Anastacia Postema is an embroidery artist from Oregon, United States. Her embroderies are well presented and beautifully bizarre. I’ve been following her work on Instagram for some time now and wanted to know where her ideas come from.

How did you get into textiles?

My mother instilled in me a love for textiles. She was always running around making our home more beautiful by reupholstering furniture, making pillows, quilts, clothes, and embroidering on things. She taught me how to embroider on my jeans once and I was hooked. When I was pregnant with my first son I started taking art and illustration classes and after a while I started combining embroidery and illustration. I think embroidery is very therapeutic also; that’s what keeps me coming back to it. It calms me and keeps me focused.

What are your favourite fabrics to work on and why?

Muslin is my favorite fabric to work on, I love the weight and the nubby texture of it. I also like denim and cotton.

What’s your least favourite fabric to work on?

Although I like the look of embroidery on linen. Linen is my least favorite fabric to work on, I can’t seem to get a rhythm with the weave of it and my embroideries always come out looking a little off.

What other ways/surfaces would you like to apply your embroidery on?

I would like to start to make some screen printed and embroidered plushies or dolls. Soft toys interest me. I would also like to embroider on more clothes.

Who would you like to collaborate with?

Anyone. I would love to make embroideries out of Charley Harper designs.

What other textiles techniques would you like to learn about and explore?

I am interested in doing more fabric sculptures. I have been attracted to three dimensional designs lately. I am also learning how to screen print on fabric and I would like to get better at that and experiment with it more. I love to combine screen printing with embroidery.

Your embroideries are beautifully bizarre, where do you get your ideas/inspiration from?

I am inspired by so many things every day, mainly the people I see and work with. I am a counselor so I see a lot of emotion and transformation and I am inspired by that. I love to look at pictures of surrealistic photographs and I am inspired by other artists a lot. I love Instagram for that.

Do you recommend any interesting books for other textiles lovers?

     I’m loving the book by Yumiko Higuchi, Zakka Embroidery.

Lastly, what do you love about textiles?

I love textiles as an art medium because of its texture. As I’m sewing I love to run my fingers along finished stitches. Of course, I also love the finished look of textile art, it’s so beautiful, classical and feminine.

You can buy Anastacia’s work here and follow her on Instagram here