It’s no exaggeration to say that Katherine Diuguid has built a life around stitch. Even as a young girl, she can’t remember a time before she had a needle of some sort to hand.

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

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

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

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

From passion to process

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Curious about colour

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

On the record

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Medieval matters

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

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

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

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

Following the thread

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The way forward

Would you share one or two tips for embroiderers?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

What direction might your work take in the future?

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

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

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

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

Key takeaways

Katherine has worked on single commissions and in series, exploring a subject or a fascination from all angles over time, and there’s lots we can learn from her process.

• Start simple (and keep it simple!). Katherine works her artistic practice into her life by keeping something to hand (for instance, in her bag) to stitch or sketch. 

• Looking for inspiration? Katherine’s ‘Weeds: Longing to Belong’ series started with a feeling, which led her to work with roadside flora as a metaphor for human belonging. Is there an aspect of your life – thoughts, feelings, family connections or history – that you could explore?

• Documenting her work is important to Katherine, as it forces her to consider her process and her influences more deliberately. What might you discover by trying this? You could document your progress online simply using photographs, or write notes or thoughts about your progress in a simple diary or sketchbook. 

• Although it’s not always accessible to all, if you do have the opportunity, Katherine strongly recommends visiting exhibitions and viewing artworks firsthand. Why not set up a visit with a friend, or make an artist’s date for yourself, and spend an inspiring afternoon with some art?

• Most of all, remember to have fun. Enjoy the journey – play, experiment and sample (lots!) See where your passions lead you. Your aims might change, but your efforts will never be wasted, says Katherine.

Katherine Diuguid is a studio artist and teacher specialising in hand embroidery based in North Carolina, USA. She has a Masters in Art and Design specialising in Fibers and Surface Design from North Carolina State University (2011). Katherine has been awarded artist residencies at the North Carolina Museum of Art (2017) and Penland School of Crafts (2018, 2019). In addition to teaching, she exhibits her work and has completed several commissions, including a sampler based on the Burgo de Osma Altarpiece for the Art Institute of Chicago.  

Artist website: katdiuguid.thinkific.com

Instagram: @katdiuguid

Katherine’s love of colour lead her to researching its theory. Richard McVetis is another artist who examines the process of embroidery, as is Claire de Waard, whose take on traditional methods challenges ideas of how we define luxury and beauty.

When did you first fall in love with sewing or embroidery? Let us know how your enthusiasm (or aversion!) became a passion for textile art.

Next time you pick up a needle and thread, take a moment to reflect. Consider how the simple act of stitching connects us with people, places and traditions throughout history across the world. For thousands of years, humans have sewn, embroidered and embellished cloth, the latter often extravagantly employed in order to denote power, wealth or status.

Today, traditional techniques, such as goldwork or crewel work are the embodiment of history and tradition. But they are far from being relics of the past. Stitching – the simple act of needlework whether for practical or creative outcomes – well, this still belongs to everyone.

Step forward Tracy A Franklin, who has managed to create a multifaceted career in hand stitch, and whose name in the UK is synonymous with the art of traditional embroidery.

Tracy grew up with a passion for embroidery and dressmaking, gleaned from both her mum and her grandmother. She established an embroidery studio in Durham in northeast England in the early 2000s, since when she’s taught thousands of embroidery enthusiasts the joys and rewards of creating with needle and thread.

Tracy’s expertise is grounded in traditional techniques such as crewel work, silk shading, goldwork and whitework amongst others, and she’s taught embroidery both online and in person for institutions including the Royal School of Needlework and City and Guilds, as well as offering her own courses.

While her passion for tradition remains at the heart of her practice (she is also a conservator and restorer of embroidery) Tracy’s creative curiosity remains unfettered. Over the years, her interest in the textile arts has grown: she even explores how traditional and contemporary approaches to embroidery intersect in three books she’s written (see Tracy’s bio, below).

