Good news! We’ve lined up nine textile artists who are sharing their go-to display methods. You’ll be surprised by each technique’s simplicity, as well as the fact they don’t require expensive equipment or professional support. Each artist generously provides step-by-step instructions and tips that will help ensure your success. 

No matter what type of textile art you create, we’re confident at least one of these strategies will help you display your work in all its glory.

Shadow box & floating mount

Mary Beth Schwartzenberger: Because my art is a combination of paper and fibre, I find an enclosed shadow box frame to be the most archival and effective way to display my work. I never glue my art to any surface. Instead, I float my work using foam core and fishing line which allows the paper’s uneven edges to become a design element. 

First, choose a shadow box frame with an appropriate depth to allow your art to float without touching the frame’s back, sides or the glazing. The box’s sides can be made of mat board, foam core or plastic strips. 

Next, cut a piece of foam core that’s at least 3cm (1″) smaller than the artwork’s perimeter. Then stitch the artwork to the foam core using fishing line. Because the art is stitched rather than glued, you can safely remove it by simply cutting the fishing line stitches. 

The foam core is then glued to the float board that fits inside the frame. The proper fitting sequence is glazing, shadow box sides, float board with media and then close.

I always encourage artists to work with a professional framer. While it may cost more, it will pay dividends in quality and longevity. I also suggest letting a framer know you’re a willing partner in the process. Most will respect your interest and offer suggestions for various techniques. 

For smaller works, many frames with built-in shadow box sides or matting are sold online. But again, if your project is particularly important, I think using a framer is your best route. You’ll have a high-quality frame and a wider choice of matting and glazing. A beautiful work of art deserves a beautiful presentation. 

Mary Beth Schwartzenberger is based in Los Angeles, California (US). Her work has been featured in galleries and museums throughout the US. She has also been featured in a variety of publications, including Fiber Arts Design Books 6 and 7 and Cloth Paper Scissors magazine.

Bobbin & scroll

Gwen Hedley: I enjoy the flexibility of scrolls, which can be used with a spool, bobbin or other tubular item. They can be displayed as a freeform relief work or hung on the wall by passing a small rod through the spool holes, protruding just enough to carry a short hanging thread. 

The height of your spool determines the width of your scroll. Your spool should be a bit longer than your stitched scroll. This makes it easy to wrap the scroll around the spool. In my example, my spool is 9cm tall, and my scroll is 6cm tall.

You’ll also need a short length of 2cm (1″) Velcro to attach the scroll to the spool. Cut the Velcro to fit across the end of your stitched scroll and then sew the hooked side at the very end of your scroll on the right side. If you don’t want to stitch it onto your scroll, sew a small fabric extension at the end of the scroll (as shown in the first image below) and stitch the Velcro onto this instead. 

Place the fuzzy piece of Velcro onto your sewn-on Velcro strip. Next, wrap the scroll just once around the spool and mark a line on the reverse side where the Velcro now sits invisibly on the back of your work (marked by a pin in the image below). 

Peel off the fuzzy half of the Velcro and stitch it firmly into place on the reverse of the scroll, just inside your marked line. Stitch around all sides of the Velcro. 

You’re now ready to wrap the end of the work tightly around the spool, pressing the Velcro strips firmly together to hold the end securely in place. Then you can wind the rest of your scroll onto the bobbin.  

 To display your scroll on the wall, fix the spool to the wall at a jaunty angle using a picture hook and thread. Then arrange your unwinding scroll in any way you wish, remembering to keep the dimensional quality. Sticky fixers or the like can be added to the back parts that touch the wall.

Alternatively, you could sew a thin wire at each side of the scroll and manipulate it into interesting undulations. 

My favourite method is to stand the spool on a small plinth, allowing it to unwind and tumble across the table. The longer the scroll, the better. I have a small box to contain each spool for storage and transportation, and this, in turn, can become a plinth for the piece. 

Gwen Hedley is based on the Kent coast in the UK. She teaches and exhibits across the globe and is a long-standing member of the Textile Study Group. She has also written Drawn to Stitch (2010) and Surfaces for Stitch (2000). Photo of Restoring by Melanie Chalk.

Hoop in a shadow box 

Cassandra Dias: This shadow box technique allows me to display and protect an entire embroidered hoop without having to mount, glue or sew anything into place. All that’s needed is a completed and hooped artwork, backing felt and a shadow box. 

Choose a shadow box with a width that allows at least a 1.5cm (½”) space around your embroidery hoop. The inner depth of the shadow box (the space between the glass panel and the backing board) should be around 2cm (¾”), so your hoop can be sandwiched between the glass and the felt before the backing board of the frame is set in place to hold it all together. 

Once you’ve selected your shadow box, wipe down the inside of the box and glass with a damp paper towel and let it dry. Place your finished embroidery face down on the centre of the glass. 

Cut some strips of felt and scrunch them up to fill the spaces surrounding the embroidery. This gives the effect of having the hoop nestled into a bed of fabric. Place a square piece of matching felt over the felt strips and your hoop. Lastly, add the backing board and close the frame. 

This technique works best for embroideries that have a level surface. If your work has a lot of raised stitching, the glass panel will flatten the stitches. But for flatter works, this technique is a great way to protect your art from dust and other environmental elements. You can choose to hang your work on the wall or prop it up on a flat surface. 

Cassandra Dias is based in Southern California, USA. She started to embroider in 2020 as a hobby, but that quickly grew into an artistic career. Cassandra’s work has been featured in various online textile and art publications, as well as in Love Embroidery magazine (September 2021).

Hanging hoop 

Vinny Stapley: This display technique is especially wonderful for works created with sheer translucent fabrics, as well as opaque fabrics. It gives a nice clean finish that looks lovely from both the front and back. 

You’ll need your artwork, an embroidery hoop, scissors and double-sided tape that matches the depth of your hoop. A small butter knife or something with a rounded flat blunt tip is useful to tuck under any excess fabric, and you’ll need some invisible thread or fishing line to hang the hoop.

First, secure your embroidery in the hoop. Tighten the screw, so your work is taut like a drum. I locate the screw fixing at the top of the artwork to make it easy to hang. Trim the excess fabric leaving an allowance of 2cm (¾”). Position the double-sided tape around the inside frame edge, pressing it firmly to the inside hoop edge.

Peel off the paper backing of the double-sided tape, and then carefully stretch and fold the extra fabric to the inside of the hoop onto the sticky tape. Use a flat-edged knife to tuck in any extra material at the base of the inner hoop edge. Attach some invisible thread or fishing line to hang the hoop.

The key to success is making sure your work is tightly secured in the hoop. This will help prevent it from looking loose and baggy.

Vinny Stapley is based on Mersea Island in Essex, UK. She is a member of the group East Anglian Stitch Textiles, which was featured in Embroidery magazine in 2024. Her work was selected for The Broderer’s Exhibition: The Art of Embroidery, 2025.

Sleeve & slat 

Pat Baum Bishop: The sleeve and slat system is my preferred method for larger art quilts and those that don’t match standard sizes of wrapped canvases. It works great for all sizes of textile art that has more than one layer, including those that have decorative or intentionally unfinished edges.

First, measure and cut a fabric strip that is 10-15cm (4-6″) less than the width of the quilt and about 25-30cm (10-12″) deep. For smaller quilts, you could make your sleeve about 10cm (4″) deep. 

To create a sleeve, fold the fabric in half lengthwise and stitch along the long edge. Press this flat and then cut it into two equal sections. Evenly shorten each half section, enough to leave a 15cm (6″) gap in the centre of the artwork. Finish the shortened edges by turning them under by 1cm (½”) and stitching. Pin each sleeve about 1cm (½”) down from the top of the quilt and 2cm (1″) in from the outer edges, then hand stitch into place. 

For the insert slats, I use wooden firring strips from a DIY/home improvement store that are 0.64cm x 122cm x 4cm (¼” x 48″ x 1½”). I cut the strip to 2.5cm (1″) less than the width of the finished quilt and sand down the edges. 

I cut about 30cm (12″) of hanging wire and make a loop at each end. With the wire centred, I staple each of the looped ends to the slat with a household stapler.

Pat Baum Bishop is an artist and teacher based in Wisconsin, USA. She has exhibited across the globe and won numerous awards in fine art venues and prestigious fiber art exhibits. She has also been on the cover of Quilting Arts Magazine and appeared on The Quilt Show in 2024.

Pat Baum Bishop’s alternative option for small textile art quilts uses machine-stitched facings. 

Wrapped canvas

Pat Baum Bishop: The wrapped canvas method can be used for both framed and unframed display. I think this technique gives the artwork more presence, substance and importance. It also prevents the art from sagging or hanging unevenly. 

You want to first make sure your textile art overlaps your canvas by at least a 5cm (2″) on all four sides (a larger overlap may be needed for thicker frames).

Lay your quilt face down and then place the frame in the middle. Using a household stapler or staple gun, wrap and staple the art at the top and bottom centres of the back of the frame. Then wrap and staple the left and right centres of the frame. Continue to staple around the frame every 5-8cm (2-3″). 

For neat corners, pull each corner of fabric up diagonally toward the centre of the canvas and staple it down. Then tuck and staple each side of the corner. If your artwork is too thick, try trimming excess material to achieve a nice look. You can also tap the corners with a hammer to encourage them to lie flatter.

To hang the work, I attach D-rings a third of the way down from the top on the left and right sides and thread through some picture frame wire. 

Pat Baum Bishop, wrapping a canvas

Attached wire hanger

Jo Morphett: This technique is perfect for small to medium sized textile art that doesn’t weigh much. It uses a simple 22- or 24-gauge wire that can be found at hardware or craft stores. Depending on where you place the wire, it can be almost hidden or openly serve as a decorative element. 

Start with a length of wire approximately triple the width of your project. To create a triangle, first fold the wire in half without pinching. Then bend each cut end toward each other and overlap to create a triangle shape. Twist the overlapped wire ends around each other to secure, then trim any excess wire.

The base of the triangle, the edge with the twisted ends, should be about 1cm (¼”) shorter on each side than the width of the art. Once the triangle is the size you want, pinch the top of the wire slightly to create an oblong shape at the top. 

Folding a perfect wire triangle can be challenging, but don’t worry. Some wonkiness is ok. And if the wire that shows above the top of the art is centred and uniform in shape, it’ll look great.

To attach the wire to the art, centre the wire on the back of the piece, allowing it to show as above the top of the artwork. Holding the wire in place with your non-dominant hand, secure it using a whip stitch with embroidery thread (floss), making sure your stitches don’t appear on the front of the piece. 

Once the wire is stitched in place, cover the back of the whole piece with fabric and use a blanket stitch to stitch it all together. 

Jo Morphett is based in Northern BC, Canada on the unceded ancestral lands of the Lheidli T’enneh Peoples. She creates video tutorials and provides inspiration for starting or expanding a Slow Stitching practice. Jo also relies upon a low impact, no waste approach by using recycled or deadstock fabrics.

Fabric book with pages

Mandy Pattullo: I enjoy the flexibility of using fabric books. Using buttons for the side binding allows pages to be easily removed or worked on at a later stage. It’s also easy to attach a backing to the pages since they are separate.

I start by pinning all my collage elements onto a linen page and then attach a backing piece of linen using a small overstitch or stab stitch. I use matching thread and very small stitches, so they are almost invisible. It’s important the attaching stitches aren’t really seen.

I then add whatever stitch or other embellishment I want to my page, and once everything is complete, I add another same-sized linen backing piece and attach that with tiny running stitches. 

To assemble the book and bind one side with a few buttons, I stack the pages together and make pencil marks on the front where each button will go. I use a strong knotted thread such as cotton perlé to stitch on the buttons. 

I bring the needle up from the back of the book, through a button, and then stitch down through the button to the back. If necessary, I stitch through the button a second time. 

Mandy Pattullo is based in Northumberland, UK. Her work is based on historical textiles and traditional techniques. She teaches workshops across the globe and is a member of the Textile Study Group. 

Concertina book

Mandy Pattullo: I like to use metis fabric to make concertina books. It’s a stiff mix of linen and cotton that creates a sharp concertina fold. I assemble my collage elements into colour stories and pin them onto the metis. It’s important to be careful with any elements covering the valley and mountain folds. 

I’ll then stitch everything together using ordinary Gütermann sewing thread in a matching colour. I use almost invisible stitches or what some might call a whip stitch.

A challenge with this technique is that the stitches I use to attach the elements are visible on the back of the book. I’ve never found an effective way to put a second concertina on the back to hide those stitches, as doing so makes the book less pliable.

Still, I like how when the book is folded, you can ‘read’ it as double page spreads which can have their own colour story. And then when you pull the whole thing open, it gives yet another viewpoint. 

This technique is also an excellent way to present very small scraps of fabric. 

Stretch-mounted & framed

Heidi Ingram: I use a traditional damp-stretch method for preparing my heavily stitched work ready for mounting. By presenting my art in a glazed frame it’s protected from dust build-up.

I pin out my composition on an old cork board using lots of drawing pins (thumb tacks) and then lightly spray it with water, while trying to make sure the grain of the background fabric is straight. As I use colourfast fabrics and threads there is no risk of the dye colours bleeding into the fabric during this process. You can also use a staple gun and a piece of plywood for damp-stretching. 

When the artwork is dry, I centre it over a piece of acid-free mountboard that’s several centimetres smaller than the background fabric on each side. I insert dressmaker pins into the mountboard core to temporarily fix the artwork in place. 

Next, I fold over the fabric at the back, making neat folds at the corners. With long lengths of doubled-up strong thread, I lace up the back. I make long stitches, starting at the centre of each edge then moving towards the corners. I find that a small curved upholstery needle makes this job a bit easier. 

After removing the pins, I use acid-free framer’s tape to attach the work to a window mount. I tend to use a deep box frame for most of my artworks. But for flatter pieces, I can get away with using a standard frame combined with a double-layer mount to make sure the textiles aren’t touching the glass. 

Framing services can be expensive so I often order bespoke frames online and then frame the work myself. This also gives me full control on how the artwork is presented. Depending on the destination of the artwork, I use either standard float glass or art glass (either TrueView UltraView or Groglass AR70), which is more expensive but is non-reflective.

