When Amarjeet K. Nandhra’s family immigrated to the UK from Tanzania, her parents did everything they could to help their children blend into their new setting. They were to adopt Western ways as best possible, including no longer speaking Punjabi at home.

But when Amarjeet was in her 20s, her Indian heritage started calling to her heart. She decided to reclaim her Punjabi language and explore the incredible Indian textile traditions she left behind.

Ultimately, Amarjeet started using modern print techniques and traditional textile methods to express the challenges she faced trying to straddle two cultures. She had grown to love her UK life, but she didn’t want to lose sight of where she came from.

Amarjeet’s practice has led to a larger mission to broaden people’s understanding of traditional Indian textiles. She wants viewers to not only admire their beauty but to also understand the personal and political backdrops each traditional cloth carries.

Aha moment

Amarjeet K. Nandhra: My mother was an incredibly accomplished embroiderer who stitched all our clothes and embroidered household items. But when we came to the UK, she had to work and raise six children, which didn’t allow her any personal time.

Mum never taught me to embroider either, but that was okay, as I was focused on art. I avoided stitching because of its association with domesticity and femininity.

However, whilst studying for an art and design diploma, I felt something was missing. Then a close friend bought me a book about machine embroidery, and that was my ‘aha’ moment. I enrolled in Pam Watts’s machine embroidery course, and I was hooked.

In 1998, I enrolled in a City & Guilds Embroidery Part I class at Harrow Weald College, and I completed Part II in 2001 at Missenden Abbey. I then took an Advanced Textiles Workshop with Gwen Hedley and graduated with distinction in Higher Stitched Textiles Diploma. I also gained First Class Honours in Creative Arts…

“All of that learning helped fill my days and allowed me to navigate some difficult times in my life.”

Amarjeet K. Nandhra, Textile artist

I was able to learn from some big names, including Janet Edmonds, Jan Beaney, Jean Littlejohn and Louise Baldwin.

Later, Gwen Hedley asked me to take over teaching in Advanced Textiles, and I also started teaching for the Higher Stitched Textiles diploma alongside gaining my certificate in further education teaching. It was a very busy time for a recently divorced mother of two young children.

Reconnecting to my heritage

Navigating the world of textile art without guidance and support that mirrored my experiences was challenging. My desire to embrace and connect with my Indian heritage was accompanied by complex emotions and expectations of authenticity.

I also lacked confidence as a young artist, and my work was significantly impacted by receiving conflicting feedback from tutors and event organisers…

Some said my pieces were not ‘Indian enough’, while others felt the colours were too ‘ethnic’.

It wasn’t until later in my creative journey that a renewed passion for the colours, patterns and symbolism associated with traditional Indian textiles began to inform my work. I researched the historical patterns and symbols seen in phulkari, Kantha work, embroidery and mirror work.

That exploration prompted a significant shift in my artistic practice. I’m now excited to explore the vibrant and diverse colour combinations and stitches commonly found in Indian textiles.

Passion for phulkari

India’s 1947 partition caused one of history’s largest forced migrations. As Pakistan and India gained independence from Britain, a bloody upheaval displaced 10-12 million people, including my ancestors. Communities were fractured and many cultural arts were lost.

In light of that loss, I wanted to reconnect to textiles from my Indian heritage, especially exploring the traditional patterns and symbols featured in phulkaris. Phulkari is an embroidery technique from the Punjab region – ‘Phul’ means ‘flower’ and ‘kari’ means ‘work’.

“In addition to being beautiful, phulkaris were powerful symbols of Punjabi cultural identity.”

Amarjeet K. Nandhra, Textile artist

Maps & patterns

Phulkaris were forms of ancestral maps that documented the daily lives and social relationships of the makers. These textiles became visual diaries packed with symbolism and significance.

The patterns of phulkaris have become my palette for sharing my own migration story. One of the traditional motifs I use is the four-faced Kanchan design, featuring triple V-shaped lines repeated in four directions. I also use stylized Mirchi (chilli) rectangle shapes repeated in a cross form. And I use small multicoloured lozenges that mimic Meenakari enamel works.

For my more contemporary responses, I create my own stitch motifs. For example, in Mapping, I used diamond shapes and long blocks to represent fences and borders.

Meaning and memory

Indian textiles have a captivating allure that can sometimes lead to a superficial understanding of their significance. So, I encourage viewers to look beyond the beautiful and intricate embroideries and recognise their vital roles in carrying meaning and memory.

“I seek to explore and promote Indian textiles in a broader context.”

Amarjeet K. Nandhra, Textile artist

While I’m fascinated with the decorative qualities of Indian textiles, I believe it’s equally important to consider how textiles tell stories about their creators, the history they embody and the memories they hold.

Still, narrative and aesthetic qualities are equally important to my practice. I want to make work that is beautiful as well as thought provoking. Work that celebrates tradition while also creating a relevant and contemporary dialogue.

Thought books

I start a project by exploring my thoughts in a book where I draw, write and doodle anything to help generate ideas. I call them ‘thought books’ instead of sketchbooks.

Once I have an idea, I formulate a plan. I begin by drawing out a rough sketch of the piece and decide how to build the layers of print. While I’m careful with my planning, I’m also mindful that the work will evolve and I will adjust accordingly.

I also work with other sketchbooks to experiment with different materials and processes, explore mark making and colour relationships, and build up layers with text and collage. These books don’t always have an end goal.

Printing the unexpected

Print has always played a big role in my art since my first job at a print cooperative. We produced banners for trade unions and many social causes. I was struck by the bold designs and repetition of images that could carry a message and communicate a story.

Building up layers is the foundation of my practice. And there is something magical about revealing the print and discovering the unexpected.

But I wasn’t always comfortable with the unexpected. At the print co-op, everything had to be precise and accurate. That led to my work becoming rather dry and boring.

As I became more confident with the processes, I overcame the fear I might spoil something. I realised building up layers was far more interesting and adding more to a work made it look better. I had to practise my practice.

“I love the physicality of printing, the smell of the inks and the sound of ink being spread out using a roller.”

Amarjeet K. Nandhra, Textile artist

Pigments & dyes

I have used Selectasine fabric binder and eco pigment. And I’ve recently started to explore traditional Indian textile natural dyes such as madder, cutch and indigo.

When I want to remove colour in my print, I use a ready-to-use printing paste that allows me to take away areas of colour from natural fabrics such as cotton, linen, silk and wool.

I’m excited to teach several experimental mono printing approaches in my Stitch Club workshop, where members produce a variety of layered prints using colour, mark making, pattern and texture. These printed fabrics will then be collaged together and embellished with stitch.

Stitch Club members will use the process to create a series of works that are related but also have interesting differences that will engage viewers.

Subjective materials

My fabric choices really depend on the project. I like experimenting with different natural fabrics, as I feel it’s part of the serendipitous nature of printmaking. I don’t like working with synthetic fabrics.

For larger printed and stitched works, I tend to use 7.5-ounce cotton duck or cotton canvas from Whaleys or Wolfin Textiles. For other projects, I might use linen, cotton lawn or organdy.

Most fabrics work well when screen printing as long as they’re pinned to create tension. But for mono printing or collagraphy, fabrics need a smooth surface.

When it comes to hand stitching, I use a combination of silk, cotton perlé and stranded cotton threads. I tend to use running stitch, surface pattern darning and straight stitch. The stitches I choose depend on the project and my response to the subject.

The complexity of identity

My Other Words is a personal reflection on the dynamics of straddling two cultures and navigating the complex notion of identity. When we arrived in the UK, my father was determined we would ‘fit in’, so we were told not to speak Punjabi at home.

“Growing up and being ‘othered’ impacted my sense of pride for my heritage – keeping invisible was the goal.”

Amarjeet K. Nandhra, Textile artist

In my 20s, I decided to speak and embrace Punjabi, and this work connects to that shift.

I used Punjabi text as the foundation of this piece to reflect that reconnection. The text was printed, then erased and then overprinted. The text is complemented by fabric shapes and patterns typically used in phulkari, then emphasised with kantha stitch.

Mapping place and space

Mapping Place and Space uses the concept of phulkari to map and document the maker’s activities. I recorded my movement through urban and natural landscapes.

The background was painted with fabric paint using binder and pigment. This freed me to mix my own colours with reference to my sketchbooks. I then overprinted with mono printing and additional details were added using acrylic markers.

The diamond shapes and bars were a nod to the traditional phulkari patterns and stitches. I originally planned to create one large piece, but I liked the idea of being able to change the sequence and configuration.

I also played around with the idea it could be folded like a paper map.

An immigrant’s story

Five Decades is the story of growing up in the UK after moving as a child from Tanzania, Africa. Each scroll represents a decade of my life in England.

It documents the trials and tribulations of living as an immigrant and how an unwelcoming country eventually became home.

Each fabric strip is dyed, painted and printed with carefully selected colours representing each decade’s theme. A range of printing methods, collagraphs, mono and screen printing are used to capture the mix of my painful and joyous memories across those 50 years.

“Every strip contains an image of my mother to represent the substantial influence she had on my life – our strong and special bond has influenced both my life and artistic journey.”

Amarjeet K. Nandhra, Textile artist

Conversations and stories are captured, with the final layer of each scroll binding memories together through kantha stitch.

Various text is featured across the strips. For example, there’s an image of a sticker with the words ‘Fight racism’. I had printed those vinyl stickers when working at a print collective in the 80s and wore them when I attended demonstrations.

The phrase ‘Self Defence is No Offence’ comes from when the National Front decided to hold a meeting in Southall’s town hall. Thousands, mostly Asians, took to the streets in protest against the far right and police brutality.

‘Finding my voice’ represents me finally being seen and finding my visual language. It also expresses the joy textiles have brought to my life.

She uses embroidery on silk and maps to raise awareness about the impact of global warming, advocating for the natural world she loves.

By engaging with scientists and asking insightful questions, Bonnie strives to make the science of climate change more accessible. While understanding equations, graphs and statistics can be daunting for many, they’re second nature to Bonnie, thanks to her background in marketing and market research.

Now Bonnie uses her ability with numbers to translate complex scientific data about climate change into easy-to-understand visual narratives that are central to her work.

Her materials are silk, velvet, thread, maps, old journals and history. Her tools are words, numbers and graphs. Bonnie’s use of colour, collage, mark making and embroidery creates a magical blend of art and science that sparks conversation and inspires action.

Bonnie Peterson: I’m a visual artist investigating environmental and social issues using embroidery on silk and maps.

My work is primarily narrative and integrated with data and history. It examines geophysical climate issues with the goal of promoting a fresh opportunity to consider climate change and an urgency to take action.

I’ve always been fond of maths – I worked with data and graphs during jobs in marketing and marketing research. I think this, and my college statistics classes, fostered my interest in promoting graphs and related maths with climate issues.

I design simple explanations of the important principles and difficult modelling scenarios in environmental science. By incorporating these in my work, I hope to break down some of the maths-phobic barriers confronting climate maths and climate graphs.

For example, Turning Green illuminates data about the melting of Greenland’s glaciers using text, temperature and other recent climate data from NASA and the Jet Propulsion Lab research studies. I find it fascinating that this data is collected by twin satellites measuring gravity.

A basic understanding of the measurements and methods aids critical thinking, leading to more interest and acceptance of the consequences of warming.

Inspiring data

I am interested in the technical aspects of environmental data collection – I want to understand the mechanism behind the numbers, and the context and relevance of the data.

