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The Motheaten Jacket - vintage silk jacket - stitched vintage art

The Motheaten Jacket - vintage silk jacket - stitched vintage art

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The Motheaten Jacket

This is the most beautiful antique men’s jacket which was covered in moth holes and the lining was torn - it was too beautiful not to love back into life, using visible and invisible mending.
The jacket is pure black, finely woven wool I think, there’s a beautiful drape to the fabric - this was a really special, bespoke piece of tailoring. I wish, I wish, I wish it fitted me because it definitely fits women too.

The larval stage of the clothes moths were created with couching, the adult began with needlefelted wool, I then stitched into it with old embroidery threads, including gold and silver.

Obviously, we don’t want clothes moths in our houses, on our clothes. But why are they there, why did they evolve – where is their place? To eat fur and hairs and feathers, to clean up what the meateaters and carrion feeders leave behind.

And have you ever really looked at clothes moths... my, they’re beautiful.

The size of the jacket:
38” chest
33” waist
18” from armpit to wrist
9” nape of neck to top of shoulder
26” from nape to bottom hemline. It is about a size 10 for a woman despite being a man’s small size.

This is as a completely unique piece of wearable sculpture.
And, despite the dark, dark black being a nightmare to stitch onto, I loved working on this piece - if only it fitted me.

Please note: due to ongoing issues with the Royal International cyber incident, I am removing all international postage options.

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The Motheaten Hierarchicies is where I tried to examine how humankind places value judgements on both humans and wildlife.
It posed the question “are there really heroes and villains – who or what has the highest value or worth?”
It grew out of conversations I was having during the FIFTY BEES exhibitions about insects which went something like “bees are good. Wasps and flies are bad”. An oversimplification you might think but these were real conversations.
What makes a good moth? One that is pretty and doesn’t eat bits of my garden.
What makes a good fly? A dead one.
But without bluebottles, we would be up to our eyeballs in dead matter.
And my thinking was, in this time of species extinction, major concerns about the massive decline of invertebrates, I wanted to celebrate insects, especially those which we might struggle to appreciate. Because if we don’t recognize and celebrate them, we’ll lose them, and WE NEED THEM!

This item will be posted to you by Lydia Needle within 3 days of receiving payment.

Shipping destination Cost Additional items
United Kingdom £10.00

You have 14 days, from receipt, to notify the seller if you wish to cancel your order or exchange an item.

Unless faulty, the following types of items are non-refundable: items that are personalised, bespoke or made-to-order to your specific requirements; items which deteriorate quickly (e.g. food), personal items sold with a hygiene seal (cosmetics, underwear) in instances where the seal is broken; digital items.

Please note that if your order is being posted outside mainland UK, you (or the recipient) may have to pay customs or VAT charges and a handling fee. The seller is not responsible for any charges or fees that may incur.

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Designed by Lydia Needle.

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