Heidi Ingram is based in Scotland and makes hand stitched textile landscapes. She is a member of EDGE Textile Artists Scotland and is the learning and workshop development lead for TextileArtist’s Stitch Club. 

Double-sided tape float 

Mary Carson: I always stretch my art because I don’t want faces and body parts puckering. I also want the manipulated fabrics to stand proud on the surface. But for Benjamin’s New Hat, I wanted to surround the work with a fabric binding so it would look like an art quilt when hung. 

I didn’t add a fabric backing, so some of my stitchwork can be seen on the back. I was concerned a loose backing fabric would allow the stitched work to ripple and buckle. But seeing the threads on the reverse side doesn’t bother me, as I enjoy seeing the backs of stitched works. 

I first thought about tacking the work to the canvas with thread, but I’d need too many stitches to keep it taut. So, I scoured the internet to see if there was a double-sided tape made for textiles, and discovered Stitchery Tape. It’s acid and solvent free, and it works like a charm!

I evenly distributed four full-length horizontal strips of tape across the canvas and then attached the art, working from the top down. I stretched the artwork taut as I laid it across each strip. It held remarkably well and has stayed secure to this day. 

The Stitchery Tape product information suggests art can be removed or repositioned without damage. I haven’t tried that, but online reviewers said they did so with success. 

In the future, I’m going to consider painting the edges of the canvas. I don’t mind the basic white finish for this piece, but a complementary colour could add to the display effect.

Mary Carson  is based in Wisconsin, US. She is a storyteller at heart in both stitch and word, and she enjoys being a writer for TextileArtist.

Another way to display your art is by taking photographs, especially when you share them on social media. Check out these tips for taking professional pictures of your work with your smartphone. 

Without a sound knowledge of photography techniques or access to professional equipment, getting fantastic photographs of your art can be tough. And textile art poses its own distinct challenges as artworks can come in a wide range of sizes, shapes and forms.

Here are some quick tips to help you take great photos of your creations using the camera app on your smartphone.

“Bright, indirect lighting is the key to a great textile photo.”

Choose a bright location

Lighting is the most important factor. It’s best to take your photos on a bright but cloudy day, inside or outside. Avoid direct sunlight as it will cause harsh shadows.

If you opt to shoot indoors, make sure the light source isn’t behind you, or you’ll cast a shadow over your artwork. Ideally, try to work in a space with pale, neutral-coloured walls, such as white or off-white tones.

Don’t use the camera’s flash as it will flatten the textile’s texture. It will also cause glare and uneven distribution of light across the piece.

Aim for even, indirect lighting across the work, with minimal shadows. If it’s darker on one side, prop up a piece of white card on the shady side. This will reflect some light across the work and balance out the darker areas.

Setting up the shot

It’s a good idea to remove nearby clutter or anything that might cast a colour over the work.

If you are going to frame the work using a glazed frame, make sure you take the photo before framing it to avoid problems with reflections.

Hang the work on the wall – this is great for quilts or larger works. If you don’t have a handy wall space available, you could use a board covered with a pale, neutral cloth or sheet and pin your textile art to it. Or attach smaller works to a piece of white card propped up vertically.

Alternatively, lay the work flat on a piece of white card and take the photo from above.

Move the artwork around to find the best lighting location for capturing the texture of your textile art. Watch out for reflective surfaces on your artwork – adjust the position and lighting of the artwork to minimise reflections and glare.

Composing the shot

Hold up the smartphone directly in front of the centre of the artwork. Move forwards or backwards, or use your smartphone’s zoom function. You want the artwork to fill most of the image frame, but do leave some space around the outside so you can crop the photo to different dimensions later.

Check that the whole artwork is in focus, not just the central area. If the centre of the image is the only part that’s in focus, try moving further away and zooming in a little using your camera zoom. A sharp focus is important for giving you the best quality image of the stitches and textures.

“Make sure the focus is sharp when you take the photo, rather than trying to fix it later using software.”

Get things straight

Avoid distorted images, a condition known as keystoning. Check that the artwork appears straight, not skewed. Position the smartphone square on and make sure you’re not shooting at an angle with the camera tilted too far up or down. Your phone may have a grid function to help with this.

Taking the photo

Keep your smartphone super steady – use a tripod or stand firmly and brace your arms, holding your elbows tightly against your body to ensure as much stability as possible.

Take the photo, then zoom in and check all areas of the image for sharpness and clarity. Take several photos so you have lots to choose from.

If possible, after you’ve taken a few photos, preview them on a bigger screen, like a laptop or tablet. You can then make any final adjustments to your setup in order to capture the best quality photos of your work.

Cropping & editing

Use your phone’s photo app or computer software to crop or rotate the image. If necessary, adjust the brightness, contrast or colour saturation. Make sure the colours are accurate – white areas should appear white. Try tweaking the white balance settings and/or the colour settings to improve the colour accuracy. The image should be as true to life as possible.

Avoid using sharpening tools when editing your photo, as they can negatively affect the quality of the image. Instead, aim to get the sharpest possible image when you take the photo.

Save your images at your device’s highest-quality JPG setting. A high-resolution and larger file size will be needed for any photos you want to print.

You may need to create smaller files for emailing or to use online on a website – an image size of around 1800 pixels wide (giving a file size of 1-2Mb) is perfect for this.

If the textural details are particularly important in your artwork, take a separate set of close-up (macro) shots.

For three-dimensional textile sculptures, choose the best place to focus on to get as much of the piece in focus as possible. Then, take some detail shots from different angles to capture the sculptural shape of the work and show any interesting folds or layers in the fabric.

“Take whole artwork photos, as well as detail shots to highlight interesting areas of texture.”

More tips & tricks

Seeking that perfect photo of your art? Good lighting and a sharply focused image are key. Here are some extra ideas to try.

If lighting is a problem and you find you have to use artificial lights, look for some daylight bulbs. You could also try to diffuse any harsh lighting using a white sheet or a piece of white plastic placed in front of the light source. With safety in mind, take care to avoid the light overheating.

If you’re using a tripod, set the timer function to take the photo a few seconds after pressing the button – this can help to further reduce camera shake and ensure really sharp images.

You can also adjust the exposure brightness and the white balance in your smartphone camera settings before taking the photo. This can help you capture the colours so that they look true to life. Remember to aim for an accurate reproduction of your work.

Here’s another fact: we can overwhelm our spaces and ourselves with all that we collect. Piles of fabric, boxes of beads, overflowing bobbins, and pins and needles everywhere can make for a chaotic maker space. 

Fear not! We’ve asked some well-known textile artists and some of our Stitch Club members to share their best tips for organising their creative spaces. Some of these makers have separate studios while others create art in their homes, but all of their strategies could work well in almost any space.

We feature tips from Elisabeth Rutt, Jennifer Collier, Jeannie Holler, Lauren Austin, Jess Richardson, Isobel Currie, Rosalind Byass and Deborah Boschert.

Their overarching goals are to know what they have to hand and how to easily find what they need. What more could you ask for?

It’s time to get organised!

Elisabeth Rutt

Elisabeth Rutt, Textile artist: Keeping my materials organised first by type and then by colour makes it so much easier to find something when needed. It’s a filing system of sorts that helps prevent wasted time. 

I use clear plastic sweetie jars to house cotton perlé threads which I then sort and group together by colour in each jar. I keep machine threads, sorted by colour, in clear plastic shoe boxes.

My fabrics are grouped by type, such as cottons, sheers, silks, velvets, weaves, textured and ‘specials’. I use wire baskets on a frame that works as drawers, and if I have enough, I’ll group them by colour as well.

Colour coded threads

Space is limited in my studio, so for my threads, I use a set of coloured plastic drawers on castors for any extra threads of whatever type. The red drawer has a glorious mixture of red threads of all weights, as does the green, blue and other colours. 

I also use microwave food containers to hold buttons sorted by colour and then nestle them in with the threads. And I have a smaller set of very similar drawers for seed beads organised by colour.

Organise tools by technique

I have years and years worth of collected fabrics, threads, art and design materials, books and tools, so I’ve had to learn what to keep near me and what to archive elsewhere when not in use. 

I have clear plastic crates on warehousing shelves in our garage and shed. They’re organised by technique. For example, mono-printing tools and equipment are in one, while transfer printing equipment with suitable fabrics and papers are in another.

“My biggest challenge is deciding what to archive out of my room to make space for making new work!”

Elisabeth Rutt, Textile artist

Elisabeth Rutt works from her home studio in Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk. She tutors and mentors design and textile students in schools and adult education. In 2022, she was accepted as a member of the Society of Designer Craftsmen.

Artist website: elisabethrutt.co.uk
Instagram: @elisabethrutt
Facebook: elisabethruttstitchedtextiles

Lauren Austin

Lauren Austen, Quilt artist: I don’t have a system for storage, more a system for easy making. My creative space is a work in progress. It isn’t and shouldn’t be perfect. I work on many pieces at once, switching back and forth when I want something different. 

I used to put unfinished works in a closet or drawer, and they’d often be forgotten. So, I now pin unfinished work on big design walls in my living space. 

This allows me to study them when doing other things and think about what to do next. And because I create images of people, they’re always watching me. It’s like they’re saying ‘Lauren, stop playing that video game. The vacuuming can wait. Get busy and finish me!’ 

I also stopped hiding my fabric stash. I now use clear plastic bins, but I don’t spend a lot of time organising by colour or type. I like to open the bins and discover useful colours and textures. The search is part of the process.

Wall storage

My tools are also stored on the wall. I used to put them in toolboxes, and of course, they became ‘out of sight, out of mind’. Now I use magnetic strips for my scissors and metal tools, along with a wooden holder for my linoleum and wood block pieces. Keeping my tools in sight gives me the nudge to use them more frequently.

Workspaces everywhere

My workspace is my apartment, and every room except the kitchen, one bedroom and one bathroom is considered a workspace. But it’s not chaotic, because I try to put things back in their place when done. 

I like working on art as much as possible, so it’s pleasing to see my tools and unfinished pieces on display. 

Lauren Austin is based in Florida, USA. Formerly a human rights lawyer and lecturer, she became a full-time artist, storyteller and instructor in 2004. Her work is held in collections at the Smithsonian Museum of American Art (Washington, DC, US) and the International Quilt Museum in Lincoln, Nebraska, US.

Artist website: thatblackgirlart.com
Instagram: @blackgirlart1959

Rosalind Byass

Rosalind Byass, Stitch Club member: From the outset of participating in Stitch Club, I didn’t want my sample pieces stored in boxes. I wanted them to be easily accessible, arranged in a practical manner and visually appealing. So, I decided to design and construct a decorative textile journal.

It’s a working journal in which I can display completed workshop pieces as well as add and subtract samples. I made it large enough to hold the ever-growing number of pieces I’ve created and will continue to create.  

“Every bit of my journal is made from recycled materials.”

Rosalind Byass, Stitch Club member

I’m passionate about recycling, reusing and reinventing, and it’s reflected within my textile art.

The journal’s cover is a visually striking original design hand stitched in wool on hessian with some hand appliqué. The durable cover is reinforced and lined with a large felt insert.

The smaller decorative ‘tiles’ on the cover began life as lockdown stitch meditations. Each day, I stitched for a half hour without any pre-planned intent. I just mindfully focused on the task at hand.

The journal’s pages are made from offcuts of heavy upholstery fabric bound with hand stitching. The hand stitching adds weight to the edges as well as gives a more finished look. 

Pinned samples

I pin my sample pieces on the pages with ordinary dressmaking pins, making it easy to remove or rearrange them. Some pages also have large deep pockets to accommodate bulkier items such as fabric books.

I don’t include any written information, drawings or works in progress. It’s designed purely as a repository for completed samples. 

My greatest challenge was how to turn the heavy and bulky pages. I needed something that allowed for stretching, so I used threaded elastic and added knots between the pages. It works perfectly. 

Rosalind Byass lives in Melbourne, Australia. She is a textile artist creating original work often centred around memory, indulging her passions for pattern, colour and using recycled materials. Rosalind joined Stitch Club in 2020.

Deborah Boschert

Deborah Boschert, Textile artist: A few years ago, I decided to work with just one notebook at a time. I had been writing ideas on random sheets of paper or whatever was handy and, no surprise, they’d get mixed up or lost. I now keep everything in a single notebook: to-do lists, sketches, podcast recommendations, project ideas, workshop notes and other items as they come up.

I settled on a size and style I like, and I only use that same type of notebook. It’s a Strathmore 400 Series Sketch Pad, measuring 14cm x 21.6cm (5½” x 8½”).  

When I finish a notebook, I go back through it and make tabs on the pages I might want to refer to in the future. Honestly, I could do a better job with this part of the process. And I mark the start and end dates on the cover of each notebook. The dates can help me refer back to a special project or event if I know the timeframe to consider.

Project boxes

I also use a ‘project box’ when creating a new art quilt collage. After selecting fabrics reflecting my chosen colour palette, I keep the scraps and small pieces of fabric I don’t use in a plastic bin. I love how it keeps all those fabrics in one place, and if I need to add or patch something along the way, it’s all right there.

I often grow attached to the colours or ideas I’ve used, and I use the project box leftovers to make something similar or smaller. 

Selecting a cohesive, inspiring colour palette is one of the most important and challenging parts of the creative process for me. Using project box fabrics allows me to skip that part of the process since they’ve already been selected and finessed during the last project. 

Deborah Boschert is based in Texas, USA. She creates art quilts, teaches and is the author of Art Quilt Collage: A Creative Journey in Fabric Paint and Stitch. Deborah’s work is installed as a mural in the Dallas Arts District.

Artist website: deborahsstudio.com
Instagram: @deborahboschert
Facebook: DeborahBoschertArtist

Isobel Currie

Isobel Currie, Textile artist: My studio is a small room in my home, so it needs to be versatile because I use it for all stages of my creative practice. I have an electric desk with an adjustable height. And my storage cupboards and drawers are behind me as I sit at my desk by the window. I use a swivel chair to easily gain access to all areas of my workspace.

I have always been someone who prefers order, so my main organising strategy is to keep my creative space clear by storing tools and materials. They’re still accessible when needed but storing them prevents distraction when working. I also prefer having my materials displayed by colour and type, making it easier to see what I have available. 