For example, Argo floats, which feature in Ocean Heat, collect data on ocean characteristics such as temperature and salinity. Ocean Heat shows heat content in the top 700 metres (2,300ft) of the ocean, plus data collection tools and the relevance of heat content to climate science. This artwork promotes an understanding of the physical science behind warming.

Drought explains how snow water equivalent data and tree ring science were used in 2015 to record the worst drought in California in 500 years. The goal of Drought is to engage viewers in the scientific process and lead to a greater understanding of the changing background conditions brought on by global temperature increase.

‘The science and maths behind climate equations, graphs and models are fascinating and seldom brought to the fore.’

Bonnie Peterson, Textile artist

Text & texture

Text is an important feature of my work. It has evolved from applying text using transfers to using free motion embroidery.

Mixing a variety of source materials such as scientific data and early explorer’s journals, I stitch words and graphs on velvet and silk fabrics to make large narrative wall hangings and a series of topographic maps.

I annotate topographic maps with a labyrinth of climate variables at various future temperature and emission scenarios.

‘Stitching is a key element and I use a mix of hand and free motion embroidery.’

Bonnie Peterson, Textile artist

The surface of my work is a blend of appliqué and piecing, although not necessarily done in the traditional way. For example, sometimes I attach transfers with big suture-type stitches.

I enjoy adding hand stitches, crewel and crazy quilt stitches to random sections of my work. In Anthropocene CO₂, I’ve used traditional Kantha stitches in the velvet borders.

Science inspiration

I subscribe to a wide variety of web sources and journal articles for new climate research and to get a fresh look at climate science. The journal Nature is an excellent starting point.

There are an increasing number of reports about the negative aspects of climate change on the human body as the prevalence of heat waves increases dramatically.

I organise information on a variety of environmental and social topics in real and virtual folders. I then sift through the research related to a topic of interest that I want to spend more time developing into a piece of artwork.

I research the history of a topic and the data collection instruments such as satellites and ocean floats. Sometimes I will email a researcher to ask a question, to ask for more recent data, or for a different graph.

This process can take months, so I usually work on several projects at one time to allow sufficient time to work out kinks and make decisions.

‘I find that if there is a stopping point in a project, it turns out to be a good thing because it helps clarify an issue or thought.’

Bonnie Peterson, Textile artist

Making sense

I assemble the background fabrics on a pin-up wall. Sometimes I photograph different fabric and thread colours to see what works.

Multiple layers of fabric usually require pin or thread basting. The centre layer is usually cotton flannel, which can withstand a hot iron.

Free motion embroidery is not computerised machine stitching. It’s where the ‘feed dogs’ are lowered and the hand moves the fabric in the style of writing. I like the happenstance of penmanship and the irregular sizes and spacing of words and numbers.

‘When I’m using free motion embroidery for text or a graph, I prefer to wing it rather than start with a marked line.’

Bonnie Peterson, Textile artist

Free motion embroidery needs a stabiliser or a thick surface, so I use various methods to keep the thread from becoming twisted beneath the embroidered surface.

Solvy water soluble film, paper, tear-away or dissolving stabilisers or even just using a thick fabric surface helps with this problem.

I am interested in value, colour and contrast. I use a wide variety of threads from small diameter (such as size 40) cotton and polyester threads to thicker (size 12) wool, acrylic and rayon.

Silk thread is more difficult to find. I use all of these, whether doing hand stitching or free motion embroidery. Madeira is a source for the thicker rayon and wool threads and sparkly threads. I like the neon colours.

Exploring light

I love the shine and the directional nap of silk dupioni – it’s nubby and irregular. I like it as a base for embroidery. Different colours and reflectivity come out with various orientations of the fabric.

There are colour differences in the warp and weft. Velvet has some of these same properties in its differential shine and nap patterns.

In Days of Lead, you can see how I’ve used silk dupioni mixed with velvets. The artwork chronicles significant events during the first 1,000 days of toxic lead (Pb) in Flint, Michigan’s water supply, as well as environmental details about lead (Pb).

Both of these fabrics are difficult to find so I am always on the lookout. Mood Fabrics in New York City has unusual devoré or burnout velvets, and Silk Baron in Los Angeles has all kinds of silk and velvet.

Cool collaborations

I love partnering with scientists. Artist-scientist projects are a lot of fun because of the camaraderie, and the science is fascinating. Collaborations on concepts in fire ecology, atmospheric science, permafrost and other geosciences have driven my work.

I’ve participated in some exciting and rewarding projects including the University of Wisconsin, around issues of limnology – lake science and climate change; glaciology at Yosemite National Park; fire ecology at Northern Arizona University, exploring the intersection of extreme fires and societal change; dendrochronology, the science of dating tree rings, at the University of Arizona, as well as the declining mass of Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets, and permafrost melting.

Changing minds

The first project ‘Paradise Lost’ started in 2006. The University of Wisconsin-Madison brought artists and scientists together in Northern Wisconsin to learn about climate change.

Our goal was to make art for a travelling exhibition. The topic was not at the forefront of people’s minds as it is today.

That was the year former United States Vice President Al Gore’s movie, An Inconvenient Truth, came out. The terminology was transitioning from ‘global warming’ to the less confrontational ‘climate change’.

I was able to indulge my curiosity by asking many questions of the atmospheric scientists. I became interested in the CO₂ graphs made from ice cores and I used one of those graphs in my work.

Anthropocene (CO₂) depicts 400,000 years of CO₂ in the earth’s atmosphere. The Anthropocene Epoch is a unit of geologic time, used to describe the most recent period in Earth’s history when human activity started to have a significant impact on the planet’s climate and ecosystems.

On fire

Fires of Change: The Art of Fire Science was an artist/scientist project that explored how fire as an ecosystem process is impacted by climate change and societal development. Eleven artists attended educational field trips to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon and other locations with fire managers and scientists.

During the boot camp, I saw that my notes contained a mess of arrows amongst a complex network of fire ecology variables. After I returned home and wondered what type of work I would make, my notes gave me the answer.

These arrows and the entanglement of fire attributes and consequences were the basis of On the Nature of Fire. I refined the notes by emailing the scientists until my diagram accurately reflected our workshop.

I embroidered the drawing onto a large deep purple piece of silk. I made the arrows and text more prominent against the deeply coloured background fabric by outlining the text and arrows with further embroidery. It turned out to be quite large with a velvet border.

As part of the project, I also made collages on two Grand Canyon topographic maps using text about the labour issues for wildland firefighters, the technical science issues of wildfire and the exploration history of the Grand Canyon.

In Phantom Ranch Quadrangle, I used collage, transfers, pen and stitching on a topographic map. I included text which contains fire terminology, the firefighter’s job description, information about their fire shelters and fire history from tree ring research. There is also text from John Wesley Powell’s Exploration of the Colorado River, 1895.

We had less than a year to complete our work so this large textile, plus two paper maps, had a tight deadline. On my website, I share more detail about my artistic process in engineering this complex artwork.

In nature

I have backpacked in the Sierras since the early 1980s and have a deep interest in the Muir Trail and in Yosemite National Park.

I have a large number of works which integrate the history and scientific measurements of the Lyell Glacier, Hetch Hetchy Reservoir and the John Muir Trail. These works were in the Fresno Art Museum a few years ago and the museum produced a YouTube studio tour video about them.

One project was inspired by a backpacking trip to measure the Lyell Glacier with Yosemite geologists. I wanted to make a piece about permafrost for a Chicago show, Geosciences Embroideries. It started out with a graph of the boreholes where permafrost temperatures are measured, using data from the Permafrost Laboratory at the University of Alaska at Fairbanks.

Transect illustrates the Lyell Glacier transect measurements from the 1930s through to 2012; John Boise Tilton’s journal from his 1871 first ascent of Mt Lyell; and John Muir’s description of the Lyell Glacier from 1800.

Permafrost investigations

Permafrost Boreholes includes a graph showing permafrost temperatures at a depth of 20 metres (65ft) in boreholes on Alaska’s North Slope for the past 40 years.

However, I soon discovered that permafrost is more complex than just borehole measurements. There is also the active layer and the issue of permafrost distribution.

This resulted in further artworks, Permafrost Active Layer and Permafrost Distribution. The latter shows a bird’s eye view of arctic permafrost and some of its characteristics. Permafrost thawing also releases carbon dioxide and methane into the atmosphere, causing even greater atmospheric warming.

World view

Although most of my work is two-dimensional, Climate Anomaly Globe gave me an opportunity to work in the round – literally.

In this artwork, more than 100 climate anomalies or deviations for 2017-20 are posted at each respective location around the globe. The 2020 anomalies are on red needles, 2019 are on green needles, 2018 are blue, and 2017 are yellow.

The anomaly data points are from NASA and the World Meteorological Organization. They are printed on over 100 flags and pinned onto a traditional school globe.

For example, one of the red needles that’s planted in the Arctic region states ‘2020 Arctic: 11th smallest maximum sea ice extent on record & 2nd smallest minimum extent on record.’

Finding time

When my kids were small I had National Park residencies. I would go on short backpacking trips with the kids while percolating ideas for artwork to make when I returned home.

The residencies were a great opportunity to balance seeing new parks and working on new issues, at the same time as looking after my family.

Back in the 1980s, I used standard USGS 7.5-minute topographic maps for orienteering in the backcountry (today, backpackers bring cell phones for navigation). I started to use these maps as the base for a collage of images and text about my wilderness trips.

Some images were transferred to silk and sewn by hand onto the maps and some were ironed directly onto the maps. In Glacier Survey Quadrangle I joined multiple maps together to look as if it were a single map.

When sewing a piece of silk onto a paper map I usually put a small piece of interfacing on the back of the map so that the needle holes do not tear the paper.

Lakeside adventures

I participated in Crater Lake’s Centennial Artist in Residence programme, whose goal was to generate artwork for a centennial exhibition. I requested dates in late March that year because I love to ski.

Crater Lake traditionally receives 12 metres (40ft) of snowfall, which boils down to six metres (20ft) on the ground. They received about a third reduced load that year but there was still enough snow to ski around the lake, a distance of 53km (33 miles).

I had quite an adventure during my backpacking ski trip around the lake, including a broken tent and stove. I made a wall hanging and embroidered the story of my ski trip in the borders with maps and also a large collaged map merging the Crater Lake East and West topographic maps.

One residency will sometimes inform another. At the Lucid Foundation near Point Reyes, California, I started a project where I integrated current and future global temperatures with the consequences of warming.

I used topographic maps as the background and marked them up with global temperature changes and climate consequences. I made a series of enlarged human-sized canvas maps with labyrinths of temperature consequences.

At another residency, I was able to refine these drawings and also a series of embroidered climate graphs. There are about 10 of these graphs and they emerge from oil cans.

‘An artist residency offers a unique source of inspiration – time alone and distance away.’

Bonnie Peterson, Textile artist

Early influences

My mother taught me to sew. When I was in my early teens, she let me choose the fabric so I could sew my own clothes. I still remember my favourite yellow dress.

Back then, sewing clothes wasn’t unusual and a home economics sewing class was part of the girls’ middle school curriculum.

In the 1950s my parents were briefly medical missionaries before settling in Chicago. However, the urge to help people in Africa never left my Dad. I was a junior in high school when our family moved to Kinshasa (now in the Democratic Republic of the Congo).

Dad established an anaesthesia programme at the Lovanium University. Poverty and power imbalances were everywhere, and Zaire (as it was then) was part of the Cold War power balance.

