Lekazia Turner, embroiderer from Jamaica, 2022
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the Chakra dress


Created by Eveline Uhlig 


My dress was created to satisfy the fantasy costume assignment of the Advanced Stitched Textiles course completed between 2023 and 2026. 
My theme for the course was the chakras and this theme influenced all my assessed pieces.  The dress was sewn from a commercial pattern; white cotton fabric was dyed with Dye-Na-Flow fabric dye and then stamped using acrylic paint.  Slips were made using a wide range of techniques in the respective chakra colours and these were stitched to the body of the dress, in the appropriate chakra section.  Larger central slips adorn the front centre of the dress.  In the true philosophy of the Red Dress, the creation of slip contributions was sought and supplied by 14 members of my local stitching group, The Lutterworth Stitchers.  The dress will be on display at the AST Grad Show in Needham Market, Suffolk between 18 and 19 July.

Inspiration taken from the Red Dress informed my desire to use stitch as a healing process, linked to the healing properties of the chakras, and to involve my stitching community in its creation.  Thank you Kirstie and all the contributors to the Red Dress for this valuable inspiration
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Seeing red

community art project by colac makers space, Australia



Seeing Red began with a moment of frustration when our much-loved CrossXpollinatioN exhibition was unable to proceed in 2026. Rather than let disappointment divide us, local artists, makers and community members came together to create OFF AND CROSS — a celebration of textiles, creativity and connection. From this grew Seeing Red, a collaborative community textile project inspired by The Red Dress, by the symbols of protest, resilience and the stories held within fabric and stitch. People of all ages contributed to a shared banner, honouring creativity, solidarity and the often-unseen labour of generations of women. What began as frustration became a symbol of hope and belonging.

Website: The Seeing Red Project - COLAC MAKERS' SPACE | COLAC COMMUNITY ART SPACE | MAKERS


OUR SUPPORTERS

A huge thank you to all who have given their time, energy, enthusiasm, advice, experience and support to The Red Dress project over the years.

In addition to the organisations below, funding has been gratefully received from a number of private donations and via three crowdfunding campaigns in 2020, 2022 and 2024.
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Nothing expresses more eloquently the feelings I suspect we share about the importance of embroidery in our lives, and the support we derive from the friendships made through stitch, than Kirstie Macleod’s Red Dress.
Caroline Zoob, Editor of Stitchers Journal 2022
This beautiful object highlights the common ground between individuals, bringing together different identities and uniting people, we are honoured to contribute to it.
Tiny Kox, PACE President at the Council of Europe, Strasbourg 2023
The Red Dress has become an icon of the international textile world.
Suzanne Smith, Textile Society 2022
The Red Dress in its final incarnation, a magnificent, regal robe, symbolises the empowerment of women through the creation of something beautiful, something which began with bowed heads and tired fingers but also with faith and joy, an openness and willingness to be a part of something which they could not see at that time but in which they could believe had meaning and worth connecting with other women around the world.
Lady Alison Myners, Chair of the Royal Academy Trust 2020
The Red Dress is in some respects similar to Mail Art, the populist artistic movement centred on sending small scale works through the postal service. It initially developed out of the Fluxus movement in the 1950s and 60s – but on a larger scale – the journey of the work is part of its identity, process, and in fact function. A signifier of the temporal and physical nature of the process inherent in the creation of the piece. The surface of the dress layered with embroidery slowly transforming into a specific topographical map – completely particular to the work’s journey – and reflective of the burgeoning sculptural landscape of the object.
Paul Black, Artlyst 2015
It’s her (Kirstie’s) red silk Dupion bodice and voluminous skirt created for the Red Dress that fully demonstrates her commitment to embroidery and the immense respect for the international community of makers.
Denna Jones. Embroidery Magazine 2010
...the fact that they could embroider what they wanted and that it is appreciated has given them some strength, some confidence that I didn’t feel so strongly before they created the embroideries.
Nicole Esselan, Founder of Kisany Africa, supporting artisans in DR CONGO and RWANDA who created embroidery on the Red Dress in 2018
This is both an extraordinary work of collective art and profound and eloquent social commentary. It is also an example of how potent the Attire language is capable of becoming.
Attires Mind (Fashion Blogger) 2020
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© Copyright the red dress 2026
www.kirstiemacleod.co.uk