The Fashion and Textile Gallery

Penelope Leonard

about us

The Fashion & Textile Gallery and The Sewing Room is the idea of Australian Artist Penelope Leonard, who’s love of fashion and textiles started in her 1970s childhood filled with making and doing.

Influenced by the rich spectrum of arts and crafts available from macramé owl wall hangings, patchwork quilts made from scraps of fabric and old doilies and animals made from felt; to the fashion of corduroy pinafores, knitted ponchos and embroidered appliqués skirts.

Nostalgic of the time spent with her mother on Sunday afternoons as she taught to sew and create from an impressive collection of arts and craft books that filled the bookshelves.

The Sewing Room combines all the things Penelope loves and it is a space people can enjoy spending time and interacting with like minded people. The sewing room is a friendly environment where people can come together as done in times gone by to sew, chat and to feel comfortable asking questions and begin exciting new projects. It's all about starting a sewing community.

As she has grown up Penelope has developed many new skills along the way at East Sydney Technical College studying Fashion and Textile Design 1990, at the University of Technology, Sydney with a Bachelor of Business 2002, and she is currently studying a Master's of Art at the University of New South Wales’ College of Fine Art.