Increasingly, what Tracy finds most fascinating is exploring one small aspect of embroidery – whether it’s one stitch or one technique – fully and without limits. It’s a rewarding combination of playful experimentation and learning from tradition – one we’re sure you’ll be fascinated to read more about.

Life stitch by stitch

TextileArtist.org: Can you describe your studio for us, and share a little of what goes on there?

Tracy A Franklin: I became freelance in October 2001 and initially worked from my parent’s house, but it became apparent I needed some dedicated space to work professionally.

I was pointed in the direction of Durham City Arts in 2003, who at the time managed Fowlers Yard in Durham City. I viewed some of the empty studios that were available and applied for No.3. The buildings themselves have been various things – garages, a youth hall – but had been renovated as a millennium project destined to be creative workspaces.

It is one of the best things in my life to have a studio in the city centre. There’s a core of art professionals that have been here for more than 10 years.

My studio has a large downstairs floor space where I teach, and an open mezzanine upstairs, where I have my desk, stock and paperwork. When I got my studio space, I also received an arts grant to furnish it and added extra lighting and heating too.

There’s quite a lot of light from the front glass double doorway and the two back windows, which overlook the River Wear. Fowlers Yard is a very quirky street built on a slight incline, and on a curved road, with all the studios being different sizes.

Inside the studio, I have shelving space for books, threads, fabrics, pigeonholes of wool, and ring frames hanging from hooks from underneath the mezzanine floor.

How would you describe your embroidery practice?

I still love traditional techniques, whether it is crewel work, silk shading, goldwork, or whitework. What I have increasingly found more fascinating is exploring one small aspect, whether it is one stitch, or one technique, fully and without limits. This could be about scale, colour, materials used, or experimenting with the technique itself.

I find the process more interesting than a finished piece, and I would rather create many explorative samples than work a finished design. My book, Crewel Work (2010) was based on that idea.

Tell us about teaching, and what you find rewarding about being a tutor?

I teach mainly the Certificate and Diploma courses for the Royal School of Needlework (RSN). I have taught on these courses for over 20 years, starting at Hampton Court, where the RSN is based, progressing to teaching in my studio, and now online to an international audience since 2020. I’ve also taught this course overseas in the USA.

I find that I learn so much when teaching, as I spend a lot of time working with students and their ideas. My knowledge increases, and I feel confident in solving issues and problems.

Likewise, I taught City & Guilds for 10 years, which contrasted with the Royal School of Needlework teaching. I found it to be so much more contemporary, explorative, and open to interpretation. Whereas the RSN course is much more about perfection, and perhaps working one technique one way to fit a design, which is mounted and finished. 

I enjoy teaching both ways but would love to teach a longer course in learning technique in various ways and building an archive of sampled ideas.

I have been head Broderer at Durham Cathedral for over 10 years now. The Broderer group existed before I came along, but I was naturally interested in it as an embroiderer coming from Durham. I eventually took over managing the group, where we work on big commissions, mostly designed by me, and on repairs, and some conservation of some of the vestments and altar cloths that are still in use. We are a small team of volunteers and meet about once a fortnight in the Broderers’ room in the Chapter office.

Self starter

Can you tell us about the different types of clients you’ve worked for?

I do very little commission work, mainly because I work at the Cathedral and have my fill of it there, but I do have a commission in the pipeline in the initial stages to design and work an altar cloth for a church.

I’m also technical adviser for a tapestry collection for a Methodist chapel in Weardale in County Durham, which is being converted into a museum and exhibition space. The panels for the tapestry are mainly about the history of Methodism, with some panels including local history. They are being worked by volunteers interested in stitching a panel, which includes some of my students.

Can you tell us more about the realities of working for yourself, and what a typical week might look like?

As an embroiderer, I mainly teach, which I love to do. Before Covid, I was teaching day to day in my studio but since Covid, I now teach online using a camera share to with a bigger international audience. 

I think had Covid not happened, I would still be teaching in my studio but we were almost forced to adapt to a new way of working. Online teaching is very different, and I have learnt more about technique because of it, so my diary is now part online teaching, part onsite teaching. 

