J Linley Access

I created some bias binding to sew around the shape. This reminded me of the legshield rubber around an actual front legshield of a scooter. It also neatens the edge of the fabric.

I then traced around the original card to create this shape, adding seam allowances so that I could sew it onto the card.

This shows the embroidery and the words of two northern soul songs completed. The songs are Just Your Fool by Eddie Whitehead and I'm on my way by Dean Parrish. These were chosen as they have a great deal of meaning to me but also that Northern Soul music is a large part of the scooter scene. Northern Souls songs courtesy of - 'I’m on my way'. Dean Parrish. 1967. Written by Doug Morris, Elliot Greeenburg. Released on Laurie Label   'Just Your Fool'. Eddie Whitehead 1969. Written by Kenny Smith.   Released on Blackjack Label

To add interest to the jeans I roughly cut them into strips and sewn them back together to create a more textural/rough platform to then start adding the words. I decided to embroidery the actual scooter rallies I have attended which has the greatest meaning to my work. Bridlington, Scarborough, Whitby, Southport and Kelso. These all have personal meanings i.e. from the first scooter rally I ever attended to the last my husband attended. I chose to add two northern soul songs which again have a great deal of personal meaning. I first started to embroidery this on, but found that visually this wasn't strong enough as I knew that this piece would be exhibited online only. I therefore decided not to embroidery these words and just use marker pen. This shows up more in a photograph.

I decided to cover the card in wadding to give it a bit more shape and structure. I then chose to cover the piece with a pair of my late husbands jeans.   I chose this fabric as my brief throughout has been my personal story with the scooter scene throughout the years. I wanted something that would connect and interlink the whole piece together. I wanted to create an object that obviously told some kind of story and that would make the viewer wonder and think about what the connections could be. I feel it adds meaning and depth to the piece when the actual personal connections are then known. I chose these colours for the embroidery as I wanted to add a more feminine aspect as it mainly male dominated in the actual scooter scene.

Hole cut into card and the speedometer placed in. I decided to place the speedometer into the card rather than at the top to keep the original curved shape at the top. The overall shape reminds me of the front legshield part of a scooter.