‘The legacy of colonialism contributed to my interest in human rights issues, treaties and war casualties, which has come out in my work throughout the years.’

Bonnie Peterson, Textile artist

I didn’t sew again until I was pregnant and wanted to make maternity clothes and baby clothes. We were living in Tallahassee. I was working part time and also at a traditional quilt shop. There I fell under the spell of the beautiful cotton fabrics.

I joined a quilt guild, and they really encouraged my first wall hanging of the Chicago skyline. My kids were little and I used to furiously work for several hours after they went to bed.

Early works

About 30 years ago a close friend died of breast cancer. This prompted me to make what I call my ‘bra’ quilt. I used de-wired bras, my friend’s poetry and news articles about breast cancer, which I transferred to fabric and integrated with the bras.

My friend’s poems about her experiences with isolation due to the ‘c’ word caused me to call this piece Talk to Me.

I used a dye printing technique with dye paper. Talk to Me didn’t get juried into quilt shows initially so I entered it in the Evanston Art Center’s Vicinity show where they hung it as a sculpture in the middle of the room.

I was surprised that the back was showing with the bobbin threads exposed – it looked a little raw, but no one else cared.

This led me to be unconcerned about the backs of my work being covered or having knots and threads.

Artist’s mindset

My first solo show was at ARC Gallery in Chicago (one of the two women-run ‘co-op’ galleries in Chicago) and I called it Political Art Quilts.

The opening was during a huge Chicago snowstorm, but a few people braved it. I learned how to install, make text signage, and publicise my show.

And while this show was up, I received an Illinois Arts Council Individual Artist Grant. This was a pivotal moment for me.

‘I had no formal education in art.

For the first time, I began to think of myself as an artist and enter my work in juried art shows.’

Bonnie Peterson, Textile artist

Working environment

About 10 years ago, I moved about 400 miles (640 km) north of Chicago, to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. Houghton is on the south shore of Lake Superior. I work in a home studio.

One side overlooks the woods where I cross-country ski on winter mornings, the other looks out over the street where I ride my bike. I ski from December through March or half of April since we normally get over five metres (200″) of snowfall. However, recent winters have been very short so I have to ride on an indoor bike most of the winter.

Living in a rural area has been a big adjustment after living in the city, and having the easy friendships, nearby art communities, monthly openings and the variety of art venues on your doorstep. I miss all of that.

‘I use every opportunity to see art exhibitions when I’m travelling, and I try to connect with other communities of artists.’

Bonnie Peterson, Textile artist

Guiding principles

The twists and turns in my work have always eluded my ability to predict a direction, and that’s what makes life interesting.

I look at as much art as possible, whether or not it has textile content. I use travel as a way to expand my geographic reach and exposure to more art. I recently visited Japan and that’s given me lots of inspiration.

It’s good to seek out an artist community. Look for studio tours and speak with the artists. When I was starting out exhibiting my work I belonged to a critique group of fibre artists. I was inspired to make work for the monthly meeting deadline. The structure of critical sharing was also helpful.

I encourage you to follow your intellectual curiosity. I have always been fond of maths, data and graphs and so I combine that with my interest in climate issues. My first subjects were prompted by my interest in the Gulf War and family issues – marriage, children and divorce. I am deeply committed to environmental data, policy and justice issues and I expect to continue with this theme.

Caren Garfen’s embroidered texts demonstrate back stitch as a strong and powerful stitch. But it’s also a supremely effective drawing and mark marking tool, as seen in Sue Stone’s expressive and textural figurative work.

Straight stitches are incredibly versatile. In the work of Archana Pathak and Claire Wellesley-Smith, they prove to be elegant, uncomplicated and calm. For these artists, the power of straight stitch is in its meditative nature. Seed stitch, another repetitive stitch, is the preference of artists Claire Mort and Richard McVetis, who both like to revel in the slow process of making. 

In Melissa Zexter’s stitched photographs, straight stitches are grouped to form energetic, swirling layers. And in Yuka Hoshino’s embroidery, long stitches are interwoven to highlight connections and relationships. 

Cross stitch is a technique many stitchers might start off with, but Sharon Peoples takes it to another level. She builds layer upon layer of random cross stitches, adding great depth and a painterly feel to her pocket-sized portraits.

Couching is known for its ability to add texture and dimension. Hanny Newton uses it to explore line quality in her glittering contemporary goldwork compositions. Diane Butcher uses couching in a completely different way, to create delicate drawn lines of floral imagery.

Read on to discover the power of simple hand stitches, and be inspired.

Caren Garfen

The Weight of the World was created by Caren Garfen when she became aware of an upsurge in antisemitism globally. It’s a powerful work, created using back stitch. 

‘The size of the stitch really appeals to me. I like the control required when sewing tiny stitches despite the unbelievable amount of time it takes, but it can be challenging when a deadline comes into play!’

Hand stitched text, of antisemitic incidents recorded in 2020 and 2021, creates lines on the fabric. These represent the traditional Jewish prayer shawl, a tallis. At a distance, the pattern appears as bands of black. It is only when the viewer draws in closer that they can see that stripes transform into text. 

But this tallis loses its ritual function and is not to be worn, symbolising that Jewish people should not have to carry the burden of antisemitism on their shoulders.

Caren Garfen is an artist specialising in textiles, meticulous hand stitching, and intensive research, creating artworks relating to societal issues. She is based in London, UK. The Weight of the World was shortlisted for the Fine Art Textile Award in 2022. Her work has also been selected for 7th International Riga Triennial of Textiles in Latvia, 2023, and for awards at Art Textiles Biennale, Australia, 2021 and Internationale d’Art Miniature, Canada, 2021.

Artist website: carengarfen.com
Facebook: carengarfenartist
Instagram: @carengarfen

Sue Stone

Sue Stone very rarely uses back stitch in its traditional form, where it is used to make a straightforward, solid line. Although her stitches might be created in the same way, the results are more akin to a drawn line.

In Self Portrait, Number 67, part of an ongoing project, Sue Stone used back stitches to create the hair, face, arrow outlines and dress.

‘What I enjoy about back stitch is the versatility of being able to use it as a mark making tool.’

Back stitches using a very fine sewing thread (such as her favourite Superior Masterpiece thread) can make a delicately nuanced line on a face. Or a single strand of DMC stranded cotton can be used to create an outline drawing or a sketchy, broken line.

Sue also makes the most of six stranded embroidery threads, using anything up to six strands of DMC embroidery thread to create patterns. With back stitch the thread wraps around both the back and front of the fabric. This makes it become slightly raised up on the front of the cloth, giving some amazing surface texture when using the full six strands. Sue tells us that no other stitch is more useful for her work than back stitch.

Sue Stone is based in the UK, and is a member of the 62 Group of Textile Artists, and a Fellow of the Society of Designer Craftsmen. Her work has been exhibited worldwide, including at her solo show Shifts and Allusions, at The Hub, Sleaford in 2023, at the 12th From Lausanne to Beijing International Fibre Art Biennial Exhibition (2022), and as part of the 62 Group’s exhibition at the Knitting & Stitching Show (2022).

Artist website: womanwithafish.com/
Facebook: suestone.womanwithafish
Instagram: @womanwithafish

Archana Pathak

In her series Reimagined Landscapes, Archana Pathak creates orderly rows of straight stitches, arranged into landscapes using subtle blocks of colour. 

Archana often works with found memory artefacts. In this series, by using old maps, she is able to consider the evolving nature of boundaries, both physical and psychological, and the identities being reshaped. And when she transforms the maps into landscapes, her artworks become harmonious representations of co-existence and connectedness. 

First, a collection of old maps are printed onto fabric – recording lost, found or longed-for places. From these, she cuts very fine laces, using them to slowly render the landscape’s contours. 

She began making Reimagined Landscapes in mid-2021, at a time near to the end of the lockdowns in the UK.

‘I was experiencing a sense of calm in using just straight stitches in my work. The nature of simple repetition was a gift and natural progression, for me to heal, to make sense and to start again.’

Drawn to simplicity and essentialism, Archana’s work carries questions, insights and hope – her art explores her identity and is influenced by the many things she’s trying to make sense of.

Archana Pathak is a fine art textile artist based in London, who draws inspiration from her British and Indian heritage. Archana exhibited in a solo show at The Textile Galleries, The Knitting & Stitching Show, 2022. She was The Needlemakers Company Award winner at Cockpit Arts, 2022, and was shortlisted for the Brookfield Properties Crafts Council Collection Award, 2021.  

Artist website: archanapathak.com
Instagram: @archanapathakartist

Claire Wellesley-Smith

Claire Wellesley-Smith’s meditative running stitch work Shift uses a colour palette determined by the plants on her urban allotment plot – she dyes the silk thread in small batches using plants she’s grown herself. The dye colours shift through the year as different plants come into season, which include indigo, madder, dyer’s chamomile, cosmos and onion skins. 

Using stitch to explore the connections between green spaces and wellbeing on her own health and that of others, her work is an exercise in rhythm and observation.

‘Over the years I have come to understand the rhythm of my running stitches, the stitch length and patterns that I fall into when I spend time with this repetitive action.’

Stitching offers Claire a space for reflection on her working life, the dye processes she uses and her affinity with the allotment. The creation of Shift marks the 10th anniversary of her growing food and textile dyes at her allotment, while also celebrating her daily Stitch Journal, which she has worked on since 2013.

Claire Wellesley-Smith is an artist, writer and researcher based in Bradford, West Yorkshire, UK. Her work is informed by the ability of textiles to transform and connect over time, and her projects embrace the arts, heritage and community wellbeing sectors. Claire is the author of Slow Stitch: Mindful and Contemplative Textile Art (2015), and Resilient Stitch: Wellbeing and Connection in Textile Art (2021), both published by Batsford.

Website: clairewellesleysmith.co.uk/
Instagram: @cwellesleysmith

Yuka Hoshino

Long straight stitches create a strong graphical element in Space as Time, by Yuka Hoshino.

This work contemplates the role of the stars and planets as intergenerational links, important navigational tools and markers of time. The positions of constellations and heavenly bodies were of central importance to ancient societies. And with advancements in space exploration and the resurgence of astrology in pop culture, the human relationship with the night sky persists. 

After seeing the work of Nicolas Moufarrege, Yuka began to experiment with long straight stitches.

‘A bit of play quickly led me to change the direction of the stitches so that they might be interwoven. I love the often unpredictable subtleties of colour and texture that result from this slow manual weaving.’

Yuka represents the invisible bonds between women of successive generations by interweaving the stitches where the silhouettes overlap. She also notes that the woven stitches can signify those times where two people might seem to be at crossed purposes, or be ‘perpendicular’ to one another, but when this incongruity often results in a stronger, dynamic relationship.

In contrast with the long, colourful stitches, the central section of the work will be completed with a moon motif, stitched separately. This is rendered in a single running stitch forming a continuous loop, representing the infinite interconnectedness of all things.

Yuka Hoshino is a paper embroidery artist based in Sonoma County, California, with a background in environmental archaeology. Her work often explores the themes of place, identity and botany, which were also central to her previous work as an archaeobotanist on excavations throughout Central Asia and the Middle East. 

Artist website: mayukafiberart.com
Instagram: @mayuka.fiberart

Melissa Zexter

Melissa Zexter chooses a strong photographic image, often of a woman or a girl, and stitches it, while working from the reverse and from the front simultaneously. 