Planning your storage

I spent a considerable amount of time planning how to organise everything in an efficient way and then invested in appropriate furniture. I have a large purpose-built cupboard fitted with drawers, shelves and containers to house my threads, beads and tools. Fabrics are kept nearby in a group of Muji stackable drawers.  

I also have to keep my desk area clear when stitching because I use long lengths of threads. So, a flexible Prym tool holder holds my pliers and cleaning brushes neatly away. I also have an Ikea desktop container close at hand that houses my essential tools, including scissors, tweezers, pencils and rulers. 

I designed and made a pincushion that has marked areas for different types of pins and needles. A Hemline magnetic needle holder also helps keep my very tiny needles and clips safe. And I keep bobbins of thread and other materials on a DoCrafts Anita’s Clear Away Tray so that they can be easily moved around.

Isobel Currie is based in Greater Manchester, UK. She is an exhibiting member of the 62 Group of Textile Artists and is the winner of the 2023 Fine Art Textile Award for the most innovative use of textiles. 

Artist website: isobelcurrie.com
Instagram: @isobel_currie_artist
Facebook: Isobel Currie, Embroidery Artist

Jeannie Holler 

Jeannie Holler, Stitch Club member: My primary goal is to use tools that bring clarity to my work. Organising those tools also helps me focus my ideas, thoughts and creativity. 

Plastic bins and boxes allow me to categorise and sort both my tools and fabrics. These bins were my ‘first aid’ when it came to organising my studio. Another important addition is a shelf and cabinet system, which allows me to store those bins in ways that give me easy reference and access to my supplies.

Easy access sewing machine

My greatest challenge was the fact I personified my sewing machine. I didn’t want to ‘hurt its feelings’ by putting it away under a table or in a closet. I did have a sewing cabinet, but my sewing machine was too large. 

Fortunately, my husband was able to adjust the cabinet’s opening using a jigsaw and white paint. Now I can lower the machine when not in use and have an additional flat workspace. And my sewing machine hasn’t complained once!

Even better, the old dining table on which my sewing machine had sat was now free to reuse as a large work and cutting table. The studio became more open and user friendly, and I can now see out my window as I sew. 

Jeannie Holler is based in northern California, USA, and joined Stitch Club in 2020. She especially enjoys hand embroidery and crewel work. Jeannie also machine quilts and then adds hand embellishments.

Jennifer Collier

Jennifer Collier, Textile artist: After 25 years of never being able to find the perfect paper that I knew was hidden somewhere in my stash, I created an effective filing system. 

I have all my vintage papers in clear plastic boxes under my desk. Each box contains papers grouped by a similar theme or other shared feature. I’ve even organised my stationary the same way.

“Having all my materials and equipment close to hand and easy to find reduces frustration and allows more time for making.”

Jennifer Collier, Textile artist

Hiding the clutter 

I work from my own gallery, so because my space is open to the public, everything is neatly stashed away behind my counter. You’d be amazed at how much I have stored there! 

The retail area also doubles as storage. I have different sized recycled drawers for my sewing machine and haberdashery, that not only hide my stored equipment but also allow me to beautifully display my work on the front edge of my desk. 

Hooks & hangers

I have some S hooks hanging on the backs of the drawers to hold scissors, punches and tape. I even hang my orders and postal receipts to help streamline the making and posting of orders. And I made a pull-out packaging shelf that has tissue paper, stickers, postage labels and return address stickers. This means I can now package my work without having to clear my desk.

Lastly, I set up a shelved area at the back of the space to house all my workshop resources, examples and materials. It also houses my maps (arranged by region) and books (arranged by colour) which can be reached by a perfectly-sized vintage library ladder. It’s my favourite part of the space, as I can instantly find the paper I need when an order comes in.

Jennifer Collier is based near Stafford, UK. Her work has been featured in over 100 magazines and in many books. Jennifer’s work has been shown internationally and is stocked in galleries at The Museum of Art and Design (New York), Liberty, and the Victoria and Albert Museum. 

Artist website: jennifercollier.co.uk/
Instagram: @paperjennifer
Facebook: paperjennifer

Jess Richardson 

Jess Richardson, Stitch Club member: When the pandemic hit, I worked from home. After a few months sitting among bags and boxes of my stash, I knew I had to get organised. 

Fortunately, I had space for a deep double wardrobe, but I needed one with attractive doors as the wardrobe would be my backdrop for on-camera work meetings. Online meetings definitely forced me to be tidy!

I purchased a wardrobe from IKEA and then set myself a ‘cupboard rule’: I could only have materials and supplies that fit behind the wardrobe’s doors. Nothing else! 

I’m happy to report I’m still sticking to that rule, but it’s been challenging at times. 

“My cupboard rule does make me consider whether I need anything new.”

Jess Richardson, Stitch Club member

I can easily pull out what I need since everything is organised in one place. It also keeps my husband happy because my stuff isn’t taking over the house!

I also use other IKEA storage solutions, including big square see-through cubes for small pieces of fabric (one for patterned and one for plain). Pull-out wire baskets are great for tools, paper and art materials. Small clip-lock boxes hold beads, and large storage boxes hold yarns, ribbons and card embellishments. Larger pieces of fabric are sorted by colour, folded and put on shelves.

I usually make things at the dining table or on my lap, so I also put everything I’m using in a box lid or tray so I can set it aside at the end of the day. But when I retire, I’ll be able to use my large sit-stand work desk as my new making space. I’ll blissfully be able to leave my projects out.

Jess Richardson lives in Hampshire, UK. She loves mixed media, especially using paper or printing with stitch. Jess joined Stitch Club in 2020.

Now that you’ve learned tips for organising your workspace, is it time to stop adding to your stash? Learn creative tips for working with what you already have and more.

Featured stitchers

• Elisabeth Rutt is based in Suffolk, UK and is a member of the Society of Designer Craftsmen.
• Lauren Austin is based in Florida, USA and is known for her story quilts.
• Deborah Boschert is based in Texas, USA and is the author of Art Quilt Collage: A Creative Journey in Fabric Paint and Stitch. 
• Isobel Currie is based in Greater Manchester, UK and is a member of the 62 Group of Textile Artists.
• Jennifer Collier is based near Stafford, UK and is known for her stitched paper artworks using recycled materials.
• Rosalind Byass is based in Melbourne, Australia and joined Stitch Club in 2020.
• Jeannie Holler is based in northern California, USA, and joined Stitch Club in 2020. 
• Jess Richardson is based in Hampshire, UK and joined Stitch Club in 2020.

Since those early days, she’s founded a career as a studio artist and has taught widely, specialising in traditional embroidery techniques such as goldwork, as well as historical embroidery forms including medieval ecclesiastical embroidery.

Katherine has a passion for mastering traditional techniques and taking them to new conclusions. And much of this is underpinned by her academic research. Her current obsession involves a deep dive into the colour theory of the Impressionists – unearthing new insights into the effect of stitch choice on colour perception.

Add to this a personal thread running through her work, which explores our human need for belonging, and it’s clear that looking beyond the surface is what intrigues her most.

Even though she’s unafraid to dream big – taking on commissions and setting herself new challenges – her practice remains grounded in simple, daily acts that we can all learn from: the quiet act of stitching as a time for reflection (as well to express ideas), and sampling, stitching or sketching everyday but, most of all, having fun with the process.

From passion to process

TextileArtist.org: Tell us a little about your embroidery practice, and what you’re working on currently?

Katherine Diuguid: I love to stitch. I love mastering traditional techniques, exploring them and manipulating them in interesting ways. So, my work balances both a deep respect for the ‘proper’ way of executing the techniques with a healthy dose of exploring their boundaries. In the same way, my colour explorations seek to understand why colour works the way it does in thread and then exploit those findings.  

My current work is basically split into two main areas. The first focus is formal explorations of colour interactions in embroidery. I’ve done this through a pretty extensive (and growing) series of stitched samples, and through interpreting Impressionist colour theory in embroidery.

I’ve found great joy in the desperately lofty goal of trying to study Monet’s luminous way of using colour and interpreting this with thread. I enjoy balancing the prose and poetry of colour study and using the knowledge gained to interpret what I learn artistically, both through samples and compositions. This is a continuing project I feel I will probably be working on for a very long time to come. 

The second series of work that I’ve been focusing on is my ‘Weeds: Longing to Belong’ series. I am interested in the human need for belonging and how naturally or unnaturally that comes for some people. For me, it’s not a natural phenomenon to feel as if I belong in most settings. I have been using the metaphor of roadside flora or ‘weeds’ as a catalyst and metaphor to explore the concept of human belonging.

In the series, I’ve been mixing digital printing, eco-printing, goldwork, quilting and whitework techniques in both traditional and manipulated interpretations. The slowness of stitching (which I love about this medium) has allowed me time to ponder and process my experiences and observations on belonging.

Which area or facet of embroidery are you most passionate about?

‘I have never really met a stitch that I do not enjoy, and the couple that I have found that I did not love at the beginning, I have purposely sampled them enough to learn to appreciate them.’

If I had to pick a favourite technique, though, it would be goldwork. There is something so special about the textural contrast between the metals and fibres and how sculptural the technique is. I really love sampling and trying to make a technique do something that maybe it’s not supposed to after I have proven to myself that I can master it.

And what is it about embroidery that most captures your imagination?

This should be an easy question to answer but I find it difficult to verbalise, partly because textiles have always been part of me. From my early memories, I was stitching Barbie dresses and trying to figure out garment construction on a tiny toy sewing machine, using fabric from Wal-Mart that I’d saved up my holiday and birthday money to buy. 

Fabric and thread are so malleable and versatile, and I loved how I made something special out of a flat piece of fabric or an old garment. I love the tactility of textiles, the feel of the thread and fabric, and the slow, methodical motion of it. Stitching relaxes me but I also love how both precisely and expressively embroidery can be used.

Stitching has always been my way of processing and provided a challenge for refining my craft and a place of solitude free of judgement where I could explore form, colour, and pattern. I love stitching, and I love the time for reflection that stitching provides. It is just time for my materials and I.

‘I also love the camaraderie that is built into the tradition of stitching. As much as I love the actual embroidery techniques, I am also fascinated by the stories surrounding and imbued in the embroidery.’

Curious about colour

What themes are prevalent in your work, and what are you aiming to capture or convey?

As I mentioned, my work is split into two different themes right now. There are overlaps between them in how I work and execute the work.  

With my colour explorations, colour is endlessly inspiring. I love the work of many of the Impressionists, post-Impressionists and early modern painters, but Monet holds a very special place in my heart. It’s something that I cannot fully explain except, when I am in front of his work, there is just something that connects me to it in a special, non-verbal way.

His colours just sing to me. With my colour studies and my landscapes, I want to figure out how to make my threads sing like Monet’s colours. I will readily admit that I sound exceptionally naïve, but I don’t think it’s terrible to have a lofty goal that’s going to take a lot of time, attention, practice, and devoted work to accomplish. I’m not there yet, but I’m a lot closer than I was. Colour doesn’t scare me. Colour fascinates me with his elusive magic.  

My series ‘Weeds: Longing to Belong’ started as a way of processing and coping with feelings I was struggling with that needed to be stitched out. As I’ve continued with the series over the years, it has morphed with me. Through it, I want to convey a peacefulness and thoughtful empathy, as I feel that others must struggle with not feeling that they belong too. 

I want to convey how beautiful resilience is. It might not feel beautiful. It might not seem like expected beauty, but there is beauty in our fragile strength, similar to that displayed by roadside flora.

You’re also a teacher, tell us about the techniques you specialise in?

If I had to pick a speciality, I would say goldwork embroidery and colour explorations in embroidery. However, I’ve taught a much further range of techniques at both university level and for various guilds and museums.

I started teaching formally during graduate school as a teaching assistant. Many of our students wanted to learn proper sewing construction methods and pattern making, so I began by teaching workshops to the students as I had those skills.

After graduation, I was hired to teach full university classes on sewing construction and draping and that transitioned into an assistant professor position. I continued teaching the fashion courses but was also able to introduce several embroidery courses.

Additionally, I organised a six week study-abroad programme for students from North Carolina State University to the UK. They took classes at the Royal School of Needlework two days a week. Then I coordinated 26 field trips within London and surrounding areas to museums, collections and workshops for them to see the history of stitching in the British Isles firsthand.

We visited the Clothworkers Centre, The Ashmolean Museum (to see beautiful examples of 17th century raised work), St Paul’s Cathedral, Catherine Walker, Anderson & Sheppard on Saville Row, Hand & Lock, the Constance Howard Collection at Goldsmiths, as well as many museums and exhibitions.  

Today I teach virtual workshops from my studio and travel to teach various embroidery groups and conferences in the US and Canada. I really love teaching. I love designing courses and workshops, and I especially love that moment when something clicks for a student, or the day they come in excited to share something they have discovered. It is endlessly exciting to share in their joy.

On the record

Please share a little about how you plan and create your work?

I enjoy the design process, so every project I create, whether it’s an exhibition or a teaching piece, is documented relatively extensively. I enjoy keeping the process in portfolios and doing formal inspiration boards, many iteration and refinement sketches, colour layouts (and options), material boards, and copious amounts of process photography.

‘I work in a medium that is not fast. In fact, some days it can feel infinitesimally slow. I found that by documenting each step I can see my progress more clearly, and not become bogged down by the slow nature of the process.’

I write about select projects and process in detail on my blog. In graduate school, I started keeping a process blog for my thesis project, Consuelo: the Glitter of a Dollar Duchess, which was a wedding gown richly embroidered with silver, and inspired by the first marriage of Consuelo Vanderbilt to the Duke of Marlborough.

Since graduation, I have continued this process. In the past, I wrote regularly. Now, I write about select pieces, though I wish I had time to write more. I employ a wide range of techniques and methods in the pieces that I create driven by the specific projects.

Can you share one or two of the areas relating to embroidery that you’ve been researching? And a little about what you’ve discovered?

I’ve been investigating formal colour theory and Impressionist painting, and how to apply and interpret that knowledge in embroidery. Most colour theory classes use paint or coloured paper as the medium. These are great and helpful, but colour in stitching does not exactly behave in ways that are consistent to these rules.