I plan my diary so that I don’t clash with myself. A typical week is Monday teaching or Durham Cathedral; Tuesday studio teaching; Wednesday Zoom teaching; Thursday studio teaching or admin; Friday Zoom teaching or admin; Saturday morning studio teaching, and sometimes Saturday afternoons I am on Zoom too. Sunday off!

It is a kind of structure I keep to, but it is not the same pattern every week. Sometimes I plan ‘blank’ days too.

Taking on tradition

What would you say to a complete beginner who wants to try some of the more traditional techniques, such as whitework, goldwork, crewelwork or silk shading?

I think it’s possible for any beginner to explore any technique. The way the Royal School of Needlework approaches them is only one way. There are many skilled embroiderers, who have never trained but have natural flare, or textile artists who perfect their own version of techniques.

I think all techniques have many approaches, and anyone who wants to learn or begin should take inspiration from those who they are inspired by. Everyone has their own rules on perfectionism but what is more important is to enjoy and learn, and feel satisfied by your own creativity, and build on that.

What do you think about ‘the rules’ when it comes to embroidery? What’s your approach?

I think there are some rules to traditional techniques in embroidery, such as the design, the materials and the techniques employed, otherwise, those traditional techniques, along with their history, would not have their unique qualities.

However, I have increasingly become interested in testing some of the techniques with a more contemporary outcome, such as using different materials, or a different scale, or colour, or manipulating the technique itself.

For example, French knots are normally one wrap around the needle and are normally in one colour in a cluster. However, French knots can be wrapped more than once, with different threads and fibres mixed in the needle. They can be clustered, spread, scattered, or patterned. They can be worked tight or loose, big to small, shaded in colour or size or both, and this is only one stitch! The same thoughts can be applied to all embroidery techniques.

What are some of the misconceptions that people have about embroidery?

From a non-embroiderer or a non-creative, I probably (wrongly) assume that they think I am a kit-based embroiderer, and I always feel I need to justify embroidery as an art form, which is much more than a kit-based hobby.

Not that there’s anything wrong with embroidery kits, or having it as a hobby pastime, as I have done both. But for myself as a professional, I am an embroiderer, designer, artist and teacher and I strive to be the best I can be in all areas.

I admire many textile artists and embroiderers who have a creative platform and exhibit their work. I admire and follow those who use stitch as a medium for their art as much as I do for artists who paint, print, or sculpt.

Inspiration to hand

As well as your professional interest in embroidery, tell us about your own creative practice?

There are, perhaps, two sides when it comes to myself as an embroiderer. The first is my teaching, which is usually traditional techniques, worked to a brief with traditional standards but, as time goes on, I’ve become more creative with the knowledge I have gained.

The other side is my own interests and study, which includes exploring techniques to the max alongside my love of mixed media, freestyle machine embroidery, dyeing, printing, and creating a lot of samples.

I have been on quite a few textile artist workshops including Gwen Hedley, Alice Fox, James Hunting, Francis Pickering, Alison King, Amanda Clayton, Gillian Cooper, to name a few, and have loved learning from them all. I enjoy combining my own ideas with theirs.

How do you stay motivated and inspired in your practice?

I am never not inspired or motivated. I just lack time! I collect, in various ways, creating folders on my computer, downloading and saving ideas using Pinterest, so I have a store of inspiration I can go to.

I equally collect things, which can be anything, such as postcards, papers, fabric samples, scraps, random things off the street, charity shop hoards, etc. For example, I collect and save the plastic straws out of soap dispensers, and cleaning products. I have a drawer full now and have used them for teaching. 

My advice is to collect and store information, whether it’s a folder on your computer, objects in a jar or box, so that when there is time, all inspiration is there to be tapped into – and be inspired!

Do you work with what’s to hand, or have specific tools or materials you like to use?