In Girl and Tree, straight stitches create a dynamic swirling pattern on the back, and small areas of running stitches have been added to the front. This process results in a loose, textured and multi-layered effect that’s full of energy

‘Sewing from the reverse creates a more three-dimensional look. The thread has a life of its own. When I am sewing without seeing the front of the image and then I turn it over, the results are often a surprise.’

This abstract process of stitching encourages further reflection upon the combination of the two mediums. Melissa can explore the material status of the photograph as a three-dimensional, hand-crafted object, while also examining issues of identity, memory, and technology.

Melissa Zexter is a photographer and textile artist based in Brooklyn, New York, USA. She has been combining these two very different art forms for over 20 years. She exhibits her work regularly throughout the USA and in Europe. 

Artist website: melissazexter.com/
Facebook: MelissaZexterPhotography
Instagram: @melissazexter

Claire Mort

In Claire Mort’s bold-coloured seed stitch portrait, Tracey Emin – Olympia, the subject sports a strong and defiant glare. Tracey Emin’s work featured in the The Sensation Exhibition in 1997 and changed Claire’s life forever – for this was the moment Claire knew she was meant to be an artist. And so, as a huge fan, Claire was keen to stitch Tracey’s portrait. 

Claire’s favourite technique is seed stitch and she reminds us that, as Constance Howard once said, you don’t have to know lots of stitches, you just have to use the ones you do know, well. She enjoys the labour-intensive side of seed stitch, feeling a real affinity with this detailed way of working. 

‘There are lots of stitches I could have used to make my work quicker, but I love the time it takes to create a piece of work using tiny stitches. Most of my pieces take over 200 hours. For me it’s all about the slow process.’

The portrait explores multi-layered meanings for women everywhere, from judgement, to shaming, and everything in-between. Pictured with a confrontational stare, similar to Manet’s Olympia, Tracey is depicted staring down the art world, and being true to herself.

Claire Mort is a British textile artist, based in Dorset, UK. She was featured on BBC Two’s Royal Academy Summer Exhibition Show in 2022. She is a member of Prism Textiles and the Society for Embroidered Work.

Artist website: clairemortartist.com/
Instagram: @clairemortartist

Richard McVetis

Meditation on Process by is work driven by stitch and time. Tiny seed stitches nestle into the soft wool flannel ground fabric that Richard McVetis loves to stitch. 

Richard’s ideas are often developed in response to a moment. Stitch is used to transform time or a place into a tactile and tangible object. Through his process he can visualise, consider and occupy a space, measuring and marking time.

His embroidery work is a truly meditative process. It deeply embodies his presence. He becomes immersed in the experience of making, firmly rooted in the physical act of repetitive stitching. 

For Richard, the appeal of seed stitch has always been about drawing – the similarities between pen on paper, and thread on fabric – and the immediacy and directness of mark-making.

‘The richness of seed stitch is in its simplicity, versatility and potential to come together in infinitely different configurations to express and describe the world around me.’

Using the density of the stitches to understand a space or subject matter, Richard has gained a deep connection with this simple stitch, that he has come to know so intimately. It offers him more than just a mark on fabric, but an insight into how to be.

Richard McVetis is an artist based in London, UK. He is a member of the 62 Group of Textile Artists and a visiting lecturer in Textiles at the Royal College of Art, London. He exhibited at The British Textile Biennial (2021), RENEW at Kettle’s Yard (2019) and his solo show Shaped by Time, opened at the Craft Study Centre in Farnham (2022). 

Artist website: richardmcvetis.co.uk
Facebook: richardmcvetisart
Instagram: @richardmcvetis

Sharon Peoples

Random cross stitch is a technique Sharon Peoples often uses in her hand embroidered storytelling work, as seen in Portrait of Oscar. Although she had very little information on her ‘secret sitter’, she wanted to add depth to the story she was creating, so she decided that layered stitching was the perfect approach to take.

‘I chose random cross stitch as it allows me to work in a painterly way, even on a very small scale. Placing the work in a jewellery box signifies the preciousness of people and their lives.’

The work was created for the Secret Sitter exhibition in 2022, where artists were invited to make portraits of other artists. Sharon portrayed Oscar, his treasured copper light fitting and the place he loved to hang out most – a light-filled loft. It was a challenging prospect, but when Sharon found a light blue jewellery case at a thrift shop, things began to fall into place.

Sharon Peoples is a textile artist based in Canberra, Australia. She explores plants and gardens, as well as people and their inner ‘secret gardens’. Sharon was a finalist in the Seed Stitch Contemporary Art Award 2022 at the Australian Design Centre, Sydney, NSW.

Artist website: sharon-peoples.com/
Facebook: sharon.peoples.12
Instagram: @sharonpeoplesstudio

Diane Butcher

Couching becomes the focus and not just the outline stitch in Diane Butcher’s elegant work, Dahlias. She created this work as a ‘thank you’, giving a nod to the importance of nature and our suburban back gardens.

Dahlias have a special significance to Diane. After she moved back home from Devon, to help her mum look after her dad, when his dementia moved on suddenly, she sowed far too many Dahlia seeds. But this became a positive when things were difficult – something to care for, bring joy, and a reason to have a ten minute break. 

Diane has always enjoyed using couching to create sinuous lines, and decided to create this work mainly with couching. Her work usually includes lots of detail and intricate layers of thread, which she describes as absorbing, but sometimes restricting.

‘I went back to my first love, line, for this piece. Couching feels like drawing with thread and it was the perfect way to describe the sculptural forms of the Dahlias and convey a simple message.’

The outcome is an exquisite, delicate work that focuses on the details, the beauty of the Dahlias themselves, and their visiting insects.

Diane Butcher is an artist based in south-east London. Her hand embroidery works are based on details and observations of the natural world.

Artist website: dianebutcherhandembroidery.com
Instagram: @dianebutcher.embroidery

Hanny Newton

Couching is also a favourite technique of Hanny Newton. She loves its beautiful simplicity. One thread is laid on the fabric, then it’s secured by stitching another thread over it. For Hanny, this simple technique opens up a world of potential. Small changes, in colour, material, or scale, can provide many possibilities for experimentation.

‘I am interested in the way couching can become a drawing tool, to explore line quality. For me, it’s all about having a few techniques that I know really well – that way I can go deep.’

Hanny chooses to explore couching in great depth, rather than jumping from stitch to stitch, which wouldn’t allow her to question, delve and push boundaries in the same way.

In her series exploring complexity, Hanny uses couching to ‘grow’ designs that are more than the sum of their individual parts. The key ingredient is the imperfection of the moment. When the work evolves in its own way, she finds that the outcomes are more interesting. The threads layer up, creating flow, depth and movement that she could never plan.

Hanny Newton is an embroiderer specialising in contemporary metal thread embroidery. She is based on the Shropshire/Powys border, UK and works with interior designers and art consultants on projects worldwide. Hanny also teaches in the UK and internationally, including at the British Museum, and West Dean College. 

Artist website: hannynewton.co.uk
Facebook: facebook.com/hannyembroidery
Instagram: @hannynewton

The post-war period was a time when women were pushed back into domestic life, after the Second World War. For this project, Vanessa used text and images from real advertisements from around that time, and hand embroidered them onto vintage dressing-table cloths and garments. With a background in graphic design, the illustrations and accompanying absurd text of these adverts really attracted her.

At first she set out to subvert or change the text in some way. But she often found the adverts so ridiculous she didn’t need to change them at all, to make a statement.

Through this work, Vanessa wanted to connect the ‘feminine’ art of embroidery with the declarations of female perfection that was, and still is, presented in the media. Her embroideries highlight how these expectations of the ‘perfect woman’ still exist today, and that little has changed since those vintage adverts were first published.

Each part of Vanessa’s work, the selected objects, the process of hand stitching, and the embroidered outcomes, are intended to reflect both the powerlessness and the pleasure of being a woman, whilst challenging the patriarchal perspectives on the female body.

The perfect woman

TextileArtist.org: How did the idea for the work come about? What was your inspiration?

Vanessa Marr: The inspiration for my work comes from references made to beauty advertising, which were discussed throughout the book, The Button Box.

It struck me that the advertisements positioned a woman as a figure who should apparently always be striving for physical perfection, whilst seeking to get, and then keep, her man. Just as the choice of button displays and presents a variety of visual messages depending on its size, colour and style, so does a woman’s beauty product choices.

The work was made of several different pieces:

As long as you’re beautiful!
This collection of hand-embroidered vintage dressing-table cloths explores the idea that a quilt, in its most basic form, is a collection of different pieces of fabric pieced together to form a whole. By isolating individual words and phrases, taken directly from make-up advertisements from the 1950s, the messages are ‘quilted’ together and the absurdity of the language is highlighted.

Ways to get your man…
These are exact copies of real adverts. I discovered several more with a similar theme. In each narrative the girl is offered a magic potion that will ensure her success in ‘getting her man’. Lipstick or soap solve the problem in these examples, but it’s a small step to the magic potions of fairy tales. These narratives set the tone for expected behaviour, as well as appearance.

Feminine Niceties
Women are expected to do things to their bodies that are contrary to the natural state of things, for the sake of appearing ‘feminine’ and ‘nice’. Advertising has made this so normal that we often don’t question it.

For the Feminine Niceties collection, I chose vintage night dresses or slips. These items of clothing are not actually necessary, yet they perform the purpose of making the woman become more ‘visually appealing’. I selected ‘normal’ changes that we make to our bodies, such as the removal of body hair, wearing underwear that impacts our shape (even the modern bra still does this), and dieting.

The pale pink nightie features the alarming text I found on an advert for Veet hair removal cream with women who had flowers embroidered under their armpits. A flouncy, yellow slip told girls ‘not to be skinny’ (this was an exact quote), whilst the third, slightly more fitted version, extolled the virtues of a ‘sweetheart figure’.

What research did you do before you started to make?

After reading The Button Box, I bought several vintage magazines from eBay. Through these, I explored the work of popular illustrators from this period, like Norman Rockwell.

I also read various academic books about the language and visual meanings of adverts from the 1950s, which provided a deeper understanding.

Subversive messages

Was there any other preparatory work?

Before I started stitching, I practised illustrating the 1950’s style figures that I wanted to embroider.

Also, I explored the use of dissolvable fabric. I decided to use this fabric to support the work when I embroidered the ladies onto the night dresses, as the fine nightwear didn’t take well to my erasable pen and was too slippery to stitch directly into. When I had finished stitching, the dissolvable layer could be simply washed away.

What materials were used in the creation of the piece?

I had great fun finding vintage textiles to work on. I searched eBay purchases for vintage cloths, and found a set of night dresses in a local charity/thrift shop. I purchased some dressing table items from this era, to support my exhibition display.

I chose the cloths based on their size and shape.

For Ways to get your man, the cloths featuring an entire page sized advert, I found some large rectangular cloths with white stitched embellishments that would frame my embroidery work. The set of three cloths were approximately the same size, so I knew they could be exhibited together as a collection.

I used small, circular cloths for As long as you’re beautiful. These were like lace doilies, but with a clear, flat space in the centre that I could embroider. I chose a range of embroidery silks for my stitching, in colours that suited the designs that the cloths already held, with red colours for the lips. The text I chose refers to various makeup or beauty products. I displayed the works together like a ‘quilt’ of messages. I also slipped in a few of my own subversive messages, like ‘Rebel often’.