‘We must approach colour in embroidery as a sculptural act. We must build colour, not blend it.’

Colour perceptions created from thread are a combination of thread colour, the shadows of the texture, and the shadows created by how we’ve used the thread (which stitch types, etc). To ignore the shadows, to flatten the colour into a two-dimensional experience is to set ourselves up for failure.

I think my biggest discovery is the liberation from my colour cards. I’m no longer constrained to the colours provided to me by the thread dyers and manufacturers.

‘By understanding simultaneous contrast, optical mixing and colour relationships, along with a healthy dose of excitement about colour, I see no difference in my palette of threads from a basic pocket watercolour set. Anything is possible. It’s all in how you mix it and use it.’

I’ve been fortunate to secure time in the galleries at the Art Institute of Chicago and the North Carolina Museum of Art to stitch in their galleries and study in depth Monet’s paintings.

I have been studying Stacks of Wheat, Thaw/Sunset, 1890-1891 at the Art Institute of Chicago and The Seine at Giverny, Morning Mists at the North Carolina Museum of Art. I want to create the same perception of colour interactions with thread. It’s a lot different than colour matching like you might do digitally or with paint swatches. It is not flat colour.

I have learned so much from these gallery stitching sessions. I focus on a different area of the painting each time, and the devoted time studying the colour really allows me to see subtleties in the colour combinations that can be easily missed.

Sometimes it’s not as much about the colour that seems dominant as it is the colour that’s lifting that colour up and making it dominant. I have presented colour research-related presentations and posters for SECAC and Textile Society of America, as well as many embroidery groups and universities.  

My residencies at Penland School of Craft and Chateau Orquevaux provided time to take the colour mixing principles refined in the gallery studying Monet and to apply that knowledge to my own landscapes.

Additionally, I create colour exercises to explain through my samples why my colour is mixing in thread in the landscapes the way it does. I love the colour samplers as much as the formal compositions. It is also magical to see how even the gridded colour samplers can capture the feel of the colours of a place without any imagery of that place.

Medieval matters

I also am very drawn to Opus Anglicanum and medieval iconography. I have had the opportunity to study several pieces at museum collections up close over the years. I find Opus Anglicanum so beautiful and intriguing. I love the historic research.

A few years ago, I had the fantastic opportunity to create a sampler for the Art Institute of Chicago based on its beautiful Burgo de Osma Altarpiece, which is on display in the medieval galleries.

My study of medieval embroidery (this piece is not Opus Anglicanum: it is later medieval Spanish embroidery) provided the knowledge I needed to create that piece within the requested timeframe. I have also presented lectures on that piece to various embroidery groups and for the Medieval Dress and Textiles Society (MEDATS). I also presented a paper on my The Red Dragon Lurks in Front of the Woman Clothed with the Sun embroidery based on two Anglo-Norman Apocalypse manuscripts for MEDATS.  

I really enjoy the balance of academic investigation with artistic exploration in my practice. I have also found that the challenge of writing about and documenting my work academically forces me to consider my work and influences more deliberately. I love the formal documentation of my process and visualising the weaving together of my various influences for a project.

Following the thread

Can you describe your route to becoming a full time embroiderer?

I cannot think of a time before I had a needle or crochet hook in my hand. One of the earliest childhood Christmas presents I remember is this little red sewing machine that my parents got me which did only a straight stitch. I loved that sewing machine! I made a lot of Barbie clothes.

I also loved old Hollywood movies, and in the summer my grandmother and I would watch classic movies while she crocheted and I sketched all the dresses. These sketches then led to reading the biographies of the actresses and costume and fashion designers. On Saturday mornings, I would look forward to watching ‘Style with Elsa Klensch’ on CNN, which was not a normal thing that kids my age did growing up in the mountains of western North Carolina!

I can’t explain it, other than I just loved everything about stitching, costume, and fashion – learning the techniques and actually stitching is as enjoyable to me as exploring the stories behind it too. That curiosity continues to drive me still.

For me, it’s not enough to just learn the technique. I want to know where it came from, what influenced it, how it changed, why it changed, what it was used for, who used it, and what I can learn from all this to push the technique further or translate it with my own voice.

Embroidery became my main focus during graduate school. My mentor there was Susan Brandeis, who is also an embroidery artist. She introduced me to the work of Audrey Walker and Rozanne Hawksley, both of whom I love.

At the same time, I’d wanted to learn goldwork embroidery. I took an extended trip to the UK to do the City & Guilds Goldwork Certificate with Tracy A Franklin. The ladies who sat beside me for that week were three embroiderers who embroidered for York Minster. They introduced me to ecclesiastical embroidery, and I absolutely fell in love. 

I came home, went through wholesale quantities of metal embroidery supplies while practising, and started reading everything I could get my hands on about Opus Anglicanum and British ecclesiastical embroidery. I have since become great friends with the embroiderers from York (thank you – Denny, Uschi, and Christine!) and have continued learning from Tracy A Franklin through the Royal School of Needlework and her studio in Durham.

Susan Brandeis and I still share what we are working on regularly. Part of my love of stitching is anchored in my love for the people I have stitched with. After that trip, I came back and changed my focus to embroidery. I finally saw embroidery as an art within itself instead of an element to enhance my dressmaking.

Can you share some of the tools and materials you like to work with?

Some of my favourite items include my trolley needle. I forced myself to get used to it when I did my canvaswork piece for my RSN Certificate. It felt weird at first but now I feel slightly naked when I don’t stitch with it.  

Weeks Dye Works’ cotton embroidery floss colours are just amazing and the sheen is beautiful. Oliver Twists’ threads are harder to get for me in the US, however, I love them. The colours are just absolutely delicious.  

Jenny Adin-Christie’s silk gimp (in fine and very fine) and her wrapped plate are just so much fun to stitch with, and the gimp is so much more flexible than others I have tried.  

I love Kai Scissors’ embroidery scissors so much. They are not crazy expensive. Their blades are wonderfully thin and they accurately cut the metals on the first go.  

My favourite purchased ground fabric is raw linen. I love the neutral tone of it, and the feel of the fabric with the stitching. I also love eco-printing with silks. I find the entire eco-printing process fascinating and love the collaboration between the plants and myself.

The way forward

Would you share one or two tips for embroiderers?

Sample. Sample. Sample. Sample. Sample. Sample for fun. Sample to find answers. Sample to try variations. Sample to play with new threads. When in doubt or indecision, sampling is always the answer.

‘Sampling is the unsung hero and the step that many people skip or dislike, as it can feel like a waste of time and materials. However, sampling allows time to work out both design and technique issues without the pressure of it being on a finished piece.’

It provides practice to refine techniques. It provides confidence that the technique, scale and materials are correct for the project.

Does it take time and materials? Absolutely. Is that cheaper than ripping out entire sections because the colour, thread or technique just isn’t ‘right’? Yes. 

Have I ever finished a project and thought I wished I had not wasted time on the sampling? No, never.

Do I now have a huge library of ideas that are stitched? Yes, I do, Tupperware bins full of them. I reference them consistently, either for personal projects or for teaching.

And what advice would you give to an aspiring textile artist?

Ask questions. Give yourself room to play. My favourite pieces I’ve made have been those I did not know all the answers to at the beginning and did not need to make for any reason other than I wanted to. 

And, if you can, make the opportunity to study pieces in person. The internet and books are wonderful but, no matter how good a reprint of a photograph is, it will never teach you as much as studying the piece in person. I’ve been very fortunate to study many firsthand and I’ve learned so much by that focused investigation.

I also work my artistic practice into my life. I very regularly have something in my purse to stitch or sketch. My children visit exhibitions with me and are normal inhabitants of my studio (as well as many times their friends too). Their observations are so exciting, and their freedom to experiment is inspiring.

What direction might your work take in the future?

I have several ideas of where I’d like to go in the future, but the most pressing at this moment is a desire to attempt larger scale embroidered landscapes. It all comes down to time, as I know what I want to do requires a chunk of devoted time. They will happen, soon I hope! 

I am currently finishing an embroidered box that I know will probably be the first of a series as I’ve loved the process. I created the ground fabric by stitching together a patchwork of eco-printed silk remnants, then stitched it with metallic running stitch and manipulated goldwork Queen Anne’s Lace motifs. I wanted to play with making three-dimensional Queen Anne’s Laces sprouting out of the top, and I did. The challenge of creating three-dimensional flowers that matched the feel of the other flat embroidered flowers was intoxicating. 

This piece was also a departure for me as I worked the entire piece intuitively with very minimal sketching and planning. I just wanted to play with it. I was inspired by the beauty of the Queen Anne’s Lace that grows along the roadside so wild, free, and resilient. To capture that spontaneity, it needed to be worked spontaneously too.

‘However, I will be exploring colour interactions in embroidery most likely for the rest of my life. I love it. Colour always presents something magical, and it just brings me great joy.’

So how do you choose?

Here’s what you need to do. First, figure out what you need the scissors for – this will help you to decide which types of scissors meet your needs. Then you can narrow down your options. To assist you, we’ve compiled this useful guide. 

We’ve also asked top textile artists Yvette Phillips, Aran Illingworth, Jessica Grady, Hannah Mansfield and Katherine Diuguid for their personal recommendations of the best scissors for textile art. 

So if you’ve always wondered why some scissors feature a stork design, and others have duckbill shaped blades or a curved design, then this article is for you. 

Read on to discover more about the world of embroidery scissors.

Please note: We’ve written this article to help you select the right scissors for the right task, and learn more about the different designs and some of the brands available. We’ve provided links to manufacturers and suppliers so that you can find out more before you head to your favourite local or online stockist. The scissors featured in this article have not been individually reviewed or tested.

Cutting threads with precision

Embroidery scissors are small and sharp, designed specifically for cutting threads or tiny snippets of fabric. There are lots of options to choose from: vintage decorative designs, traditional stork scissors, rose gold scissors, matte black scissors, colourful designs, foldable travel scissors and ergonomic scissors aimed for comfort.

Small straight embroidery scissors

Often the unfussy, straightforward option is the best. Classic embroidery scissors are small, pointed and sharp – perfect for cutting embroidery threads cleanly. They are widely available in haberdashery stores and online, and are made by many manufacturers.

• Fiskars Classic Precision straight scissors

• Prym Professional fine embroidery scissors, featuring quality Kai blades.

• Hemline embroidery scissors

Stork embroidery scissors

This distinctive and popular design evolved from the umbilical clamps in the toolkits of 19th century midwives. It was common for midwives to embroider in their quieter times and so their medical and stitch kits often became mixed up, as seen in the toolkit of midwife Rosa Bonfante held by the Smithsonian National Museum of American History.

• Klasse’ stork embroidery scissors 

• Hemline stork embroidery scissors

• Prym stork embroidery scissors

Decorative small embroidery scissors

If you are looking for something a little more fancy, try the Dinky Dyes colourful range of patterned embroidery scissors.

• Dinky Dyes scissors

Wide bow embroidery scissors

If you are looking for comfort, try a pair of wide bow (or big bow) embroidery scissors, which feature larger spaces for your fingers. These come in a standard size of around 10cm (4″) size, or as smaller baby bows, around 7cm (2¾”).

• Merchant and Mills wide bow scissors

Embroidery snips

Some stitchers like to use thread snips for cutting loose threads. They are spring-loaded, making them easy to use. Snips are also useful for anyone who does a lot of beadwork – they are great for cutting nylon or monofilament beading threads.

• Madeira thread snips

• Hemline thread snips

Goldwork scissors

Goldwork is an embroidery technique which uses a range of metal threads giving luxurious results. To cut goldwork purl and check wires cleanly, a good sharp pair of scissors is recommended. You can also buy specialist goldwork scissors, which have a finely serrated blade and should only be used for cutting metal threads.

Hannah Mansfield recommends… goldwork scissors

Hannah Mansfield: ‘My favourite scissors to use for goldwork embroidery are a small gold pair from Golden Hinde. They are made specifically for cutting goldwork wires. They have a serrated blade which means they can cleanly cut the wires instead of squashing the ends. 

‘I particularly like the fine point of these scissors, which allows you to cut the wires delicately and precisely. Having a dedicated pair of scissors for goldwork is essential to avoid blunting your best embroidery scissors with the wires.’

• Golden Hinde goldwork scissors

Hannah Mansfield is an embroidery designer based near Bristol, UK. In 2019, she was awarded First Prize in the Textile Art Open category of the Hand & Lock Prize for Embroidery (UK). Hannah became a Trade Freeman of the Worshipful Company of Gold and Silver Wyre Drawers in 2020. She is a tutor for the Prince’s Foundation Metiers d’Arts embroidery course.

Artist website: theperpetualmaker.com
Instagram: @theperpetualmaker

Bent scissors

These small scissors have an ultra-fine point and an angled, bent blade. They are designed to make it easy to cut away warp and weft threads of the ground fabric when creating the beautiful lace effects of Hardanger work, a traditional whitework technique.

Katherine Diuguid recommends… KAI embroidery scissors

Katherine Diuguid: ‘I absolutely love KAI scissors – the sharp tips are nice and small and I can get into really tight spaces with no trouble at all. 

‘I use my angled [bent] embroidery scissors for cutting goldwork metals on a velvet board, for cutwork and chipping techniques.  

‘I prefer using my appliqué curved tip scissors for cutting the metal while I’m stitching it, or for any cutting close to or around the surface I’m embroidering – they are good for snipping threads without feeling like I might accidentally cut the ground fabric. 

‘The thing that I love most about the KAI scissors is that their blades are nice and thin and will chop my metals precisely with no bite marks or burrs. 

‘The only thing I don’t use my KAI scissors for is silk threads: I have a beautiful pair of Ernest Wright scissors that I use only for cutting silks. I do so much metal embroidery that it’s easier for me to have scissors that do everything including metal, and one special pair that only cut silk. As you can tell I am somewhat passionate about my scissors! They make a massive difference in the quality of your stitching, maintaining the rhythm when you’re stitching, and reducing waste.’

• KAI curved tip scissors US

• KAI bent scissors US

• KAI curved tip scissors UK

• Prym KAI bent scissors UK

• Ernest Wright embroidery scissors UK

Katherine Diuguid, based in Mooresville, North Carolina, US, is known for her technical studies of colour theory in embroidery. She has presented her research at academic conferences for SECAC and the Textile Society of America. Her work has been featured in Inspirations (published by the Embroiderers’ Guild of America) and NeedleArts magazines.

