Editing Tracey Emin (section)

===Fabric===
Emin frequently works with fabric in the form of appliqués – material (often cut out into lettering) sewn onto other material. She collects fabric from curtains, bed sheets and linen and has done so for most of her life. She keeps such material that holds emotional significance for later use in her work. Many of her large-scale appliqués are made on hotel linens, for example, ''It Always Hurts'' (2005), ''Sometimes I Feel So Fucking Lost'' (2005), ''Volcano Closed'' (2001) and ''Helter Fucking Skelter'' (2001). ''Hate And Power Can Be A Terrible Thing'' (2004), part of the Tate's collection of Emin's work, is a large-scale blanket inspired in part by [[Margaret Thatcher]] due to her involvement in "an attack on 800 boys and men in the Argentinian navy" and other women for example women who steals their friends' boyfriends, Emin says of this work "about the kind of women I hate, the kind of women I have no respect for, women who betray and destroy the hearts of other women".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www2.tate.org.uk/btseries/bb/traceyemin|title=BT Series – Tracey Emin|website=Tate Etc.|access-date=6 May 2016}}</ref>

Emin's use of fabric is diverse, one of her most famous works came from sewing letters onto her grandmother's armchair in ''There's A Lot of Money in Chairs'' (1994). The chair was very detailed, "including her and her twin brother's names, the year of her grandmother's birth (1901) and the year of her death (1963) on either side of the words '''another world''', referring to the passing of time. An exchange between the artist and her grandmother using the nicknames they had for each other: {{'}}''Ok Puddin, Thanks Plum''{{'}}, covers the bottom front of the chair and a saying of Emin's grandmother's, "There's a lot of money in chairs", is appliquéd in pink along the top and front of its back. Behind the chair back, the first page of ''Exploration of the Soul'', handwritten onto fabric, is appliquéd together with other dictums such as, "It's not what you inherit. It's what you do with your inheritance".<ref name="MV"/>

Emin used the chair on a trip Emin made to the United States in 1994. Driving from San Francisco to New York stopping off along the way to give readings from her book, ''Exploration of the Soul'' (1994). Emin gave her readings sitting in the upholstered chair and "as she crossed the United States, the artist sewed the names of the places she visited – San Francisco, Los Angeles, San Diego, Las Vegas, Monument Valley, Detroit, Pittsburgh, New York – onto the front of the chair".<ref name="MV"/> Emin also posed in the chair for two of her photographic works (see Photography) while in Monument Valley, in the Arizona Desert. It is currently on public display at Pallant House Gallery until 6 March 2011 as part of the exhibition, 'Contemporary Eye: Crossovers', pallant.org.uk. Retrieved 6 May 2016.

Emin has made a large number of smaller-scale works, often including hand sewn words and images, such as ''Falling Stars'' (2001), ''It Could Have Been Something'' (2001), ''Always Sorry'' (2005) and ''As Always'' (2005).<ref>Lehmann Maupin Gallery, [http://www.lehmannmaupin.com/exhibitions/2005-11-05_i-can-feel-your-smile/press/337/exhibition_work/1 I Can Feel Your Smile] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180730014055/http://www.lehmannmaupin.com/exhibitions/2005-11-05_i-can-feel-your-smile/press/337/exhibition_work/1 |date=30 July 2018 }}. Retrieved 17 February 2017.</ref>

On 13 April 2007, Emin launched a specially designed flag made out of fabric with the message ''One Secret Is To Save Everything'' written in orange-red letters across the banner made up of hand-sewn swimming sperm. Tracey Emin's flag, at 21 feet by 14 feet, flew above the Jubilee Gardens in the British capital until 31 July 2007, with the parliament building and the London Eye as backdrops. Emin called the artwork "a flag made from wishful thinking".<ref>{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/6553327.stm|work=BBC News|title=Artist Emin unveils cryptic flag|date=13 April 2007|access-date=25 May 2010}}</ref> The flag was commissioned by the South Bank Centre in London's Waterloo.

In June 2007, on returning from the [[Venice Biennale]], Emin donated a piece of artwork, a handsewn blanket called ''Star Trek Voyager'' to be auctioned at [[Elton John]]'s annual glamorous White Tie & Tiara Ball to raise money for The Elton John AIDS Foundation. The piece of artwork sold for £800,000.<ref name="white">Alexander, Hilary. [https://www.telegraph.co.uk/fashion/main.jhtml?xml=/fashion/2007/06/29/efwhite129.xml "White tie and tiara ball"]   {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071011164114/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/fashion/main.jhtml?xml=%2Ffashion%2F2007%2F06%2F29%2Fefwhite129.xml |date=11 October 2007 }}. telegraph.co.uk, June 2006. Retrieved 25 February 2008.</ref>

Emin's works on fabric has been related to other artists such as [[Louise Bourgeois]], who Emin actually mentions in a sewn work called ''The Older Woman'' (2005) with the phrase (monoprint on fabric), "I think my Dad should have gone out with someone older like Louise, Louise Bourgeois".<ref name="autogenerated3">[http://www.lehmannmaupin.com/artists/traceyemin Tracey Emin profile] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080612013833/http://www.lehmannmaupin.com/artists/traceyemin |date=12 June 2008 }}, lehmannmaupin.com. Retrieved 6 May 2016.</ref> She was interviewed by [[Alan Yentob]] during the BBC's ''Imagine'' documentary ''Spiderwoman'' about Louise Bourgeois, aired in the UK on 13 November 2007.<ref>[https://www.bbc.co.uk/imagine/article/louise_bourgeois.shtml "Episode Guide: Louise Bourgeois, Spiderwoman"] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130914072256/http://www.bbc.co.uk/imagine/article/louise_bourgeois.shtml |date=14 September 2013 }}, BBC, November 2007. Retrieved 25 February 2008.</ref>