The night dresses I selected were of different, but complimentary, colours. I also borrowed and bought padded hangers to display them on, to support the feminine theme.

What equipment do you find useful when creating your embroideries?

My favourite tool is my much-loved erasable fabric pen. I use this to trace or draw the text or illustration directly onto the cloth.

For this stage of my work I find a lightbox helpful to trace designs. This approach comes from my background as a graphic designer and illustrator.

Once I’ve traced or drawn my designs, I stretch the fabric into a hoop and ‘draw’ these lines by hand in back stitch using stranded embroidery thread.

In the case of the night dresses, I drew directly onto dissolvable fabric, which was then placed over the night dress fabric, ready to stitch. Sometimes the lines I draw on dissolvable fabric don’t give me enough detail, so I use them as a guide. I stitch freehand over the top of them, to get features like the eyelashes looking just right.

Stitching on the train

When and where do you stitch?

The process of hand embroidery is slow, so I often carry my work around with me. I stitch in spare moments, such as when I am commuting to work on the train. I even stitch while sitting on the beach, sometimes.

I got some funny looks when I took out my nighties and started stitching on them.

Once a man on a train asked me if I couldn’t think of anything better to do with my time! (No, I couldn’t.)

What journey has the work been on since its was created?

These works were exhibited at the Festival of Quilts 2018.

The Veet hair removal cream night dress and the Cashmere Bouquet soap ‘Ways to get your man’ cloth were both selected for an exhibition at the University of Brighton, where I am a lecturer. This exhibition, Imaginative Objects: Reading the Image in Research, explored how practice-based academics, like myself, make work with objects as part of their research.

The works also influenced the embroideries I made after my hysterectomy in 2020, which used the same style cloths to anchor my visual commentary about feminine concerns.

Intrigued by Locard’s exchange principle, the forensics concept whereby every contact results in a physical exchange, Ali explores the idea that each human contact will leave a trace of your emotional self, and collect a trace of the other individual’s emotions. She represents these emotional connections using delicately pieced and hand stitched fragments of old garments, handwritten letters, haberdashery items and other vintage elements.

Ali’s studio is the Purple Thread Shed, found in the garden of her home near Edinburgh, Scotland. Her work has been featured in magazines and books including Embroidery magazine, Textiles Transformed by Mandy Pattullo (Batsford, 2020). Ali has taught throughout the UK, in France, Australia & New Zealand, where she indulges her passion for inspiring others to stitch their own stories.

In this interview we take a look at Ali’s work (Hi)Stories Uncovered, where the imagined stories of her subjects become interwoven with the histories of her source materials. Ali shares the thought process from initial spark of inspiration to how she developed her ideas and sourced her materials. These exquisite works give a glimpse into the lives of characters found in her collection of old letters dating from the early 1900s: Gillie the school master, Dorothy the teacher, and a mother writing to her child.

Name of piece: (Hi)Stories Uncovered
Year of piece: 2016
Techniques and materials used: 126cm x 92cm, Deconstructed garments, silk organza, inkjet printing, abaca tissue paper, hand stitch

Traces of emotion

TextileArtist.org: How did the idea for the piece come about? What was your inspiration?

Ali Ferguson: The original inspiration came quite by chance. I was half-listening to the radio and something sparked my interest. I took note of the phrase ‘Locard’s Exchange Principle’. Months later, I came across a little note that I’d made on my mobile phone and looked it up.

According to the website forensichandbook.com:
“Locard’s exchange principle is a concept that was developed by Dr. Edmond Locard (1877-1966). Locard speculated that every time you make contact with another person, place, or thing, it results in an exchange of physical materials. He believed that no matter where a criminal goes or what a criminal does, by coming into contact with things, a criminal can leave all sorts of evidence, including DNA, fingerprints, footprints, hair, skin cells, blood, bodily fluids, pieces of clothing, fibers and more. At the same time, they will also take something away from the scene with them.”

Of course, this is a familiar concept to anyone who has ever watched crime drama on television! But seeing it written down in this way got me thinking. If we accept that there is an exchange of physical traces, then there must also be an exchange of emotional traces. In my mind I read it as, “Every time you make contact with another person, place or thing, it results in an exchange of emotional materials.” Each contact will leave a trace of your emotional self behind and also carry forward a trace of another individual’s emotions.

I went on to consider that if this evidence of contact was actually visible, what mark or evidence would emotions leave behind, and how could I symbolise this?

What research did you do before you started to make?

I didn’t do any research as such. However, once a concept like this starts to form in my mind, I explore my thoughts by mind mapping. During this process I capture my thoughts by writing them down, and ideas start to form of how I could take some of these concepts forward into textiles and stitch.

I decided to work with old garments, taking them apart piece by piece. My aim was to reveal imagined emotional evidence left behind by some person who had touched the wearer in some way.

I’m often inspired by words and text from strangers’ letters. I feel that a handwritten letter captures the emotions of the writer at the exact moment of pen hitting paper, and because of this, I decided to use words from letters as my emotional evidence.

The art of letter writing

Was there any other preparatory work?

I wanted to create three hanging panels for this piece, each carrying the emotional evidence of a different person.

After hunting through my collection of letters for inspiration, I decided that my first piece would give a glimpse into the life of Gillie, a schoolmaster from Brighton. I have two letters dated July 1919 from Gillie addressed to Miss Dorothy Ferguson who was a teacher at the same school. I found these treasures on eBay several years ago; the letters captivated me from the outset, particularly this opening line in one letter:

“Please don’t misunderstand the meaning of this letter but I have felt such an awful cad ever since the occasion I was so unwise as to feel very sentimental.”

I love the fact that I only have two letters and don’t know more. There is enough information in the letter to find a lot more out about Gillie, but I’ve never been tempted. I love a little glimpse into a life but don’t wish any more than that.

For my second panel, I decided to write a response from Miss Dorothy. I don’t have any letters from Dorothy, so I have no idea of her actual response or how the story turned out. I very seldom make up a story completely, and I am intrigued by the fact that I became so involved in Gillie’s letters that I wanted to develop a story for them. In my imagination Dorothy was rather feisty and would not be won over easily!

The emotional evidence for the third and last piece in this installation comes from a completely unconnected collection of letters from a mother to her child. Written in 1907, in tiny spidery handwriting, they are very difficult to decipher but so very full of emotion.

What materials were used in the creation of the piece? How did you select them? Where did you source them?

I decided to work with old garments for this project. I often use items of clothing as a way to tell stories of people.

As Gillie was a schoolmaster, I decided that his story would be told through a white shirt and collar. I used a white shirt that had been given to me by a friend who had found twenty-two identical white shirts in her father’s wardrobe when he died. I collect old shirt collars, so I chose to use one of those from my collection.

For Dorothy’s story, I found two separate antique silk dress panels. I love collecting old garment pieces and often squirrel them away until the right project comes along. This was layered onto a background of old silk that came from a dress lining, that came from a friend’s mother’s house; the silk panel clearly been cut off when a dress was shortened.

For ‘My Dear Child’ I chose to use a hand-stitched antique baby gown, possibly a christening gown, with beautiful tucked and embroidered details. I also decided to use a beautiful pair of antique kid leather baby shoes to hang alongside the baby dress. There is something about these tiny little shoes that reflects the vulnerability of the letters.

I wanted the overall appearance of the piece to be rather ethereal, so I chose to work with beautiful old and very delicate silk organza as my background fabric. I also used abaca tissue paper.

Deconstructed garments

Take us through the creation of the piece stage by stage

I worked on each of the three panels individually, starting with Gillie, using a similar process for all of the panels. I started by deconstructing the garments. Like a forensic examination, I rather liked the idea of taking the clothing apart piece by piece and then (re)constructing a story. I painted Gillie’s shirt and collar with gesso and walnut ink in places to knock back the stark white.

Then I printed text from my letters onto abaca tissue paper and then applied this in various places on my garments, following the shape of the garment pieces. On some pieces, I traced handwriting from my letters and on others I wrote it freehand, to stitch later.

I layered all my garment pieces onto the background organza, attaching them with Bondaweb before stitching. I am always inspired by the shapes of garment pieces and find the act of rearranging and placing each section to be very engrossing and pleasing. I don’t think I’ll ever tire of it!

I stitch intuitively but tried to be true to the handwriting script. Using a very limited colour palette of threads in each panel, black, cream and ‘Turkey red’, in combination with a limited range of stitches.

As well as the stories and energies of the authors and recipients of the letters, these pieces are also imbued with the stories of the garments themselves and the real wearers.

And, of course, I add my own emotional energies as I make my own marks. I picture these energies entangling and interacting, becoming one with each other. I rather imagine this to be much like how the energies of any group of strangers will intermingle and interact with each other, often completely unnoticed but a connection is made.

In my mind this takes me back to Locard’s principle of exchange, where “every time you make contact with another person, place, or thing, it results in an exchange of physical materials”. This concept of an exchange of emotional energies will keep me inspired for a long time to come.

What journey has the piece been on since its creation?

This piece was first exhibited with Edge Textile Artists, Scotland as part of their ‘Strands of Time’ exhibition at the Edinburgh Palette in 2016. The work was selected for ‘Excellence In Fibers’ and it was exhibited at San Jose Museum of Quilts & Textiles in 2018. It was also featured in Fiber Art Now magazine (Winter 2017). Gillie’s Shirt is included in ‘Textiles Transformed’ by Mandy Pattullo (Batsford, 2020).

For more information visit aliferguson.co.uk

Did Ali’s work inspire you to stitch your own stories? If so, then let us know by leaving a comment below.

It wouldn’t be much of a story if our protagonist didn’t face some adversity. 

You probably won’t have to dig too deep for source material where that’s concerned.

After all, most of the channels you’ve come to rely on to feed your creativity have been blocked at every turn this year.

Textile art workshops have been cancelled, embroidery groups put on hold and exhibitions delayed.

But the really compelling part of the narrative comes from how you’re negotiating those challenges. How you’re adapting. And how those adaptations have the potential to make a long lasting, positive impact on your life as a stitcher.

Linda’s stitch story

Linda had felt creatively stifled for a long time.

Living in a remote rural area, textile art workshops weren’t easily accessible under normal circumstances, let alone during a pandemic. 

And even when opportunities to connect with other stitchers and learn from respected tutors did come up, the cost of travel and accommodation made them prohibitive.

With little to spark her imagination, Linda felt her work had become stale.

Perhaps you can relate? Especially if kindred spirits are few and far between and you have no idea where to turn for inspiration and guidance?

For Linda, nothing was going to change unless she did something she felt extremely nervous about…

She took the leap and signed up to online workshops for the very first time via the TextileArtist.org Stitch Club.

“I had never done any online classes and was anxious about it but quickly discovered that everyone is there to help me. 

Virtual learning has opened up an exciting new world for me that I didn’t know existed. I’m being exposed to teaching and learning that I could never access otherwise.

Stitch Club has given me a more experimental way of thinking and expressing myself. I have learned that the only limits are the ones I put on myself. I can be brave and try something simply for the experience.”

Linda Page, Stitch Club member

The birth of Stitch Club

Here at TextileArtist.org we’re always asking ourselves how we can better fulfil our mission to help stitchers like you (and Linda) feed your love of making art with fabric and thread.

This question came into even sharper focus in 2020, when being connected to like minded people felt more crucial than ever and creativity became a vital means of escape and comfort. 