Artist website: katherinediuguid.squarespace.com
Facebook: KatherineDiuguidArtist
Instagram: @katdiuguid

Curved scissors

If you are a fan of appliqué, you might want to invest in some curved scissors for cutting out small fabric shapes.

Yvette Phillips recommends… Westcott curved scissors

Textile artist Yvette Phillips has a box of scissors she’s collected over the years. Her favourites are a pair of Westcott 10cm (4″) curved titanium super soft grip scissors. 

Yvette Phillips: ‘They’re small and have a slight curve to them, which are great for snipping threads or trimming the edge of something that’s been appliquéd on. They allow you to get closer to the fabric without accidentally sticking the points into the fabric. I also use them for cutting shapes – the curved blades are really useful for cutting curved leaves or flower petals.’

Yvette also uses a variety of small sharp scissors, including a pair of Westcott small pointed scissors. These are good for cutting out small, detailed fabric shapes. To keep your embroidery and fabric scissors sharp, she advises using separate pairs for cutting fabric and paper. 

‘I put a blob of coloured nail polish on the blade of the scissors I use for cutting fabric, to differentiate them from the ones that I use to cut paper.’

• Westcott curved titanium embroidery scissors

• Westcott small pointed embroidery scissors

Yvette Phillips is a British textile artist living and working in Blewbury,Oxfordshire. She is a member of the Oxford Art Society, the Society for Embroidered Work, The Embroiderers’ Guild, and Modern Makers Collective.

Artist website: yvettephillipsart.com
Instagram: @yvettephillips_art

Appliqué scissors

Duckbill scissors are great for appliqué and quilt making. The duckbill shape gives great control and protects the base fabric when you are trimming close to the edges of a stitched fabric shape.

• Prym appliqué scissors

Scissors for cutting fabric

A larger pair of scissors is useful for cutting larger pieces of fabric, thick materials, or several layers of fabric. Fabric shears, dressmaker’s shears and tailor’s sidebent shears all have long, sharp blades. To increase their lifespan and keep them sharp, only use them for cutting fabric, and not paper.

Aran Illingworth recommends… Fiskars scissors

Fiskars make stainless steel scissors with classic orange handles which are recognisable worldwide. The company was founded as an ironworks in Finland in 1649 and their first cutlery and scissor mill was established in 1832. 

The iconic handle in Fiskars Orange™ is designed for comfort, and the precision ground stainless steel blades are known for their cutting performance and longevity.

Aran Illingworth: ‘My go-to fabric scissors are Fiskars’ fabric shears. I have been using Fiskars scissors for over a decade as they produce scissors which are durable, ergonomic and reliable. They allow me to cut fabrics with a range of densities and textures, both cleanly and precisely.’

• Fiskars Classic tailor’s shears, 27cm

Aran Illingworth is a textile artist based in Cottenham, Cambridgeshire, UK. Originally a psychiatric nurse working with the homeless and those suffering from addictions, she completed a degree in Applied Arts in 2010. She held a solo exhibition at the Knitting and Stitching Show in 2022 and exhibits at The Old Chapel Textile Centre, Newbury and The Willow Gallery in Oswestry in 2023.

Artist website: aran-i.com
Facebook: aranillingworth
Instagram: @aranillingworth

Left-handed scissors

If you are left-handed and want to avoid getting those painful blisters on your hands, the good news is that some manufacturers make left-handed embroidery scissors and fabric shears. 

Other brands have super soft ergonomic handles that can be used by both left and right-handers. With a bit of trial and error, you’ll be able to find the perfect pair of scissors to cut accurately and painlessly.

• Premax left-handed embroidery scissors

• Famoré left-handed embroidery scissors, US

• Mundial ergonomic embroidery scissors, US

• Mundial ergonomic embroidery scissors, UK 

• Taylor’s Eye Witness left-handed dressmaking shears 

• Fiskars left-handed fabric shears

• Milward left-handed fabric shears

• Prym soft handle ergonomic tailor’s shears

Jessica Grady recommends… scissors for left-handers

Jessica Grady: ‘Being a left-handed stitcher, finding the perfect scissors always seems to be a little tricky. My favourite pair are actually not left-handed scissors at all, but are a pair of traditional Japanese bonsai pruning scissors – they are the perfect size and shape for cutting threads. I find these can be worked with your left or right hand and don’t give me painful scissor blisters. 

‘As I work with mixed media I go through lots and lots of pairs of scissors. I’m constantly cutting through tough materials like rubber, plastic and metal. I like to stock up with several pairs of low cost kitchen scissors from homewares stores like IKEA, as I don’t have to worry about blunting the blades – they are more budget friendly than specialist textile brands, and I can have a pair for all the different materials I work with.’

Jessica Grady is an artist based in West Yorkshire, UK. In 2018 she was awarded an Embroiderers’ Guild Scholarship (under 30). She is also an exhibiting member of Art Textiles Made in Britain (ATMB) and The Society for Embroidered Work. She is the author of Stitched Mixed Media (2023), and exhibited her work at the 2023 Knitting and Stitching Shows in Harrogate and London, with Art Textiles: Made in Britain, and The Embroiderers’ Guild.

Artist website: jessicagrady.co.uk
Instagram: @jessica_rosestitch

Looking for a bit of luxury?

Whiteley’s is a family run firm based in Sheffield, UK. The owners describe the company as ‘the last industrial scissor maker in the UK, and the oldest scissor smiths in the Western world’. William Whiteley & Sons were founded in 1760 and continue to produce handmade scissors for sewing and tailoring, including the Wilkinson patented ‘sidebent’ scissors which run flat along the fabric enabling a long straight cut, and a range of beautiful and high quality embroidery scissors.

Ernest Wright is another Sheffield-based company in the UK with a long history. They create sought after handmade embroidery shears and fabric shears. The company’s efforts to maintain and pass on the traditional methods for handcrafting scissors (which is on the list of critically endangered crafts in the UK) were rewarded in 2020 with the President’s Award for Endangered Crafts, given by the Heritage Crafts Association.

If you are looking to purchase scissors as a gift, the popular UK-based small business retailer Merchant & Mills stocks a good selection of attractively packaged, high quality embroidery scissors and fabric shears. The company’s ethos is to sell stylish, functional and sustainable products – and their scissors are designed for a long life.

Karen Kay Buckley, the US-based quilt artist, developed the Perfect Scissors™ range of straight and serrated blade scissors. These have stainless steel blades and soft, ergonomic handles which can be used by both left-handed and right-handed people. The serrated blade scissors are great for appliqué as they can also be used for cutting several layers of fabric at the same time. They pull the fabric into the scissors as you use them, giving a clean cut which is less likely to fray.

KAI is a premium Japanese brand with a long history, having been established in 1908. Known for their mission of combining old traditions with innovative production technologies, their scissors are made of high carbon stainless steel with vanadium, and are strong, well balanced and long lasting.

• Whiteley’s

• Ernest Wright

• Merchant and Mills

• Karen Kay Buckley

• KAI scissors US, KAI Europe, and stockists worldwide

When lockdowns confined us to our homes, so many of our normal sources of communication – through work, socialising, travel, hobbies and sports – were abruptly terminated and we were forced to rethink.

How did you cope during that uncertain time? The initial fear may have led to feelings of isolation, anxiety or even depression. Perhaps you felt a malaise, or a lack of inspiration?

Or perhaps you felt that there was a choice, and you asked yourself: what do I really want to do with my time? It was an opportunity to choose between the bright side or the dark side.

Textile artist and card designer Jean Rill-Alberto told us how online connections opened up a whole new world of opportunity for her. ‘When the pandemic began, I found a Stitch Meditation group on Facebook. I joined and tentatively stitched my first self portrait. The group was a wonderfully supportive community and a place to remain encouraged while keeping our hands busy doing what we love. And those connections and experiences have lasted and grown way beyond lockdown.’

Home-based hobbies

Zoom literally zoomed in popularity and the upsurge in online tutorials opened doors that had been previously closed. Were you one of those who turned to yoga in your living room, or stitching at your dining table?

For many with a love of stitch like Jean, their stash became their best friend. Sewing cupboards were tidied, stashes were well and truly busted and new projects begun – even completed!

Feeling compelled to do our part in helping the textile art community combat feelings of isolation, in March 2020 TextileArtist.org responded to lockdown with seven free online Community Stitch Challenge workshops led by some of the world’s most inspiring and experienced textile artists.

The demand was so great during those seven free weeks that our private membership, the TextileArtist.org Stitch Club, was born and has continued to offer exciting creative learning opportunities for members way beyond lockdown.

Stitching together online

Anne Brooke of Brighouse in Yorkshire, UK has been a Stitch Club member since the very beginning and has found the regular practice invaluable in developing her own work.

‘I love having the opportunity to work alongside artists I would never have the opportunity to work with in person.’

Anne explains: ‘The Stitch Club community is so valuable and seeing the work others post in the workshops inspires me to pick up a needle and stitch. I think it’s also fab that everyone is so supportive of each other, chatting online and commenting on each other’s work. Even if you don’t have time to take part in every workshop, there’s a lot to take away in just watching and being inspired by a new technique that you may use or come back to later.’

‘Myself and a group of friends meet up to stitch together. Over lockdown we watched the Stitch Club workshop videos and worked together via Zoom, and now we do this in person. The last one we did was after Anne Kelly gave a talk to our group Fabricology (formally Halifax Embroiderers’ Guild), and that week Anne ran the Stitch Club workshop too, so my friends and I got together to watch her workshop and stitch.

During the lockdowns I developed some of my own online community projects, such as #52tagshannemade. Initially they were for my own mindfulness and I videoed them to share with others. As more and more people joined in, the project was stitched all over the world. The messages I have received have been overwhelming, thanking me for keeping people busy and inspired to stitch, which is what the Stitch Club did for me.’

‘Community is a really important part of stitching that has been passed down from generation to generation and has become a huge part of my life.’

Dedication to stitch

Heléne Forsberg of Stockholm, Sweden has taken part in every single Stitch Club workshop since the very beginning, not only sharing her work on the Facebook group but also producing a photobook of her beautiful mixed media work. 

Heléne has been painting for over 20 years and has stitched virtually every day since 2010. In 2011 she became an artist and tutor and has never stopped learning, honing her skills and practising her craft.

In lockdown Heléne joined each of the seven Community Stitch Challenges: ‘When Stitch Club presented the opportunity to continue the regular workshops I didn’t hesitate to join. The other members have become like modern-day pen pals to me but, instead of writing letters to each other taking several days to arrive, we write online and share photos of our stitched pieces.’

‘It’s a fantastic way to share my love and engagement for stitching with like-minded people. Because it is a global community, there is always someone active in the members area. And I’ve improved my English so much too!’

‘I now have stitching friends in Australia, the United States and all over Europe and I connect with a few outside Stitch Club too. 

I first met Irene Curren, who is based in Scotland, in April 2021. Seven of us have formed a group which meets via Zoom every couple of weeks. We are all in Europe and would like to meet up in person one day. 

We always talk about the current or previous workshop and share ideas and our own pieces and projects we are working on. We show each other our sketchbooks – Irene has fantastic, thick sketchbooks! She inspired me to print my own Stitch Club photobook after holding her printed books up to the camera in one of our Zoom meetings! 

My photo book ‘Heléne Forsberg – Stitch Club 2020’ has been printed and can be viewed online, the 2021 version is in the making and I’ll follow that with one for 2022. It would be nice to show them in an exhibition some day – perhaps together with the work of other Stitch Club members? That would be so much fun!’

Irene adds: ‘Our group has developed into a friendly supportive group with members from Sweden, Belgium, Germany, England, Scotland and Wales. We all share our ideas and learn a lot.’

‘Heléne’s been particularly generous in explaining techniques and how she produces her work, and that’s really helpful and inspiring. Her working sketch books have given me ideas, and after chatting with her and Mieke, I’ve developed the sketchbooks I made in the Ali Ferguson Stitch Club workshop into something more interesting and artistic.’

‘To me the group has been a lifeline. I’ve enjoyed chatting with people from other countries about their traditions, skills, techniques – and having a laugh!’

Blossoming creativity

Alongside Stitch Club, TextileArtist.org has continued to offer the occasional free workshop for the wider community. 

The Community Stitch Challenge was revived in 2021 and then in 2022, we developed a free five-day workshop led by artist and author of the bestselling book Drawn to Stitch. We called it Stitch Camp.

Under Gwen’s clear and gentle guidance there was an unprecedented blossoming of creativity, connection, encouragement and gratitude in the 12,000 strong Facebook group where work was shared.

When artist Caryla Chambers of Sioux Hill, South Dakota, USA took part, she hadn’t touched her materials for a long time and she didn’t sew. 

She told us how she began from scratch, rediscovering her energy and making new friends: ‘Oh, Stitch Camp started it all for me! I decided I wanted to do something new. The idea of painting and marking on fabric appealed to me so I jumped in head first. I didn’t have any fabric, so I used an old linen blouse. I didn’t even have embroidery floss or needles. My weaver friend Joan donated needles, a pin cushion, small scissors and floss to get me started!’

From little acorns…

After Stitch Camp, Kim Saxe in the US (a founding member of Stitch Club) and Sharon Hope in Scotland formed the Stitch Camp social group on Facebook to help participants stay connected beyond the free workshop.

Kim has voluntarily organised projects like ‘work-in-progress Wednesdays’, local meet-ups for coffee, cake and project sharing and a stitched postcard swap connecting over 270 of the group’s members across the world.

Taking the first step

As lockdowns hopefully disappear into the annals of the history books, online textile art workshops continue to thrive, offering a more convenient and cost effective way to develop your practice in your own time at home with all of your tools and materials on hand. 

But perhaps even more powerful are the connections that are springing up through online groups right across the world, breaking down cultural and national barriers. We are becoming one world.

One thing’s for sure, if you can stitch, you’re never very far away from a new friend.

Take-aways for developing friendship and connection online:

Know yourself. Ask yourself what you’re interested in doing. Is it a desire you’ve been harbouring since childhood? Or a hobby you’ve not found much time for before? Something new you’d like to try?

