Swiss Darn Expert - Flora Collingwood Norris
When did you first start creatively mending knitwear and why?
I started mending about 4-5 years ago after getting a puppy with a taste for cashmere jumpers! Visible mending was a great way to combine my design skills with practical mending to create a feature of the flaws, and I fell in love with it.
Do you have a darning style that you would say is your favourite? If so, why?
I don’t really have a favourite style, as I love variety. Different mending techniques are suited to different types of damage, so I enjoy using whichever one is most appropriate which can affect the style of the mend. I love combining techniques to create exciting statement repairs- I treat each one as a unique design project, which is really what excites me I think.
In recent months everyone has faced different challenges because of the COVID pandemic. How have you stayed positive?
Luckily for me I’m happiest when I’m in my studio being creative, so I’ve been knitting and mending my way through lockdown. I repaired all the jumpers that had been in my mending pile, and designed a few new scarves for my collection. Mending is so involved, and requires so much concentration, there’s no space to worry, and that really helped me through
Do you have any uplifting book/podcast/music recommendations that you can share with us?
I’ve really enjoyed listening to “The See-through House: My Father in Full Colour” by Shelley Klein recently. It was great to hear about Bernat Kleins love of the landscape around him, and about his creativity here in the Scottish Borders. I’ve also been listening to Bene and Cormac, a trad folk duo I discovered during lockdown.
Do you have any exciting up and coming projects you can tell us about?
Working with you! Every new mending project is exciting, as they’re all unique, but I also have some new knitwear pieces coming later in the year that I’m quite excited about.