Our answer was the TextileArtist.org Stitch Club, a creative safe space where you can share your journey with a community of stitchers from all over the world and learn from some of the most inspiring artists working with textile techniques.

Mieke’s stitch story

Mieke admired stitched artwork but had never plucked up the courage to make anything herself.

“I joined Stitch Club to push myself and to my delight, I am fascinated by working with textiles.

I’m blown away by how inspired I feel and how much I’ve learned about backgrounds, using colour, analysing what works and what doesn’t.

This is much more than just a hobby for me now.”

Mieke Lockefeer, Stitch Club member

What Mieke is discovering is that creativity and community aren’t just for lockdown!  

And that’s why Stitch Club is here to stay.

After almost 6 months of inspiring workshops, this feels like the perfect moment to celebrate and reflect on the creative lessons you can take away from the Stitch Club experience so far (even if you’re not a member!)

Working towards ‘originality’

Debbie Lyddon workshop: The story of objects

Stitch Club launched in May 2020 with a workshop from UK textile artist and current Chair of the renowned 62 Group Debbie Lyddon.

Debbie invited members to create beautiful unique vessels with fabric and thread.

Jane Cook came into Stitch Club with a lot of technical skill, but struggled to think outside the box or push the boundaries of her techniques. She longed to express herself creatively but felt like she’d never been shown how to develop a more personal or inventive approach.

Finally, after stitching for about 60 years, Jane has discovered that experimenting through play ignites her creative flame.

“I’m not a risk taker but now I tell myself, what’s the worst thing that will happen if I use that fabric or this thread?

Stitch Club has transformed how I feel about what I do. When I completed Debbie’s workshop I looked at what I had done and thought ‘did I really make that?’

I can feel my confidence increase and my skills improve with each new workshop as I experiment and stretch my ability to make decisions.”

Jane Cook (Stitch Club founding member)

Clarissa Callesen workshop: Sculpting with stitches

Perhaps, like Jane, you’ve struggled to use your textile techniques in an inventive, personal way?

The inspiring US artist Clarissa Callesen, best known for her textural sculptures made with recycled materials, has some valuable advice about ‘originality’, which she shared with Stitch Club members in a recent Q&A.

Check out the short video below!

In response to Clarissa’s fascinating workshop, members created a range of forms, then embellished and stitched them together into their own unique sculptures. The range of individual interpretations was breathtaking!

Gregory T. Wilkins workshop: Ordinary to extraordinary

Have you ever felt like you’re so focused on the end result that you forget to enjoy the journey? Or that you become overly concerned with being neat and tidy?

Perhaps what you need is the permission to play!

US artist Gregory T Wilkins inspired stitchers to go wild with mark making as a starting point for a mixed media stitched piece.

Encouraged to use whatever she had to hand (whether that was paint, ink, marker pens or crayon), the abandonment of this approach was out of Stitch Club member Jo Eds’ comfort zone.

“I have always struggled with trying to be too precise but I really enjoyed experimenting with different mark making tools. Adding stitches and beads tied it all together.

For the first time I managed to really focus on the process rather than the outcome, which was very freeing.“

Jo Eds, Stitch Club member

Now Jo has embraced her newfound inner rebel.

“I wasn’t sure how I’d find Stitch Club as my disability leaves me with little energy, but I am really glad I joined. I am loving playing with new techniques and I like that I can put my own spin on the pieces I make.”

Jo Eds, Stitch Club member

Embracing limitations

Julie B Booth workshop: Exploring blanket stitch

Not every stitcher struggles to break free and get inventive with the rules.

But ‘free spirit syndrome’ comes with its own challenges. Total creative liberation can lead to total creative confusion.

Ever thrown out the rule book only to find what you’re making lacks purpose or identity? Without any limitations at all, ingenuity becomes almost impossible.

After all you can only break the rules of the game, if you know what they are to begin with.

A fact that textile artist, teacher and author of Fabric Printing at Home Julie B Booth knows only too well.

In her workshop for Stitch Club, Julie introduced members to the Stitch Play Game, in which they randomly selected words from a list to determine a design layout and character for a piece.

The challenge? To use only buttonhole or blanket stitch in the composition of that piece. And nothing else!

“I initially struggled with the concept of just using one colour and one stitch, and buttonhole stitch at that!

But Julie is very persuasive, and after I started to see some pieces by other members appear in the Stitch Club I thought I’d give it a go and soon I was gripped by the infinite possibilities!”

Yvonne Schlapfer-Parle, Stitch Club founding member

“I found Stitch Club to be brimming with inspiration and creativity! I think this workshop challenged stitchers to really experiment and come up with something completely original.

Having the random element forced them to think outside the box. Having some structure/limits took away the anxiety of having too many choices.

There was such an incredible variety of results including a focus on texture and mark-making, patterning, nature-inspired, landscape and even a couple of portraits. One piece even came completely off the surface! Bravo Stitch Club members for your courage, tenacity and willingness to “play” the game!”

Julie B Booth, Stitch Club workshop leader

Sue Stone workshop: The power of three

Former Chair of the 62 Group of Textile Artists and a Fellow of the UK Society of Designer Craftsmen Sue Stone has long been a cheerleader for the huge potential of simple, traditional embroidery stitches.

Sue encouraged members to ask ‘What if?’ and push the boundaries of just three simple stitch techniques, three fabrics and three threads to embellish a strip-woven background.

By embracing and gently pushing the boundaries of this type of exercise, stitchers like Marie are becoming more inventive.

“After just a few months of working with the Stitch Club my approach to material and techniques has become freer. 

In retrospect, it feels like my love of textiles was lying dormant in a corner of my being, and since joining the Stitch Club, it has bloomed. I am finally delving deep into the amazing world of textiles and threads.”

Marie Haas, Stitch Club founding member

So if you’ve ever struggled to get started when faced with the prospect of a ‘blank canvas’, try setting yourself some simple rules from the beginning. You can veer away from them once you find your flow, but at least you’ll be empowered to make the first mark!

Mandy Pattullo workshop: Fabric concertina

Joy had always resisted this kind of structured approach to making textile art.

“Normally I find it nearly impossible to create a set plan. Until recently I viewed this aspect of my working process as a bad habit that I needed to break.”

But when Mandy Pattullo (author of the best selling book Textile Collage) encouraged Stitch Club members to construct tactile concertina books collaged with leftover scraps and recycled fabric, Joy had a revelation.

“I began to more fully appreciate that the actual act of stitching is for me a most joyous affair. I began to really trust in my intuitive process.

The workshop helped me appreciate that we each have our own way of working and that it’s important that we embrace rather than fight it.”

Joy Scott, Stitch Club founding member

Stitching your stories

Anne Kelly workshop: Mapping your journey

How do you look beyond techniques for ways to make your work unique and personal?

Finding ways to honour precious memories was the theme of Anne Kelly’s workshop.

Taking inspiration from her forthcoming book Textile Travels, Anne inspired stitchers to trap old photos, receipts and other collected items within their work to capture a sense of themselves and their journeys.

Ailish Henderson workshop: Stitched collage portraits

In sharing her unusual and inspiring approach to creating self portraits, young artist, researcher and educator Ailish Henderson demonstrated a method for transferring sketch to stitch.

Similarly to Anne, Ailish was keen for members to incorporate special items such as receipts, tickets and photographs into their work. But the results couldn’t have been more different!

“I was taken aback and actually felt quite emotional by the response to the workshop. I walk away inspired by the students and I feel I want to keep reflecting back on their work!”

Ailish Henderson, Stitch Club workshop leader

Haf Weighton workshop: Textile typography

Has your stitch practice ever become a cathartic experience?

In her Stitch Club workshop, Welsh speaking artist Haf Weighton shared a technique for transferring typography onto fabric in a project that gave members a chance to reflect on their experiences of the pandemic.

The stories conveyed in a wide range of responses took Haf on what she describes as an “emotional rollercoaster”.

“In describing their work, people talk about their families and ancestors, their health concerns, the beauty of the natural environment where they reside or somewhere they have visited, their hopes, and their fears.

Often, what people have to say is so personal and moving it makes me cry.

I think this is amazing. Stitch Club has created an environment that is so warm and welcoming, so supportive and kind and non-judgemental, that people feel safe in pouring their hearts out. What a strange and wonderful phenomenon!”

Christine Peterson, Stitch Club founding member

Getting outside of your comfort zone

Emily Tull workshop: Getting lippy!

Ever told yourself, ‘That technique doesn’t appeal’ or ‘That’s not my type of thing?’ You could be missing out on something that surprises you and takes your work in entirely new and exciting directions.

Stitch Club member Linda Florio was initially intimidated by the challenge of stitching faces and she wasn’t alone.

But like so many other members, Linda found Emily Tull’s tuition in observation addictive and is planning on exploring figurative stitch in more detail.

“Being introduced to so many different artists and materials has broadened the scope of what is possible and inspired me to really look around and explore and to think more about the direction I am most interested in.

The Stitch Club has become a wonderful and fulfilling part of my creative life.”

Linda Florio, Stitch Club founding member

Susie Vickery workshop: Treasure from trash

Australian artist Susie Vickery’s workshop merged a traditional technique with modern-day themes of waste.

Susie prompted members to repurpose plastic bags which otherwise would end up as landfill and use them to create a piece based on Jacobean crewel work.

“I was very unsure about this workshop but once I got started I was amazed at how the plastic changed in appearance opening up my mind to all sorts of possibilities.”

Linda Okane, Stitch Club member

The lesson? Stay open-minded! Initial resistance could be a sign you’re about to make a truly wonderful creative breakthrough.

“I loved seeing everyone’s work and the zeal with which people appreciated being pushed out of their comfort zone.” 

Susie Vickery, Stitch Club workshop leader

Going at your own pace

Cas Holmes workshop: Momigami landscapes

Have you ever done an online course and found yourself playing catch up, only to fall so far behind that there’s almost no point in trying?

What makes Stitch Club unique is that it’s not a course. It’s a club. And that means there are no deadlines.

Stitch Club member Aine Nic Giolla Choille discovered through a Momigami workshop (in which she learned the Japanese technique of transforming found papers into flexible cloth-like form) that when it comes to creativity, the only right pace is her pace.

“My achievement this week has simply been to thoroughly enjoy SLOW momigami… spending quiet time kneading, squeezing, unrolling and stroking papers. I luxuriated in this tactile experience, handling paper both with strength and gentleness, delighted to discover and reveal the fibres within.” 

Aine Nic Giolla Choille, Stitch Club founding member

Words that were echoed by the workshop leader herself, Cas Holmes (one of the very first textile artists we ever featured on TextileArtist.org).

“What impressed me most was the way you Stitch Club members shared and supported each other.

I also want to stress that it is OK to take time over these wonderful workshop exercises from such a diverse and skilled range of practitioners! Over time, through reflection, we each build new skills and a textile language of our own.”

Cas Holmes, Stitch Club workshop leader

Merill Comeau workshop: Expressive stitch

Jane Branney learned the power of reflection and repetition from US artist Merill Comeau. Rather than rushing on before she was ready Jane chose to make multiple pieces in response to the Expressive Stitch workshop. 

Merril encouraged members to use imagery from nature and salvaged fabrics to create beautiful, unique collages.

With each new piece Jane made, she tailored the process and began to incorporate other techniques like machine embroidery to mould the guidelines to her own practice. And with each new piece her interpretation developed and strengthened.