Find your tribe. Find online training that includes a community where you can not only develop your skills, you can do it alongside supportive people who understand and share your passion.

Reach out. Chat to those people, share your experience, ask questions and advice.

Keep in touch. If you feel like making a closer connection within an online learning community, start a smaller group or offer to exchange contact information. If that feels scary, put that to the back of your mind and take a risk. Trust in the fact that people really are kind and want to join with others.

Stay tuned to TextileArtist.org. We’ll be opening up registration for Stitch Club (which we only do twice a year) very soon.

If you’ve found new friends through textile art, or if you’re already a member of Stitch Club, we’d love to hear about your experiences in the comments below. How have you found friendship and connection with likeminded people, and how has it affected your own creative practice? 

“I want to spend time being creative.

It’s an important part of my life. But it’s very easy to say and not so easy to do.”

Like a baby bird madly flapping its wings and barely leaving the ground, at the beginning of your creative journey you’re likely to stumble and fall. You have the will, but lack the basic tools to express yourself confidently with fabric and thread.

But slowly, as you begin to connect (or reconnect) with your imagination and ingenuity, the more joyful the process becomes and eventually you take flight.

As you uncover your own personal way of making textile art through regular practice, the higher you soar!

But what if you’re flying solo?

When even the people you’re closest to don’t understand that creativity is an integral part of who you are, momentum can be tough to sustain.

Your wings may feel slightly heavier after a well-meaning but dismissive remark from a partner or family member about ‘tinkering with textiles’. Comments about ‘wasting time and money’ on a ‘little hobby’ can see you nose diving. Add to that the distant memory of a harsh critique from an embroidery teacher (“Wonky, uneven stitches!”) and you’re coming in for an emergency landing!

Finding the people who do understand can be transformative for your creativity, your self esteem and your life.

Take it from Jess, Yvonne, Marie, Joan, Sarah, Becca, Sharon, Erica, Vicki, Karen and Linda, collectively known as Gathering Threads.

Covid, Christmas & creativity

It was the 19th of December 2020. Coronavirus cases were out of control here in the UK, new unknowable variants were emerging and Christmas had effectively been cancelled.

But amongst all of that dark came a ray of hope and positivity: an email from a TextileArtist.org Stitch Club member called Jess Richardson.

Here’s what she had to say.

Hi Joe, Sam and everyone at TextileArtist Central,

As we approach the end of the year on a day full of more grim news we just wanted to let you know how much we have loved being part of Stitch Club this year.

We are a group of ladies from four different countries. Most of us didn't know each other before joining and probably never would have met but we’ve gravitated together.

We started meeting online at the same time each week to discuss our progress with the Stitch Club workshops, offer advice and encouragement and share our love of textile practice.

We’re also in regular contact via our WhatsApp group where we chat about fab things, sad things and other news from our lives. We have swapped bits from our textile stash and been generous with our friendship.

In the run up to Christmas we organised a Tree Decoration and Card Swap and made something for one of the others in our group. Today we held an online meeting to open up these parcels. Attached is a screenshot of this happy occasion.

Without doubt these new friends and Stitch Club have become one of the most important things in our lives. Thank you very much for all the effort you put into making it a great experience for us all.

Merry Christmas

From Jess, Yvonne, Marie, Joan, Sarah, Becca, Sharon, Erica, Vicki, Karen and Linda

We were so thrilled that we arranged to gatecrash one of the Gathering Threads online meet-ups.

The passion, positivity, mutual respect and warmth in that Zoom call was palpable. This is a group of ladies whose creativity has been fuelled and whose practice has been enhanced by a sense of belonging.

Let’s meet the woman who started it all… Sharon Eynon.

All the gear, no idea!

As a child Sharon was always more comfortable resetting spark plugs with her dad than threading a needle with her mum. So when she inherited her mum’s extensive textile stash in 2014 she had absolutely no idea what to do with it.

It wasn’t until four years later, when Sharon started exploring the creative possibilities of fabric and thread in an online course with Sue Stone, that she began to understand her late mum’s love of embroidery. Finally, a way to put all her beautiful “bits and pieces” to good use!

As a founding member of Stitch Club, Sharon’s enthusiasm for making textile art continued to grow.

After feeling particularly inspired by a workshop from artist and bestselling textile author Mandy Pattullo, Sharon found herself eager to share ideas and investigate the possibilities of the process more deeply.

Sharon posted in the members area asking if any of her fellow stitchers were interested in getting together online.

Yvonne Schlaepfer-Parle was the first to answer the call…

Party of two

Yvonne is a long-time knitter and woman of the world; born in Ireland, she’s lived in London, New York, Australia and now Switzerland.

Back in March 2020, her burgeoning knitting business was about to host its first in-person retreat…and then Covid happened!

“So that whole thing crashed and burned. But then a friend of mine, who knew I was feeling pretty sad got in touch to say she’d seen the TextileArtist.org Community Stitch Challenge on Facebook and encouraged me to give it a go.”

But stitching had been ruined for Yvonne years ago when she’d been berated at school for sewing outside the lines.

“I didn’t think I’d ever be interested again. But when I watched that first free workshop with Sue Stone and she said ‘Embrace the wonky’, it changed my life! I’m not being pithy or trite—it really did. It gave me permission to go outside those lines and sometimes even plan to go outside those lines.”

Cut forward a few months. Having joined Stitch Club off the back of the free workshops in the TextileArtist.org Community Stitch Challenge, here are Sharon (in Wales) and Yvonne (in Switzerland) meeting on Zoom each week to nurture their newfound passion. A passion for something they’d both long since decided was not for them!

Week on week, stitchers from different backgrounds and at various stages of their creative journey started to join Sharon and Yvonne’s regular meetups. And as the group grew, the more inspired and excited the individual members became.

Let’s explore the creative lessons you can learn from the Gathering Threads group and how you might benefit from finding your very own stitch tribe.

How finding your stitch tribe can catalyse your creativity

No 1: A breadth of knowledge & experience

Imagine how regular access to a rich and diverse source of knowledge and experience could propel your own textile art practice.

Some members of Gathering Threads have a very broad skill base. Like Sarah Bond, who taught Art and Design for over 40 years, has a degree in Art History and has encouraged pupils of all ages to apply art textile techniques to fashion, stage and ecclesiastical projects.

“After I retired I sort of found myself in no man’s land deciding what to do next and, having recently moved from Hampshire to Wiltshire, I felt like I was in between communities.”

Since finding Stitch Club, and in turn Gathering Threads, Sarah has generously shared her expertise with the group, offering advice, recommendations and encouragement to the less experienced stitchers, like Yvonne:

“As a rank beginner with no artistic training, I don’t have any preconceptions. It’s been revelatory to hear others in the group who do have a background in art discussing the tips and rules they’ve learned along the way.”

No 2: The motivation to make

“I don’t have enough time” can often be code for “this isn’t important enough to me right now.”

If, like self-confessed butterfly Joan Noble, you do find yourself ‘easily distracted by 101 different things’, the commitment to regular meetups with like minded creative people can help you develop a more disciplined practice.

“These ladies keep me on my toes. It’s helping me be more focused and encouraging me to drop other things in favour of doing the Stitch Club workshops.”

And Karen Hughes, who had been put off sewing by the words of a childhood teacher who told her, “You’re much better at theory, than you are practical”, has also benefited from the gentle nudge being part of the group has given her.

“It’s like going to a digital cafe or college and you just turn up and we all exchange ideas and stuff. It’s a great motivator.”

The group’s weekly meetups in conjunction with the fortnightly workshop in Stitch Club have also helped Jess find direction.

“I used to beat myself up if I wasn’t doing something creative, but the regularity of being presented with a well-explained and inspiring challenge, along with all the other brilliantly organised materials, means there’s no barrier to getting started.”

No 3: Uncovering possibilities & breaking rules

At the start of any creative adventure, the cushion that comes from step by step rules and guidelines can be a great comfort. It’s how you get started.

More experienced stitchers, like Sarah, are ready to break those rules and steer away from the guidelines.

“I love that the tutors in Stitch Club encourage us to find freedom to explore the projects in our own way and there’s no judgement or expectation to create a duplicate of any kind. I think that’s a really progressive teaching method.”

And that ethos has been embraced by other members of the group.

Like Erica Staxenius, who was introduced to embroidery by her step-grandmother at the age of seven.

“Sewing is something I’ve delved into from time to time. After school, I started to make my own clothes from my mother’s old stash. My efforts were self-taught and I had a few disasters along the way!”

But Erica has always been what she describes as a “practical sewer” and thinking creatively to make works of art in her own voice through the Stitch Club workshops has not always been easy.

“Over the years I’ve often looked at textile art and wondered how and if I could do something similar. And I think with the help of all these wonderful inspirational workshop leaders and my friends in this group, it’s starting to feel achievable. I’ve still got a way to go, but looking back on everything I’ve done in the last year of Stitch Club it’s mind blowing how far I’ve come.”

“It’s interesting to me how I’ve never been one to follow the rules of life, but with sewing and art I have. The encouragement in this group means I’m starting to feel brave enough to break a few of those rules. I’m finally starting to become less restrictive and more inventive in my sewing.”

No 4: Discovering your personal visual vocabulary

The digital age has given us access to an abundance of inspiration. It’s impossible to incorporate every idea you stumble upon whilst browsing social media into your textile art. But it can be tempting to try!

Not only can this lead to an overwhelming and confused process, it might mean the work you’re making doesn’t feel distinctly ‘you’.

Through the focus of group meetings and the conscious discussion of your personal process, you can begin to hone your ideas and develop your own personal style. As Gathering Threads member Becca Allen discovered.

As a child, Becca learned to draw from her dad, created collages with her mum and made toy mice to sell to her friends.

Years later, when Becca was seeking a way to bring fabric and thread into her artwork, she took a course with the in-demand workshop leader Cas Holmes (who has since taught a popular Stitch Club class using the Japanese artform Momigami to create art). A love of all things textile was born.

Becca has been particularly inspired by the members of the group developing their own unique ways of interpreting the workshops.

“It’s amazing to see how we’re all doing the same projects, following the same set of instructions, using the same equipment, but the ways in which we translate the techniques and processes are so diverse.”

No 5: The confidence to create & share

Have you ever felt a little self-conscious about your lack of art training? Maybe you love being creative and have always been drawn to making things, but you’ve been reluctant to show other people what you’ve made for fear it’s not good enough?

Vicki Briggs doesn’t come from an ‘arty’ background and has struggled at times with feeling inhibited, but being part of Gathering Threads has given her the confidence to dive in and give anything a go!

“I was quite shy about posting images of my work in the members area to start off with, but with the support, advice and encouragement of our little group and the wider Stitch Club community, I’ve become braver. Now I think to myself, ‘Does it really matter? It’s a learning curve!’ The whole experience has given me a real boost in self esteem.”

And Yvonne agrees…even when the responses to what she makes are mixed.

“Since joining Stitch Club, I’ve had the confidence to venture into other groups and I’ve had very different reactions to what I’m presenting. A piece I made in a Stitch Club workshop on eco-printing was compared to mouldy pepperoni pizza by someone. I would have been horrified in the past. These days, I don’t care. Experimentation and collaboration are more important to me.”

“I now call myself a textile artist. I would never have done that before. I would have felt I was pretending to be something I was not, but now I realise I am, and I’m in the company of textile artists in this wonderful group every week. It’s been transformative.”

6 Finding solutions & fulfilling ambitions

When you hit a wall in your creative process, it can be doubly frustrating when you don’t have anyone to help you figure out how to knock it down (or at least rearrange the bricks!)

Linda Langley started stitching to pass the time when she was a young radiographer on night duty but prior to joining Stitch Club hadn’t picked up embroidery for a good few years.

“I’ve re-learned an awful lot in terms of techniques and being part of this group has meant I’ve found ways of dealing with my particular challenges. I don’t have a workspace, which can be difficult and means I’m much slower than some of the other girls, but they’re helping me realise that’s not a problem. The great thing about Stitch Club is I can go at my own pace. I don’t feel any pressure to do every workshop, but I’ve been inspired by this group to try things I wouldn’t have done if I was left entirely to my own devices.”

Marie Audéon, who lives in France, has a longstanding association with textiles, having been inspired by her mother.

“As a child I would collect and organise fabrics by colour and type, cut them up and reassemble them into something new. In adulthood I continued to sew, making a large array of decorative and useful things for the home”

Marie had always felt drawn to using the techniques she learned as a child to do something more personal and expressive and since joining the group, this dream has become a reality.

“When I discovered TextileArtist.org I thought to myself, ‘This is my chance. It’s now!’ I am learning to mix materials like paint and thread to express a personal story and through the connection with this group my process has really evolved. In the past few months I’ve been using a sketchbook to develop ideas and documenting the various stages of the creative process through photography.”

No 7: Nurturing an open mind & daring to experiment

Have you ever watched an online stitch tutorial or considered a particular way of making art and immediately said to yourself “That’s not my type of thing”?

Developing a sense of what you want to make and how you want to make it is an important step in your journey towards developing a personal voice for your textile art. But often the techniques and processes you feel resistance to can be surprisingly rewarding when you let go of preconceptions and give them a go.

Being part of a group with eclectic tastes can help you stay open to new experiences. Embracing alternative approaches to creativity can uncover inventive ways of interpreting projects that may have initially felt prescriptive or simple.

Jess told me:

“Even with the Stitch Club workshops that I don’t think I’ll do, when everyone in this group starts talking through their ideas and pictures of work start popping up in the members area, the enthusiasm for the project becomes infectious. You don’t want to be left out. And you end up surprising yourself with how inventive you can be with something you didn’t think was your sort of thing”.

And the collaboration within the group has also encouraged its members to join the dots, workshop to workshop, taking a technique they learned from one into the next.

Yvonne has used an exercise set by Julie B Booth in her workshop, that seemed deceptively simple, to create a whole series of work.

“I’ve gone and done several more pieces and taken that whole thing in a completely new direction.”

Create, connect, thrive

When you’re feeling creatively isolated, where do you turn for support? The most obvious place isn’t always the best fit.

