation process herself, from growing, processing, spinning yarn right through to weaving.
Her use of natural materials, combined with her techniques produce pieces that are full of texture and life- qualities visibly lacking in machine spun fabrics.
Maker's Story
Susie Gillespie is a hand-weaver producing textile art in South Devon. A fascination for historic textiles and the methods used to produce them informs her work which incorporates antique linen yarns, nettles and home-grown flax. Susie does every step of the creation process herself, from growing, processing, spinning yarn right through to weaving. Her use of natural materials, combined with her techniques produce pieces that are full of texture and life - qualities visibly lacking in machine spun fabrics.
Maker's Quote
My work is inspired by looking with an aesthetic eye at ancient cloth. I am interested in early weavers and how they must have collected and spun local plant fibres to weave into cloth. The time involved made the cloth valuable and it would have been mended and repaired until just fragments remain.
Textile Artist
The Process
Susie Gillespie’s production methods are labour and time intensive, adhering to traditional techniques. Her pieces feature Long Strawed Flax which are the ideal for yarn spinning. Susie plants these during spring for an August harvest.
The Process