Vicky Grainger: A Creative Journey without Rules
We’re so happy to introduce you to Vicky Grainger, a self-described dabbler from East London whose creative work defies categories. After 28 years of teaching textiles in secondary school, she retired just over a decade ago and threw herself into a world of exploration without boundaries.
Vicky moves freely from one subject or material to the next. She makes clothing, bags, key rings, quilts, pottery, embroidery, and mosaics, while also experimenting with upcycled garments and whatever else sparks her curiosity. Leftovers from one project become the centre piece of another, and then another.
She recently shared with us a treasure trove of photographs capturing her creative projects. Here’s just a small selection, giving a glimpse into her imaginative, resourceful way of making things — along with a few thoughts, in her own words.
Above: Vicky at the Festival of Quilts, 2025
Inspiration in Second-Hand Fabrics and Sustainable Sewing
I've got a strong scavenger sense. I look at things and I think: What can I do with that? There's quite a lot of junk around, really. Sometimes there’s a project for which I need to buy new material. But I don't like waste, in any form. So, my ideas are kind of an extension of that. It’s very much a mindset.
I’ve always had a pragmatic approach. My sewing is largely self-taught. Sewing is accessible, it’s practical. You can be doing something for you, but you can also be fixing something for somebody else. So, it weaves its way into our lives.
Sometimes the inspiration is the material itself, sometimes it’s external things. Maybe an image. Something I’ve seen, some kind of shape that I want to work out. It all depends. I just follow where the inspiration takes me.
For a long time, I wanted to work with men’s suiting. I made a couple of aprons cut from shirts, trimmed down messenger bags from jacket sleeves, all integrating features from the original garments. That was a good bit of fun.
Quilting: Painting with Fabric and Texture
The quilting kind of crept up on me. When I was teaching, I would get the odd student that wanted to try to quilt something. I hadn’t done much of it myself. But I knew how it worked, so I would take them through it. And that’s when ideas started coming. It’s fun because it’s sort of like painting, in a very physical way. It’s also sculptural. It scratches a lot of itches.
I don’t go very far down the traditional route. I think we all know what the traditional stuff is. But once you give yourself a bit more freedom, you can explore contemporary, modern, pictural, art, all sorts. Some techniques I use do come from a more traditional practice, but I think of them as tools. I know I’m not a traditional quilter by any means.
Once, I’d gone pretty flat on ideas, and my son said: “Why don’t you do something a bit cyber industrial goth?” So I did.
In my head it was kind of a scene from The Fifth Element with lots of neon and rain. I had to teach myself a three point perspective to get the design right. Some of that fabric is from dead stock. Although I’m inspired by upcycling, I do buy new fabric when I need to, and I needed this red.
It’s made me want to do more. I got a tour around Millenium Mills a few years back, which is this big shell of an industrial building that’s been gutted. In its derelict state, what’s interesting is the shadows, the light play. The urban decay. All of that stuff is very interesting. I took so many photos and I want to do something about this. So, that’ll probably be next.
Upcycling Denim into Jackets and Quilts
I love denim. There's so many tones and textures. And the seams and the overt stitching are fascinating. I'd wanted to make a jacket for a while. I’d saved jeans from the charity shop and friends, and made the Twig and Tale Pixie Coat. A lot of the jacket’s interesting bits came by accident. That fan on the back? I never set out to do that. I had opened the legs out and realised that they weren’t as straight legged as I’d thought. There was a distinct fullness of the fabric there that I had to take away somewhere. So, that’s where the fan came in.
After I cut the jacket, I had a lot of denim scraps left. I cut a lot of it down into three by six bricks, and interpersed them with bricks from “made yardage” (scraps sewn together) to make a small quilt.
If I’m at a bit of a loose end mentally, making a yardage is my way of doodling. Because there’s always scrap stuff to use, and making it small stops you from going on forever in all sorts of directions.
Sewing Advice for Beginners: Rules Worth Keeping
I’d say don't throw away all the sewing rules just yet. Most of them exist to make life easier, and you need to understand them before you break them.
For example, if you just randomly hack up fabric on the bias and try and sew it into a nine patch square, it's not going to behave. And with quilting, avoid anything with stretch like the plague!
But most of all, follow where you feel inspired and explore where it takes you.
Because that’s where the fun is.
Know someone working with materials in exciting ways? We’d love to feature their story. Be in touch at hello@destasher.co.uk.