Perhaps the local embroidery group has a focus on traditional needlework that doesn’t appeal…they meet on a Wednesday morning when you’re working or have childcare duties…the in-person workshops they organise run into hundreds of pounds that you can’t afford…or they just don’t get you!

The good news is you’re no longer restricted by location. You can share your creative journey with like minded creative people living on the other side of the world if that’s what it takes.

And when you find the people who understand and care, the people who push you to be more inventive and experimental, the people who make you feel safe and brave, not only will your creativity blossom, you may make meaningful and long lasting connections.

The Gathering Threads group meets on Zoom every week to work through ideas, talk about creative challenges and share their thoughts on the latest Stitch Club workshop. They share online resources and support one another via the Stitch Club members area and WhatsApp. They swap tools and materials via snail mail (when Sharon couldn’t find leaves for eco-printing, Sarah sent her some of her stash.)

But something deeper and more significant has emerged…friendship.

“We are connected by our love of art. That includes textile art but a range of other arts as well including pottery, painting, photography, quilting, knitting, crochet and felting. We also share cooking recipes and book recommendations and send birthday cards. This has developed from a group of strangers into a special group of friends.”

Yvonne Schlaepfer-Parle, Stitch Club and Gathering Threads member

And some of these friends have now met in real life too. “It’s so strange”, Jess said to Erica recently, “I feel like I’ve always known you even though it’s been less than a year.” The group are now dreaming of a time, hopefully in the not too distant future, when they can all meet up for a weekend and do one of the Stitch Club workshops together in person.

How often have you been inspired to start a project but, as you rifle excitedly through your stash, you realise that you don’t have all the things you need?

You have the fabric, but not the right thread. Or you have every colour but the one you need. Or it’s the wrong time of year to gather leaves for an eco-dyeing project. Disappointed, you give up on the idea.

It can be tempting not to start anything until you have exactly what’s in the ‘recipe’. After all, if you don’t have the ingredients, what’s the point in trying?

Textile artist Jane Dunnewold used to feel the same way. She says:

“I used to spend ages shopping for supplies for my projects. There was always that one more elusive something I needed before I could begin. But that’s not a mindset that’s conducive to actually producing work.”

And she’s right.

So, what’s really going on here?

Maybe, just maybe, being too picky about tools and materials can become a mindset for procrastination. Maybe perfectionism – that enemy of creativity – is rearing its perfectly-coiffed head to stamp all over an opportunity to make something marvellous.

Isn’t done better than perfect?

Isn’t done better than not done?

Wouldn’t it be more fun to create something rather than nothing?

Why a resourceful mindset is a great resource

A lack of resources is a rich resource in itself. The fewer resources you have, the larger your opportunity to call upon and develop your ingenuity.

Your stash might be empty, but your brain isn’t. It’s packed full of creativity and innovation (whether you believe or not!).

Your brain craves problems to solve. Not having access to the prescribed tools and materials for a project can actually be the start of a fulfilling experiment in textile art, whether the outcome is ‘successful’ or not.

1. Limitations are your friend

If you’ve a resourceful mindset, you’re not fazed by limitations

You’ll know that too many choices can bring analysis paralysis. Too many choices can mean wasting energy on choosing, and being less satisfied with what you chose.

A limited choice of materials, tools or techniques at your disposal is your opportunity to strengthen your creativity.

You’ll start to look at the resources you have in a different way, and this will force you to improvise a little. You’ll increase the range of what’s possible with the materials you have. And, when you improvise, the results can end up being more personal and intriguing.

Cathey is a member of the TextileArtist.org Stitch Club. When she found she didn’t have the listed materials available, she cut up a calico bag to use for her first workshop and worked with paper, rather than fabric, for the next one.
Her limited resources meant she uncovered a unique and personal approach to the projects.

2. Resourcefulness for artistic freedom and independence

A resourceful mindset is a confident one. It has no time to waste. You’ll find that having a resourceful mindset directs your energy not to what you don’t have, but to what’s in front of you, ready and waiting for your creative magic.

When you’re resourceful, you’ll gain your independence. You’ll reduce your psychological reliance on needing that ‘perfect’ thing: the right weight of cotton, the exact shade of ochre, that “proper” embroidery needle.

Being resourceful, can lead to more artistic freedom.

3. Resourcefulness can’t fail you

But what if you practice resourcefulness to the full – you find alternatives, but it all goes horribly wrong? What if the project fails?

It’s not failure. It’s feedback. It’s information.

Weird, bonkers or just plain ugly results are the perfect opportunity for artistic inquiry (and who says art has to be beautiful, anyway?). It’s a chance to exercise more curiosity, bigger curiosity.

You’ve learned that “If I use this, then that happens.” And then you wonder “What if I use smaller/bigger/madder stitches? What if I did everything on a larger scale?”

How to develop a resourceful mindset

You may want to develop your resourceful mindset as a creative practice, or perhaps you already have a project in mind, but you’re lacking all the materials you need and you’re looking for answers.

Either way, being resourceful is often an exercise in being pragmatic and practical, and going over old ground with a new way of seeing.

Here’s where to start:

1. Reconnect with your stash

Often it’s difficult to see the potential of things that are familiar to you, so make time to revisit your stash (or stashes).

Get everything out. Touch everything. Sort it differently. See it anew. Reconnect with the reasons you’ve kept it. You love the colour, texture, memories it brings?

Ask yourself questions. What would happen if you used that slubby remnant instead of pristine linen for the project?

2. Go on a resource-hunt in your house

It’s time to turn out those cupboards and that drawer of shame (but let’s rename it the drawer of abundance). Go through your wardrobe and those mysterious bags of stuff in the attic.

But do it with your resourceful artist’s mindset. Is that a pile of old tea towels, or is it textured background for an awesome stitched portrait? Is that an ancient stamp album or is it a source of colourful digital prints for a collage?

3. Dig out your “disasters”

Explore your half-finished projects, and your endeavours that went “wrong”. They are a goldmine of artistic potential.

Textile artist Nigel Cheney, who held the position of Lecturer in Embroidered Textiles at National College of Art and Design for over twenty years, told us:

“Even the most disastrous sample has potential to be something wonderful. Scissors are our friend; chopping something up, re-assembling it, applying it onto a different ground or simply turning it over to appreciate the reverse can all be revelatory.”

4. Work with found materials

Textile artist Barbara Cotterell tries hard not to buy anything new and always prefers to work with found materials, mostly from around her home. “Even the wire I use I try to get from the scrapyard,” she says. 

Victoria Undondian creates room-sized collages of found fabric scraps, incorporating other found materials such as paper, burlap, plastic bags, and second-hand clothes.

When you take a walk with a resourceful mindset, everything you find can become a possibility. You’ve switched on your artist’s radar. 

Look in and around your home, on the beach, on the trail, in the pub, in the town. Check out the charity shops and dare to go skip-diving. Create yarn from string or wire or plastic bags. Melt the plastic bags leftover from yarn-making into an interesting ground fabric. 

Adopt what artist and creativity expert Jane Dunnewold advocates the “scavenger hunt” approach to finding and using your materials.

Just a reminder about the free gift that accompanies this article. You can download it by clicking on that big yellow button below.

Experimentation beats guarantees

Stephen King writes with a Blackwing 602 type 2 pencil. Will using that pencil empower an aspiring writer to recreate King’s iconic style? It’s doubtful.

And using the same needle and thread as your favourite textile artist won’t make you stitch like them. And why would you want to?

You are an individual with something unique to offer.

So rather than worrying that you don’t have or even know the exact type of wire or glue or paint that a workshop leader is using, why not get creative?

And if you’re not 100% sure if what you have to hand will work for a particular project – give it a go anyway. What have you got to lose?

After all, what can you learn about yourself and your creativity from guaranteed success? Wouldn’t it be more exciting to take a risk or two? To embrace your inner rebel? Developing a resourceful mindset gives you the chance to do just that.

Have you ever surprised yourself by getting inventive with tools and materials? Tell us your ‘improvisation’ success stories in the comments below!

In this interview Karen talks about the passions which influence her unique style. We learn about the techniques and processes she employs and why women’s history and lives have been fundamental in her artistic vision.

TextileArtist.org: What initially attracted you to textiles as a medium and how was your imagination captured by stitching?

Karen Searle: I have always had an interest in textiles. It started with sewing doll clothes and learning to do the blanket stitch in a fourth–grade sewing project. Neither of my grandmothers was living, and my mother was not involved in any textile making by that time, so there was no handing down of skills through the generations. Much later I learned that one grandmother did crochet and the other was a weaver.

My mother showed me some embroidery and knitting that she had done in her youth, and I became intrigued with the idea of making and decorating cloth. I tried several times -not very successfully- to teach myself to knit and crochet from a book, and at age 10, I joined an urban 4H club where I learned sewing and embroidery. I crocheted my first sweater (in granny squares) after high school, and my college roommate got me started knitting Norwegian ski sweaters.

My mother wrote poetry and my father was a graphic artist, so I guess I was programmed toward the arts, although I carefully avoided any formal art education until I was an adult. Then I enrolled in many textile-related classes and workshops through the school run by the Weavers Guild of Minnesota and at weavers conferences and became a weaving teacher.

I eventually branched out into taking adult education classes in drawing, painting, and photography. On a parallel track, I had a 25-year career publishing books on cultural traditions in textile crafts, Dos Tejedoras Fiber Arts Publications, and publishing a magazine for weavers, The Weaver’s Journal.  In my 50s I retired from publishing and decided to pursue an MFA degree, which I completed in 1999.

What or who were your early influences and how has your life influenced your work?

I have followed and been influenced by the feminist art movement in the US since the 1970s. Faith Wilding’s early fiber environments and body works planted the idea in my mind that there are no limits to explorations in fiber, and this was reinforced in several workshops I attended taught by Walter Nottingham. His attitude toward fibers as magical and mystical captured my imagination.

My acquaintance with art knitting pioneer Mary Walker Philipps led me to explore knitting as an art medium. Other early influences on my thread manipulations included Dominic DiMare, Diane Itter, and Irene Waller. More recently, a workshop with Warren Seelig on incorporating objects into textile constructions broadened my approach to my work.

Since I was a ‘late bloomer’ as an artist, I naturally gravitated to themes of aging and imagery of older women’s bodies.

The ‘aha’ moment

What was your route to becoming an artist?

I am fascinated with the process of constructing a fabric or form from stitches. After spending a number of years designing sweaters and loom-shaped woven garments, and a stint in a production weaving studio, I realised that I think three-dimensionally, and started making figurative sculptures. At first, I wove shaped tubular forms, but in an ‘aha’ moment, I realised that there was more subtle control of shaping to be had with the off-loom processes. Since then I have been creating forms and objects with knitting and crochet, and more recently, relief images with needle lace.

I am fortunate to be a member of WARM, (Women’s Art Resources of Minnesota), and Women’s Caucus for Art, organisations. They provide inspiration, supportive communities, role models, and exhibition opportunities for women artists.

How do you use these techniques in conjunction with sculpture?

Knitting and crochet are ideal techniques for building subtle shaping into a form. I prefer to make sculptural forms in which the structure is also the armature. I choose a construction technique (knit, crochet, knotless netting) depending on the material and the amount of structural support I need to incorporate into the form.

Wire is my current favorite material, although I will try anything long and bendable. I can visualise a 3D piece, and often some of the ‘engineering’ problems that may arise before I start, so I rarely need to sketch it beforehand. Once I have started, I might make a drawing to determine the finished proportions.

A feminine viewpoint

How would you describe your work and where do you think it fits within the sphere of contemporary art?

I make figurative sculptures in natural and recycled materials, and relief images in wire. My love of needlework has led me to use the tools and materials of domesticity to assert the validity of ‘women’s work’ and to present a feminine viewpoint. The work is process-oriented, and my sense of humor usually becomes entangled within it, somehow.

My materials include thread, fabric, wire, found objects, and materials gathered from nature. The work has a feminine/feminist perspective, and could be considered postmodern/postfeminist. Much of my work is on a small or intimate scale, but occasionally I do life-sized works as well.

Seeking possibilities

Tell us about your process from conception to conclusion.

My forms are often containers and reference the Jungian concept of the body as a container for aspects of the self.

I am always seeking possibilities within the materials available to me by using and responding to their characteristics in an intuitive way. I enjoy finding new uses for a material, and combining natural and man-made materials to form new entities. I sample a new material with several different techniques to determine the most appropriate use and structure for it. Often the idea for a piece comes through this process.

Some of my work involves attaching natural or man-made elements together with fiber. My works using birch bark begin as meditations on beauty in nature. I delicately mend found birch bark, adding a few beads to enhance its natural beauty. I join pieces or create forms using either a natural fiber or wire. Combining nature, hand-made and man-made manifests my concern for environmental issues. The ‘bark quilts’ and ‘tree spirit’ figures also pay tribute to the activities of ‘women’s work:’ we salvage, mend, piece together, and adorn–both the objects in our lives and our relationships.

Making my hollow wire sculptures feels like doing 3-dimensional line drawings in space. The shadows cast by the objects complete the image. My needle lace works are another kind of dimensional drawing based on drawings or photos. I work with Photoshop to adjust the image in size and proportion to its intended mounting. I then use that image as a base to form a ‘drawing’ in thread or wire, combining needle lace stitches with some crochet. ‘My Mother’s Hair’ is based on photos taken at different stages of her life.

What environment do you like to work in?

I have a studio space where I work on larger or complex projects. For smaller pieces with lots of handwork, I like to work at home in a comfortable chair.

What currently inspires you?

I find inspiration in nature, ritual and ceremony, women’s history, and women’s lives. Also the textile-making processes themselves are inspiring.

Who have been your major influences and why?

I greatly admire the work of the late Eva Hesse and Ana Mendieta, and the mixed media works of Betye Saar and Alison Saar, Kiki Smith, Lesley Dill, and Rose Marie Trockel, among many others. All have been fearless in pursuing their careers and in incorporating many different media into their work.

Recreating memories

Tell us about a piece of your work that holds particularly fond memories and why?

The first piece in my ‘Body Bag’ Series brought the realization of my ties to feminism and also illustrates the multiple levels of thinking that go into some of my works. The feminine torso form humorously depicts an older woman’s body, something I have been fascinated with since my own began to sag a bit.