Maybe you’ve found it challenging to find the motivation to stitch at all in this most challenging of years? That’s ok (and entirely understandable). Sometimes the only way to cope with a crisis is to hunker down and look after yourself.

Maybe you’ve felt creatively ‘stuck’. Without the focus of specific projects, guidance from inspiring teachers or interaction with your fellow stitchers, generating new and exciting ideas for your textile art can feel like an impossibility.

Our hope is that the creative lessons in this article can help you reconnect with your creativity and make stitching part of your self care. That the insights from Stitch Club members can help you discover what you want to make and how you want to make it.

Because there’s still time to change the way your ‘2020’ chapter ends!

AKA ‘Pop Goes The Stitch’, Claire is an award winning British textile artist who exhibits nationally and has work in collections in Europe, Australia and the USA. She is respected for her witty column ‘Mort’s Thoughts’ in Be Creative with Workbox magazine and is a member of the Society For Embroidered Work and the Embroiderer’s Guild.

But her ‘odd route’ to becoming an artist was not an easy one. After a childhood blessed with artistic opportunities that fuelled in her a burning creativity, Claire suffered a series of setbacks that meant she could not break through her own glass ceiling of self-doubt.

Her creative soul crawled into a corner and hid – for nearly two decades.

It was the constructive criticism – kindly meant – of her local art gallery curator, who told Claire that her hand embroidered work was too simple, that brought Claire to her knees. And yet, the pain and fury that she felt galvanised Claire to create her most truthful and complex works ever.

As she found the courage to commit to become a full-time working artist, Claire’s life changed.

Her most recent awards include the Marshwood Arts Awards 2019, John Hubbarb Prize 2019 and the Applied Arts Award chosen by ceramicist Kate Malone MBE.

Claire draws on what she sees in the world around her and her experiences so far. Though not necessarily intended as a feminist statement, her work is inspired by social media and the changes she has seen in both the world and its people since her childhood – from the #metoo movement, 100 years of suffrage, advertising, typography and everything in between.

Find out in our interview how Claire overcame the hard times to develop an illustrious career in stitch, how she integrates her love of seed stitch with a maverick application of techniques, and how she can easily devote 150 hours of embroidery to bring each of her visions to life.

An odd route to artistry

TextileArtist.org: What initially attracted you to textiles as a medium? How was your imagination captured?

Claire Mort: I have always stitched and played about with fabric from as early as I can remember. At junior school, I had the opportunity to take part in a lot of fabric-based projects, including a very complicated cat cross stitch, which my mum and I completed together.

At senior school, we had a lot of fashion shows and we created some very striking outfits for the 80s. I think one of the things that really captured my imagination was the Sensation Exhibition at the Royal Academy, particularly the works of Tracey Emin and Sarah Lucas. My mind was literally blown, and I understood that anything was possible – if you could think it, you could make it – and, better still, you could make it through cloth and thread. Being around any type of textiles medium, from wool, fabric, thread, buttons – anything really – is hypnotic.

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

My early influences were watching my mum create amazing jumpers and cardigans from balls of wool. She could knit so fast! One of my favourite places to go with mum, apart from the library, was the wool shop called Buttons and Bows. I loved the smell and the chaos of rows and rows of fabric, buttons and ribbons everywhere, with balls of wool stacked up like mountains and a sea of creativity all around. I loved the sound the scissors made as they sliced through fabric, and I admired the skills of the owner as she could answer just about any question you might have about textiles – incredible.

It was also the 70s and 80s, and ‘make do and mend’ really was the natural thing, not a fashion statement. Ninety percent of my clothes were hand me downs, so I had a very interesting eclectic wardrobe from a very young age; from my cousins who had returned from living in America to bizarre items which had belonged to my other cousins or sister. I was the youngest. The colour and design in the 70s and 80s was like a riot of rainbows going off in every direction.

My favourite things were the books and cartoons of that era; Mr Ben and Jamie and the Magic Torch influenced me greatly, as the way they are drawn is incredible.

I have been lucky enough to have amazing, strong women in my life who have been creative forces of nature, and their strength in life continues to inspire and influence me, as does their very dry humour. The strongest woman is my mum.

My life and my upbringing have most definitely informed my work, and more so than ever at this current juncture in my journey. It has been a road of ups and downs and strange twists and turns with a huge amount of serendipity. There were, of course, challenging aspects to my childhood and my adult life which I make subtle references to in my work – from loss, fear, anger and outrage, to empowerment and back again. You have to find humour in life’s journey or you would quite simply go mad. I wish this version of myself had been around when I was younger to hold my small self and tell her to hold on, it will be ok.

What was your route to becoming an artist?

I had a very odd route to becoming an artist. I loved art at school but my favourite teacher, who was teaching me about pottery, got sick and never came back. I kind of lost interest as she was incredible, and I wasn’t great at people-leaving at that point.

When I left school, I had several attempts at going to college, all of which didn’t really come to anything as my life was heading in all sorts of directions – none of them particularly great. After a traumatic event, I returned to college at 23 to study art more as a therapy for myself and I remembered the fire in my belly. I was addicted I couldn’t get enough, learn enough or do enough and gradually my confidence started to improve.

I was offered an unconditional place at university without an interview and as I was hunting for the courage to go, life side swiped me again, I had just passed my driving test and had all my work in the car from the previous six years, as I had been for an interview at a newspaper. I went out on a date, came back to the car park and – my car was gone with all my work and certificates – everything… everything… I was devastated, and it made me ill; my whole identity was tied up in that work.

I turned down my place at university on the day I was supposed to go. I ended up studying graphic design instead with a tutor who hated me, and my creative soul crawled in a corner and hid. She hid for a really long time, making work I didn’t care about, or that lacked any soul, for nearly two decades. It was like being suffocated whilst being awake. I learned many valuable lessons from this experience; my achievements are not who I am, and the words of others do not define me.

I gradually trudged through life and gave birth to my amazing son. He was poorly and went to hospital a lot so making any work was difficult – it needed to be portable work. For 15 years I tried to make space in my life and head to reignite my heart and my creative soul, but life kept getting in the way with traumas and dramas – usual life stuff.

One day, whilst, once again, feeling beaten down by experiences, I had a lightbulb moment. I decided to commit fully to being a full time working artist! I picked up a sketchbook, needle and thread, an embroidery hoop and I started to speak in stitch. It was portable; I could take it anywhere – the house, the hospital, the school, anywhere. It was like having my heart restarted. The joy and fire reconnected with that creative part of me and from that moment on I am here, trying to speak my truth, to shout it from the rooftops to encourage others to do the same, particularly if they have lost their way or believe they can’t. The truth is they can, you can, we all can and we must.

Seed stitch maverick

Tell us about your process from conception to creation

My brain thinks a lot and if I do not feed it the right things or give it an outlet, it becomes an unpleasant place to be. It’s happiest when it is full of creativity and has an avenue of expression. My mind palace is stacked like a huge art library with ideas and dreams, that in a whole lifetime or two I couldn’t possibly execute, so I try to filter the ideas and percolate them into a current project. Once I have settled on an idea – it could be something that has happened to me or someone else, a colour or a dream or someone who has influenced me – and then I begin.

I roughly know in my head where it is going and then it kind of grows. I transfer my idea to fabric and begin telling its story. I don’t sleep well and a lot of my ideas or developments come in the middle of the night. My pieces emerge organically; they kind of dictate how they want to be as the image grows, and the feeling gets imbued in the work. I never really know what the end result will be until I reach it. I do try to prep more lately, as each work can take 150 hours and beyond, so to mess it up is expensive in time.

Tell us a bit about your chosen techniques and how you use them

Now I have never been great at following rules, so I tend to be a little maverick with my application of techniques. I like to use paint, fabric and thread – sometimes together and sometimes not.

There are so many stitches you can use for embroidery and I like to see what they can do and how they can shape the work. I love seed stitch – it really is my favourite at the moment. I feel you can really push it to create things I didn’t know were possible. I love the layering and blending of thread and I work only using one or two strands which is why my pieces take so long. I admire people who work in thicker threads as they work a lot faster than me. I have tried it, but as yet I cannot master it, I get so caught up in the joy of the fine detail.

What currently inspires you?

Life and the journey. I am constantly stunned by how much I thought I knew and how little I actually know; humility is a wonderful gift. I am on a journey to return to the me before life got its hands on me and told me things that are utterly untrue. Sadly, this knowledge only comes with age. I am inspired to tell that story and the story of others.

I am constantly inspired by the plethora of talent in the textile world, it is phenomenal how many people there are creating sublime pieces of work. Instagram is an incredible place with an extraordinary community of textile artists. It leaves me speechless on a daily basis.

I am inspired by people, good and bad, and the world we live in and these crazy times. I am also moved by the female journey from child to menopause and beyond.

More truthful, complex works

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

This is really tricky as each piece of work has so much in it and means so much. I guess it would have to be ‘Your body belongs to you’. It was sort of just as the #metoo movement began to rumble and I felt enraged. How many times had I talked with women and men who had been touched, or worse, inappropriately? So many stories of fear, shame and confusion.

How is it possible that almost every woman I have ever met has had some inappropriate contact or verbal abuse? Why are women, in particular, still afraid? This isn’t about feminism – it’s about freedom and safety, a basic human right.

So, I made this piece and invested my soul into it. This ended up being made into three pieces, as I sold the first one. The gift of selling the first one was never about the money – it was about the ‘why’. Why this person bought this piece and what it means to them. How this piece sits by their bed and empowers them every day. I gifted them the second in this series as I was so moved by their ‘why’ and their journey. This is why I make the work I do.

I feel compelled every day to make these works, to touch one person somewhere who has felt the things I have felt and for them to know it’s not just them. To connect the dots between us all, to be real, to be authentic and to speak our truth – a collective truth that can get lost in social media or what we believe about others living their best lives. This piece reminds me that for nearly 20 years I did myself a disservice by not believing in myself and my work, and today I do, and if only one person appreciates that, then I have been a success, as my work has touched them – and that is enough.

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

I was so scared when I began stitching, I could hear the words of people who laughed at me or said it wasn’t art or that it wasn’t good enough. So, I was super worried and full of self-doubt. I loved doing it, so I continued.

I took a piece to be framed at a local gallery where the woman is amazing, and I timidly showed her my work. She liked it but said it needed work – it was a bit simple, or words to that effect. She was nice and I knew she was trying not to be hurtful. But still, I got back into the car and cried; I was crushed. I mooched about for a week and kicked myself up the bum. She was right – because I was nervous, I was holding back and not giving it my all. It was like I had a plaster ripped off and I began creating more truthful complex works.

My journey from that point has been absolutely amazing – beyond my wildest dreams. I am a very proud member of the Society For Embroidered Work, I am a columnist for Be Creative with Workbox, and I write a monthly article called Mort’s Thoughts, which is my meandering thoughts on being a textile artist and my Miranda-type life.

I was also lucky enough to interview Fiancé Knowles aka Danielle Clough recently – so chuffed!

I have exhibited all over the place including in London, at the Thelma Hulbert Gallery and Bridport Arts Centre. I was a finalist in the National Needlecraft Awards and I recently won the Marshwood Vale Applied Arts Award chosen by Kate Malone MBE – I was so excited I nearly wet myself. My work is in collections all over the world and I continue to pinch myself as I still can’t quite believe it.

I have so many plans for future projects and I continue to learn and be challenged every day. The thing with textile art is there is no end, as the medium itself is constantly evolving in your hands. I want to develop my skills further and stretch myself with more demanding artworks. I want to develop this story into a greater universal story which is more connected. I am so lucky to be able to do the job I love every single day.

