The Chainstitcher
Hello hello, my name is Sarandon and I am the one woman party that owns and operates all things Salty Rose Chainstitch. I was born and raised on the Central Coast of California and that is 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 my thrifted clothes something inside of my brain and my heart just clicked. I knew it was something that I wanted to do forever, I knew it wasn’t likely it would happen if I could only work by hand, and I felt like computerized embroidery defeated the purpose, as I love to work with my hands. I soon was emerged in 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 machine arrived, it was the beginning of the end. A few years later, and now we’re here. And I am so happy to be here. Chainstitch embroidery allows me to create beautiful, one of a kind pieces that will likely outlive the both of us 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.