The bag is crocheted with my handspun flax; both techniques fall into the category of ‘women’s work’. It is lined with paper pulp and filled with cast paper ‘body parts’ cast from old baby dolls. Each ‘body part’ is labeled with a museum tag. The tags have an ‘accession number’ on one side and a title—an adjective used by men to describe women—on the other side. The inside pieces can be ‘read’ like a catalog of these words. I enjoy its humor and its complexity.

How has your work developed since you began and how do you see it evolving in the future?

Over time, my work has become more subtle in its message and more sophisticated in format. I began doing serious work in my 40s and 50s, focusing on body imagery. In my 60s, and now in my 70s, my focus has been turning toward looking back on my life and recreating and revising, memories. I am interested in enlarging the scale of the lace works and doing more installation works.

What advice would you give to an aspiring textile artist?

Explore widely to find your voice and your particular textile vocabulary, then dive deep into using this language as a way of communicating your ideas. Finding a mentor is also important. I have had the unique opportunity to mentor 16 artists over the past twenty-five years in a 2-year mentor program run by Women’s Art Resources of Minnesota that matches emerging artists with mentors and provides a structure for a protégée’s professional development.

Can you recommend 3 or 4 books for textile artists?

By Hand , Hung and Magaro
Finding Your Own Visual Language , Jane Dunnewold
Women’s Work , Elizabeth Barber

What other resources do you use? Blogs, websites, magazines etc.

Textile Artist, Fiber Art Now, Hand/Eye, Surface Design Journal, Selvedge

What piece of equipment  or tool could you not live without?

If I could only have one, a crochet hook would offer a lot of options.

Do you give talks or run workshops or classes? If so where can readers find information about these?

I teach  at The Textile Centre and the Weavers Guild of Minnesota. I also travel to give lectures and workshops. I lead an annual textile tour to Guatemala through Art Workshops in Guatemala.

How do you go about choosing where to show your work?

I enter shows with themes that resonate with my work and participate in invitational group shows. I am fortunate to have The Textile Centre in my backyard, which offers many opportunities to show, sell, and teach.

Where can readers see your work this year?

The Art of Cash, Janet Carson Regional Art Center, Eau Claire, WI, March 25-May 6, 2016.
The Women & Money Project, Katherine Nash Gallery, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN Sept. 10-Dec. 6, 2016.

For more information visit: www.karensearle.com and www.mnartists.org

Got something to say about the techniques, materials and processes used by this artist – let us know by leaving a comment below.

The best place to start is to consider what you actually need a sewing machine for. 

Are you interested in free machine embroidery or working with water soluble fabric? Stitching appliqué, or creating seams and hems? Or adding texture, quilting and other heavy duty stitching? 

The market is changing all the time so, rather than a list of machine models, we thought we’d get some advice from the experts on the best type of machine to buy within your budget.

We talked to five textile artists working in a variety of styles and asked them about the machines they love to use. Free motion embroidery experts Meredith Woolnough and Sue Hotchkis, quilt artist Clara Nartey, and mixed media artists Bobbi Baugh and Katie Essam employ a variety of sewing machines. 

Here’s some great guidance from these artists to help you choose and use a sewing machine for your textile art adventures.

Katie Essam

Katie Essam uses a Janome Horizon Memory Craft 7700 for free motion embroidery, with the feed dogs down. Katie explains: ‘Its needle up/down button is great, but the best bit has to be the thread cutting function – the sound it makes as it cuts is so satisfying!’

Katie also still uses her very first machine, a Bernina Activa 220.

For stitching large works, she recommends using a heavyweight machine, as it is stable and smooth to work on. The downside (or perhaps the upside!) is that it’s a bit of a workout if you want to take it out and about to in-person workshops.

“The Janome 7700 has a long arm and large base, perfect for stitching large bits of fabric.”

Katie Essam, Textile artist

Katie advises that most machines can do free machine embroidery with minimal adjustments so you may not have to splash out for a brand new machine. You can use any machine, as long as the feed dogs can be lowered (or a needle plate cover can be placed on top of them). 

You’ll need to source a free motion embroidery foot with either a C-shape (open toe), which helps you see what you are doing, or an O-shape (closed toe), which is best for couching and textural stitching. 

Katie Essam: ‘I learned to sew on my Mum’s Bernina from the 70s. The older machines were built to last and without the digital bits, it seems like less can go wrong. The weight of the old style metal cases help with stability. 

‘I’m a fan of weighty machines. With free motion embroidery, it’s best to have the machine as still as possible while you work – a heavy machine and a sturdy work surface help to achieve this. However, if you need (or already have) a lightweight portable machine, it can also be used for free machine embroidery. 

‘If you are looking for a new machine, a brilliant feature to look out for is the thread cutting function, as well as a good sized working area. A sewing table attachment can be useful, although they can make changing a front loading bobbin a little tricky.’

Katie Essam’s useful tips

Katie: ‘If you do a lot of free motion embroidery, don’t touch the tension! I learnt this the hard way. And when stitching through lots of layers of fabric, change the needle regularly and go for a thick heavy duty needle, which won’t bend or snap so easily.

‘Make sure you are as comfortable as possible, that your table and chair are at the right height and distance apart, and that your machine and pedal are the right distance away from you – your forearms should rest comfortably on the table.’

Katie Essam is a mixed media textile artist based in Bexhill, UK. 

Katie loves the freedom and enjoyment of experimenting with different media. She is the author of Free Motion Embroidery: Creating Textile Art with Layered Fabric & Stitch (2022). ISBN 9781800920484

Website: katie-essam.co.uk
Instagram: @katiejeany

Clara Nartey

Clara Nartey uses a range of techniques to make her art quilts, including embroidery, quilting, appliqué, digital painting and digital printing. All the fancy stitches that many sewing machines offer were not important to her style of embroidery. 

She currently uses a domestic sewing machine by JUKI TL-2010Q and a Moxie mid-arm quilting machine by Handiquilter. Her domestic machine allows her to complete detailed sewing and precision embroidery work, and the mid-arm machine is for quilting and overall embroidery.

Clara Nartey: ‘The JUKI 2010q is a workhorse. The machine I had before this was a computerised embroidery machine, but I needed a machine that gives me the flexibility to use it as an intuitive drawing tool. With this machine, I can take control of the direction of the stitching the way that I want it.’

Having found it difficult to create larger art quilts, Clara acquired a mid-arm sewing machine, which would help her manoeuvre heavier and larger pieces. The mid-arm machine has a 38cm (15″) throat space giving her much more room to work.

“I went for a simple straight-stitch sewing machine with lots of power to support the heavy stitching I do.”

Clara Nartey, Textile artist

Clara Nartey’s useful tips

Clara: ‘My recommendation for getting a sewing machine for embroidery is to focus on what you need. What does your style of embroidery require? My style of free motion embroidery requires two things: the ability to drop my feed dogs and to do straight stitches. 

‘Also, when you’re buying a sewing machine, look for one where you have local support. Machines break down sometimes and it’s frustrating not to have a service company nearby to fix your machine for you.’

Clara Nartey is based in Connecticut, USA. 

Clara tells visual stories of Black women inspired by her African heritage and her work is held in private and public collections including at Yale University. She is the author of Drawn with Threads: What a textile art exhibition can teach us about our creative potential (2019). ISBN 9781733250207

Artist website: ClaraNartey.com
Instagram: @ClaraNartey
Facebook: ClaraNarteyArt

Bobbi Baugh

Bobbi Baugh creates collaged textile artworks, using original painted and hand printed fabrics, collaged with glue and then stitched. She works most projects in smaller sections, then joins these together using machine-sewn seams. 

You might be surprised to hear that both of the portable sewing machines that Bobbi uses are over 30 years old. One is a Pfaff Hobbymatic 875 and the other a Pfaff Select 1536, and she uses both for all her construction and quilting.

Bobbi Baugh: ‘I purchased the first one when I had my first home, wanted to sew drapes, and needed to upgrade from the Singer I’d used since high school. I had never heard of art quilting at the time and it was not a well-researched purchase. I just told the salesperson I needed to sew through heavy fabrics without the timing and tension going haywire. 

‘I was told that the Pfaff machines have a good motor, almost never require adjustments to the tension, and switch readily from one fabric type to another – that has proven to be true. Like my car, which is over 20 years old, I hope these two sewing machines keep chugging along for me forever.’

“It suits my temperament and philosophy of artmaking to use materials and equipment that are as simple as possible.”

Bobbi Baugh, Textile artist

Bobbi Baugh’s useful tips

Bobbi: ‘To take care of your machine, take it for a service and cleaning at least once a year. When I tell my very reliable and faithful local repair serviceman the kinds of fabrics I sew, he just shakes his head and scolds: “Paint and glue on fabric! Really?”. But he keeps my machines running smoothly.’ 

Bobbi Baugh is a mixed media textile artist based in DeLand, Florida, USA. 

In 2023-24, Bobbi’s work was shown in six SAQA Global Exhibitions, at Q=A=Q at the Schweinfurth Art Center, Art Quilt Elements in Wayne, Pennsylvania, and at numerous other regional and national exhibitions.

Website: bobbibaughstudio.com
Facebook: bobbibaughart
Instagram: @bobbibaughart

Meredith Woolnough

Meredith Woolnough uses free motion embroidery in combination with soluble fabric to create her ethereal sculptures inspired by nature. She uses a Bernina Q20 for most of her work, switching to a regular domestic machine for zigzag stitches or if she’s travelling or teaching a workshop. 

She finds the Bernina a comfortable machine to work on, but she stresses that you only need a regular domestic machine for free machine embroidery. Several years ago she wrote a post on her blog explaining why she mostly uses her Bernina Q20. 

As for buying a machine, Meredith recommends: ‘Purchase the absolute best machine you can afford at the time. View a sewing machine as a long term investment. Second hand machines can be a good option if your budget is tight.’ 

“Get a good machine, take good care of it and it will serve you faithfully for a lifetime.”

Meredith Woolnough, Textile artist

Meredith Woolnough’s useful tips

Meredith Woolnough: ‘Clean your machine regularly. For basic machine maintenance that you can easily do yourself, a few drops of strategically placed oil and a quick brush of the bobbin compartment is key. Your sewing machine manual or a quick Google search will tell you what you need to do – so no excuses! Your machine will thank you for it.

‘Secondly, make sure you have the right needle for the job. Fresh needles can fix a lot of stitching problems but, in my opinion, choosing the right needle from the beginning is even more important. 

‘Choose a needle to suit the type of work you are doing, in a size to suit the thickness of your thread. I work with standard weight machine embroidery thread and find that a size 90 Jeans needle (sharps needle) works best for freehand embroidery on water soluble fabric.’ 

Meredith Woolnough is based in Newcastle, Australia, and is known for her sculptural embroideries inspired by nature. 

Meredith has exhibited widely and her work is held in collections in Australia. She is the author of Organic Embroidery (2018), ISBN 9780764356131. 

Website: meredithwoolnough.com.au
Facebook: meredithwoolnoughartist
Instagram: @meredithwoolnough

Sue Hotchkis

The Bernina 1008 is the machine Sue Hotchkis uses the most to create her artwork. She also has a Bernina 730e, which is a computerised sewing machine with an embroidery unit attachment. 

Sue Hotchkis: ‘The 1008 is sometimes referred to as the workhorse because it’s very strong and can take a lot of rough treatment because it’s not computerised. There are no fancy needle threading options. With my artwork, I often sew through several layers of fabric and it doesn’t struggle. 

‘The Bernina 730e lets me draw my own design on the laptop and then turn it into a stitched design. This model is old now. I bought it at a good price when a newer model came out.’

“The Bernina 1008 is a very straightforward sewing machine and it’s great for free motion stitching.”

Sue Hotchkis, Textile artist

 ‘The Bernina 1008 is great for free motion stitching and has interchangeable feet – my favourites are the cording foot for creating cords of several strands of thread wrapped in satin stitch, and the tailor-tacking foot which creates a decorative loopy surface stitch. If you want to make creative textiles with unusual materials then this type of Bernina is ideal.’ 

Sue first encountered Bernina sewing machines while studying embroidery at university. She bought her first Bernina, a 1001 model, over 30 years ago – and it still works! Sue found a secondhand one on sale recently for the same price she originally paid in the 1990s.

Sue Hotchkis’ useful tips

Sue uses her machine with a custom Sew Steady extension table, which helps when working on a large artwork. She explains: ‘The fabric doesn’t drag and pull on the needle when stitching and the table takes the weight and allows the fabric to flow’.

Sue Hotchkis is based in the Highlands of Scotland, UK and creates printed and stitched abstract wall art.  

She was awarded the Silver Medal at the 12th Scythia Textile Biennial in 2018, and an Award for Excellence at the 11th Lausanne to Beijing International Fiber Art Biennial in 2021. She is a member of QuiltArt and Edge Textiles Scotland. 

Website: suehotchkis.com
Facebook: SueHotchkisTextiles
Instagram: @suehotchkis

Glossary

• Bobbin – A small spool of thread that sits inside the machine to supply the bottom thread.
• Extension table – An accessory that attaches to the machine to provide a wider working area, useful when working with large pieces of fabric or a large embroidery hoop.
• Feed dogs – The teeth located under the presser foot that evenly feed the fabric through the machine.
• Free motion embroidery – Where the stitching is controlled freehand, like a drawing, and the feed dogs are lowered or covered so the fabric glides easily in any direction under the needle.
• Free motion embroidery foot – A specialised presser foot that allows the fabric to glide around for freehand embroidery work.
• Long arm machine – A sewing machine and frame, with an extra large working area of over 45cm (18″) and rollers to help manipulate large quilts.
• Mid arm machine – A sewing machine with a wide throat space of 30cm – 45cm (12″ – 18″). 
• Needle plate – The metal plate through which the needle and bobbin thread pass during stitching.
• Needle plate cover – A plastic cover that sits on top of the needle plate, allowing free motion embroidery in a more basic machine where the feed dogs cannot be dropped. 
• Presser foot – A metal foot that presses the fabric down to the needle plate during sewing.
• Throat space – The working area to the right of the needle, between the main body of the machine and the needle plate.
• Zigzag stitch – An automatic stitch setting for creating z-shaped stitches.