I work both in a frame and in hand. For certain techniques such as silk shading and goldwork, a frame is required for tension and to keep the fabric flat. I prefer a square frame, and there are many on the market, especially from Etsy. Sometimes I work in hand: much of the whitework was worked in hand, but I needed a frame for tension for some of the techniques.

Needle-wise, I tend to use Crewel embroidery needles most of the time, also Tapestry and Chenille needles. I love working on linen the most – the older the better! I buy linen from vintage sales and various other places.

I quite often sample on double medium weight calico. It’s not so expensive, it’s a natural colour, versatile, and it works well for crewel work, silk shading, and goldwork techniques alike.

What’s the biggest challenge you face in your practice?

Most of my challenges are about lack of time and for that, I try to plan my diary a year ahead, so I make sure I have some time for creativity such as ‘blank’ days.

On the creative front, I now always plan out any design I’m working on, or planning for my students. I include threads and materials to be used, colour plans, and order of work. I try to teach my students this too.

I think it’s important to sample and get an understanding of how something may work. It only needs to be enough to know the outcome. Not everyone wants to sample, and some make a whole study of it, which I have respect for!

My advice is to plan your design well and sample your ideas, as it may save a lot of time with a better outcome.

Taking stitch further

Can you tell us about a favourite piece of work or project?

It would be both work I have managed at Durham Cathedral with the Broderers as my team, and my own work. At Durham Cathedral, I’ve designed and managed quite a few projects, and I’m proud of them all, not least the dividing of projects, so that all the Broderers have a part in their development. I am keen we work as a team and together using the strengths of each Broderer. Nothing works without issues but, again, it’s all in the planning.

For myself, as I’ve mentioned, I love to experiment with technique and work on one small aspect fully. There are two pieces that come to mind. One is my Linear Goldwork Sampler, and the other is the Green Herringbone Stitch Sampler.

The Linear Goldwork Sampler was worked pretty much throughout with the same threads, and technique of couching. However, I explored line, curved lines, straight lines, diagonal lines, stepped lines, zig-zag lines, spirals and vermicelli, the continuous line. Not only that, it was about the spaces created between the lines, and the visual that gives.

For the Green Herringbone Stitch Sampler, my aim here was to create a sampler for all embroidery stitches inspired by teaching Level 3 City & Guilds. I chose to work with green only so that the sampler had a theme and no other reason. 

I worked with different thread types such as stranded cotton, Coton á Broder and crewel wool to name a few, and much of it was in my personal stash using different textures of thread and fibre. 

The aim for City & Guilds students was to explore the possibilities of each stitch in terms of threads and materials used, scale, and manipulating the stitch, rather than working it one standard way. Students did just that, but occasionally a student would really express that stitch and that is what I am drawn to the most.

So, my Green Herringbone Stitch Sampler worked on linen is an expression of that stitch, working it repetitively to give an intense overview rather than a lot of scattered unconnected samples. With my sampler, I wanted to provide movement and, much like the couched Linear Goldwork Sampler, it was about the areas in between the stitches – the voids as much as the stitch itself – that makes the sampler work for me.  The sample is still on a frame unfinished, with its threads intact, but I kind of like that.

Taking stock

What aspects of your career do you appreciate most?

I love talking with others and sharing my knowledge. I love having intense conversations with other textile artists and embroiderers about their work, or mine, or what we appreciate about others’ work, or the bazaar things we do or collect for future works, and what inspires us.

I also relish when a student takes an idea or technique to a level that is beyond me, and when students in my studio spend time looking at each other’s work in appreciation, as a source of inspiration.

I like the fact that embroidery and textile arts, provide a social, artistic, friendly creative environment.

You’ve established your name over years of hard work. What changes have you noticed in the worlds of embroidery and art textiles during that time, if any?

I have probably grown with those changes and developed myself. I am always learning, and not exempt from being a student myself. I still have loads to learn about traditional technique, and when I teach, I am often teaching myself. Teaching technique is a learning process for me as I learn how better to explain it to others in the future.

I think the world of embroidery and textile art has developed with the help of social media. It is more accessible, easier to tap into and learn from. I feel I am a very small part of it as there are some incredible embroidery artists and textile artists alike.

