The Chainstitcher
Hello hello, my name is Sarandon and I am the one woman party that owns and operates Salty Rose Chainstitch. I was born and raised on the Central Coast of California, where all of the magic is currently being made.
I began Salty Rose with the intention of creating art that was sustainable and fashionable. When I started hand embroidering on thrifted clothes something inside of my brain and my heart just clicked. I knew it was something that I wanted to do forever! I also knew that it wouldn’t be feasible to only work by hand. I felt like computerized embroidery defeated the purpose since I love the tactile nature of the work. Which lead me to being emerged into the world of chainstitch embroidery.
It took me about a year and a half of searching and saving until I was able to secure a vintage Singer. Prior to getting my machine I had never even seen a sewing machine in person before! After my Singer and I found each other, it was the beginning of the end - this was it.
A few years later, here I am living my sustainable art dream. And I am so happy to be here! Chainstitch embroidery allows me to create beautiful, one of a kind pieces that will likely outlive out live us all and that is something that will never stop fueling my desire to continue with this craft.
The machine
The machine I own and operate is a Singer 114w103 vintage chainstitch embroidery machine. Everything is done completely by hand with a joystick-like handle below the machine that controls the direction of the needle. I use my left hand on top of the machine to lightly guide the placement of the material I am working with.
No matter what I do, no two pieces will ever be identical. This is important to me because I value the fact that everything I make is truly one of a kind. There are no computers used in this process.
