Unravelling Threads – Working Class Lives
A Textile Exhibition by Sarah-Joy Ford and Sewing Café Lancaster
Opening September 2025
As we celebrate 400 years of Lancaster’s oldest Town House, a new series of textile interventions will reveal working-class lives at the Judges’ Lodgings, from those who served the Judges to those who came before them charged with breaking the law. Artist Sarah Joy Ford’s stunning installation on the original mahogany Dining Table contrasts the wealth of the Judges with those who came before them for theft, poverty and homelessness. Combining new historical research with cutting edge embroidery techniques, she uncovers poachers, thieves, tramps and the poor – including a Polish poet and an Irish family threatened with deportation. Sewing Café Lancaster have created a series of embroidered interventions about servant life (photograph top right). Discover their beautiful work placed around the house, from the Servants Hall to the Drawing Room, as they reveal the stories of housekeepers like Betty Bateson and her assistant Esther King.
Dr Sarah-Joy Ford is a Todmorden based artist and independent scholar working primarily in quilting, digital embroidery and pattern design. She is a Curatorial Researcher in lesbian art history at Bishopsgate Institute funded by the Paul Mellon Centre, and Visiting Research Fellow at The University of Leeds, jointly held with Rachael Field (Sept 2025-2028). Ford sits on the National Executive Committee for Artist Union England, and her artistic work is represented by Cassinelli Mills. Her solo show Dykeland is at The Whitaker (Rossendale) 4th June – 21st September 2025.
Sewing Café Lancaster is a grassroots project that advocates for an ethical textile industry and regenerative textile practices.
Supported by the National Lottery, thanks to National Lottery Players.