What advice would you give to an aspiring textile artist?

Make every day, and tell your inner critic to shut up! Create from your soul and speak your truth in that – don’t just make what you think might sell.

Never let anyone tell you you are not good enough. Anyone can be an artist; it is not some elite club that only special people belong to. Believe in yourself and trust the journey – it’s a long one. There is no right way of making stuff or right way of getting ‘there’, wherever we think ‘there’ is.

You are enough, your creativity is enough. Trust yourself. Be brave, be tenacious and be creative from your heart.

For more information visit www.clairemortartist.com and Claire’s Instagram

Do you feel inspired by Claire’s story? Let us know in the comments below.

In our interview with the artist, she talks about how observation of human beings influences her work and how she feels that being too specific about categorising her work places boundaries on her artistic process.

Softness, fragility and flexibility

TextileArtist.org: What initially captured your imagination about textile art?

Mawra Tahreem: Textile art is pleasing to me because of its tactile nature, softness, fragility and flexibility. It can be used in so many ways either as a flat surface or in the form of sculpture. I am interested in all types of art, but my interest in textiles increased and increased, especially as I explored works by Ayesha Khalid , Do ho Suh, Noriko Ambe and Faig Ahmed.

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

Looking back I’ve always been around drawing tools, colours, fabrics and sewing since my childhood. My mother would sew traditional clothes for me and my doll, I would steal my father’s technical drawing tools from his cupboard to draw and my mother assigned me little projects with paper pulp, clay and beads. This was when my love for textile art began. My mother used to sew a lot of dresses for me and embellished them with embroidery, beads, ribbons & sea shells, so I started playing with all the leftover scraps to make accessories.

I started sewing at 14 and soon after began to design my own clothes in ethnic styles with various patch work. As well as making clothes, I painted, drew and made stuffed sculptures. I was just producing all the time and if I wasn’t making I was thinking about it or going to the internet to look for inspiration.

What was your route to becoming an artist?

I think of art as a story which never ends – we can all be inspired by everything around us in every moment. It’s a never-ending chain… it’s magical. Art education and studio practice alone cannot make us into artists – to be an artist we need a specific type of imagination and thought process.

I grew up in Pakistan and studied BFA (Honors) in Textile Design from Institute of Art & Design, GCUF. I studied painting, sculpture, calligraphy, graphics and interior design as minors and textile as my major. I learned some essential techniques and concepts and explored multiple mediums which gave me the opportunity to create work according to my desires. It also opened me up to what is achievable through textiles – it doesn’t just have to be functional, and it can be used in any art form.

Multiple mediums and technique

What is your chosen medium and what are your techniques?

I find pleasure in multiple mediums and techniques. I have done work in paintings, wire sculptures, weaving, tapestry, typography, marbling, quilting, screen printing, origami etc. I like to apply my knowledge in a multidisciplinary context, be it in making an art piece or applying it in interior spaces as an installation.

My recent work is an exploration and representation of organic forms which I create through “marbling”. The themes are based on perceptions, emotions, thoughts and experiments. When marbling I’m interested in observing the power of small amounts of air, which changes the growing shapes. These growing shapes become an entity in themselves. I generally use pure water base with acrylic paints and marbling inks. After marbling, I transform these patterns on fabric through hand embroidery, machine embroidery and knitting. I use silk, cotton and net for marbling and scrim fabric for embroidery. I diffuse and shred the fabric before moving on to the embroidery stage.

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

Contemporary art is such a vast term, it doesn’t really have any boundaries. So, I can not place my work within these borders.

Tell us a bit about your process and what environment you like to work in?

My process begins with a lot of thinking which in turn transfers into research, sketching, sampling with different mediums and techniques. Then I finalize some of the best developments and then turn this into the final piece.

Most importantly, I need silence to concentrate on my work. Because of this I used to only work at night but now I tend to work anytime I want.

Human uniqueness

Do you use a sketchbook?
Yes sure, I use a sketchbook and journal for writing down my ideas.

What currently inspires you and which other artists do you admire and why?

I always keenly observe human beings and believe that every person is unique. The elements of our uniqueness are our perceptions, thoughts, expressions, behaviors, patterns – all of these things make us what we are. In the future I want to do work on human behavior. I also have a great love for ethnic culture, which I’d also like to explore.

Artists I personally like are Do ho Suh and Peter Gentenaar. Do Ho Suh’s architectural installations always appeal me. Netherlands based paper sculptor, the great Peter Gentenaar’s floating paper sculptures have inspired me a lot. His sculptures start out as two-dimensional colored sheets of pulp; the waves and textures are caused by pulp drying and shrinking in harmony. The simple and natural drying processes develop, over time, the pieces’ unique colors, textures and forms; these characteristics, ultimately lead the final outcome to resemble naturally-occurring forms. I have a great wish that I could do work in his Royal Dutch Paper Factory.

What advice would you give to an aspiring textile artist?
I don’t feel that at this stage I can give advice to anyone. Pablo Picasso says:

“Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once we grow up.”

So don’t be afraid to experiment!

Tools, workshops and exhibitions

Can you recommend 3 or 4 books for textile artists?

Usually, I do research on the internet, so I have little knowledge of books. There are however few books which I recommend.

“Textiles” written by Mary Schoeser  contains the art of textiles through the ages.

The second book is for weavers, “Warp & Weft” by Jessica Hemmings .

Marbled Paper: Its History, Techniques, and Patterns . This book explores the power of colors on water surface.

“Stitch & Structure” by Jean Draper  is a fresh approach to two-dimensional and three-dimensional textile art.

And the last one is not related to textile art but is a novel associated with miniature artists, “My Name is Red” by Orhan Pamuk . It is a story of the Ottoman era’s miniature artists.

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

Of course without my mind I am nothing.

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

I am available on my Facebook page or website for talks. Hopefully in coming months I will upload a few videos and write some blog posts about my work on my website.

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

My work will come to light in 2015. Anything that is coming up goes on my website or Facebook, if anyone wants to see what I am up to.

For more information please visit: www.mawratahreem51.wix.com/mawrat

If you’ve enjoyed this interview with Mawra let us know by leaving a comment below

Digital textile design is actually a second career for Evelin, as she spent 10 years working in advertising before going on to train at Central St Martins College of Art in London. Evelin’s graphic design background means that her approach to stitch and craft is analytical and seeks to challenge the preconceptions of traditional embroidery. To achieve this, she employs typography, grid systems and contemporary design techniques. Although she doesn’t consider herself to be a textile design artist, her illustrated embroideries have enjoyed great acclaim, having been commissioned by The New York Times, WIRED and The Guardian.

Craft and embroidery in the context of graphic design and typography

TextileArtist.org: What initially captured your imagination about graphic art and contemporary textile design? 

Evelin Kasikov: I first became aware of of ‘graphic art’ during my BA degree at the Estonian Academy of Arts. It was a fine art course with a focus on printmaking. But there was also a small unit called something like ‘applied graphic art’. We had briefs to design posters, set type on letterpress and come up with book layouts.

I probably didn’t think of it as ‘graphic design’ at the time but I loved it much more than etchings and dry-points! Then I won a competition for stamp design, it felt like a big achievement for a student, to have work commissioned and published. I think this first commission made me realise that I could be a graphic designer

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

It’s hard to say if my upbringing has influenced my work, neither of my parents are artists. But I have drawn as long as I can remember.

What was your route to becoming an artist? (Formal training or another pathway?)

I did a Fine Art graphics BA at the Estonian Academy of Art, but after graduating I started working as a graphic designer in advertising, which mid-nineties was really exciting and new area to get into. After ten years I quit my job and moved to London to study for masters degree at Central Saint Martins. I graduated from MA Communication Design course in 2008. There I focused on personal work and got really excited about the idea of craft and embroidery in the context of graphic design and typography.

The meditative process of making

Tell us about your chosen techniques

I use traditional cross-stitch technique but in a contemporary textile design context. I enjoy combining mathematical precision with handmade craft. A big part of a project is preparing the design in Adobe Illustrator.
I take great pleasure in working out the grid and the integral structure of the piece. Nothing is random. For instance I recently did two wall installations for an ad agency, two different designs but both based on 25mm square grid unit. For a 3 x 5m wall this is a high degree of accuracy.

How do graphic design and craft cross over in your work? How does one inform the other?

I came to craft from graphic design background. The idea of CMYK stitching came up in my mind not because I love cross-stitch, but because I am a graphic designer and I know how printing process works. I only started using cross-stitch because it suited my idea of visualising colour structure. What I love most about craft is the slow, meditative process of making. Stitching can be a tedious process but I don’t mind routine.

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

I define my work first of all as typographic illustration. It can take many forms, from super big wall art to an editorial illustration. I love to work to a brief and work with clients. I never thought of myself as an artist or designer maker. It’s still graphic design to me, stitching is just another way of image-making.

Typographic experiments

Tell us a bit about your process and what environment you like to work in?

I don’t have lots of equipment, only my Macbook, digital textile design software, Intuos pen tablet and a printer. These are my tools to design a piece. Then I have my papers, threads, toolbox, bookbinding frame… these are my tools to make the piece. My live-work space is the same. I live in South East of London, in Greenwich. I am well aware that I’m missing out a lot because I’m not part of a studio environment. But, commuting in London can easily take up several hours in a day and working from home is just more efficient for me right now.

What currently inspires you and which other artists do you admire and why?

Canadian illustrator Marian Bantjes is a huge inspiration for me, not in terms of style, my work is very different from hers. But, she made a major career change and managed to turn her personal work into commercial success. To be able to make a living doing what I love – that’s what I hope to achieve. It is encouraging to know that this is possible.

Tell us about a piece of work you have fond memories of and why?

It’s a stitched page from my MA sketchbook. As you can see, at the time I had no idea what I was doing. I knew I loved the tactile side of design: papers, print finishes and so on. I did some typographic experiments which included craft, like a crocheted poster. But I had no idea where this could go or how to build an MA project on these ideas. My tutors were all very supportive of the idea to use embroidery in graphic design context. Looking back now, what started out as a clumsy sketchbook experiment has grown into something that looks almost like a job.

A radical change

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

My graphic stitching work started as an academic project without any idea how it could fit into industry. My first commercial commission was a stitched lettering illustration for The New York Times Magazine. I love editorial illustration and I hope to get more commissions in that area. In college I was not confident about my typographic skills but now I feel like custom lettering is the area that I’m most excited about.

Recently I also had an opportunity to work on a couple of large scale installations and I really enjoyed the challenge. In future, it would be great to get my hands on a variety of projects from fashion to product design and book covers. I love book design and I would also love to work on bespoke/experimental book projects which challenge the form of the book.

Do people commission your work? If so, how do you go about meeting their requirements?

Yes, I’m lucky to have had quite a few commissions. It has not been difficult to meet clients requirements. Commissioners usually approach me because they already like my work and the design process feels more like a collaboration. Also, before moving to London I worked in advertising in Estonia for almost ten years, so I have quite a bit of professional experience under my belt.

When I graduated from St Martins in 2008, I didn’t see any value in my previous commercial experience. My work changed radically during my MA and handmade illustration was just completely new area to me. But when I started getting commissions, I realised that the ability to work to a brief, to work with ideas really quickly, to cope with tight deadlines and generally ‘get things done’ are very useful skills.