There is so much to connect with, be inspired by, and learn from. I draw such a lot of inspiration from many textile artists.

What advice would you give to your younger self?

Learn from everybody, and everything.

As for the future, what are your goals and hopes?

I’m lucky to have a lot of work, and many students who want to continually learn from me. However, I have learnt to create time and space for myself to practise and progress my own skills – sometimes through stitching and sometimes through planning.

I would love to develop an archive of samples and ideas, as well as a teaching programme to go along with it, which I have already planned out. I love the ethos of the Needlework Development Scheme and what it offered. I would hope my own samples will be part of an archive for future study as well as those who study and learn alongside me.

Key takeaways

Tracy has taught thousands of keen embroiderers – here are her top tips for getting started on a new piece of work.

• Tracy keeps her inspiration close to hand. Why not follow her lead? Create folders of images on your computer or curate a Pinterest board. Collect objects that catch your eye, so you always have a stash of inspiring finds to hand.

• Constraints can be liberating! Start with one simple stitch and explore the possibilities – can you scale it up? Or combine different threads in your needle? Perhaps play with an alternative – use wire instead of thread, or paper instead of fabric? Limit your technique palette but see how creative you can be with your materials.

• Sample, sample sample! These days Tracy plans her work by first gathering her materials and then completing a quick sample of the design or idea she has in mind. It saves time in the long run, and she’s building a reference library of samples she can revisit time and time again.

• Tracy finds inspiration in talking to other textile enthusiasts. These days you can connect online as well as in person, so don’t be afraid to reach out and contribute to the conversation. Check out gallery or artist talks online or in person. Keep asking questions and start sharing – there’s a world of like-minds out there.

Tracy A Franklin founded her studio in Fowlers Yard, Durham in northeast England in 2003, where she works as a designer, embroiderer, tutor, conservator, restorer and author specialising in traditional embroidery. She originally studied garment construction, before taking a City & Guilds in Embroidery. She completed the Royal School of Needlework’s three-year apprenticeship in 1994, going on to teach at the School for seven years, before returning to Durham and launching her freelance career in 2001.

Tracy continues to teach the northeast branch of the RSN course, alongside offering her own courses. She founded an independent City & Guilds centre STITCHBUSINESS in 2006, teaching City & Guilds Design and Embroidery up to level 3 alongside Julia Triston. She became Head Broderer at Durham Cathedral in 2007. Tracy has written three books on embroidery: New Ideas in Goldwork (Batsford, 2002), Contemporary Whitework (Batsford, 2005) and Crewel Work, self-published in 2010.

Artist website: tracyafranklin.com

Instagram: @tracyafranklin

Facebook: facebook.com/Tracy.A.Franklin.Embroiderer.page

Tracy shares her insight into the creativity that flows from traditional hand embroidery – read about 11 contemporary textile artists who exploit the impact of simple hand stitch in their work.

What’s your favourite stitch technique? Do you stick with tradition or prefer to break the rules? Let us know in the comments below.

Have you ever thought about transforming your passion into your profession? Well, that‘s exactly what Hannah Mansfield has done.

Hannah, better known as The Perpetual Maker, set up on her own as a full-time designer and maker, after falling in love with embroidery at university. Her specialism? Exquisite creative stitch that’s breaking the mould as much as creating perfection. 

Since launching her career, Hannah has been on a journey of discovery, taking traditional techniques such as goldwork to new dimensions – and gaining recognition along the way.

She loves her life as a maker so much she decided to share her passion, and now teaches in person and online, as well as stocking her designs and kits on her website.

Hannah tells us why one of her most striking works is also her most personal, and how she aims to be a thoroughly modern maker, one that’s unafraid to take creative risks; all the while honing her craft.

What’s in a name?

TextileArtist.org: The Perpetual Maker is an intriguing name, how did it come about?

I always had a creative project on the go when I was growing up, and would work on them whenever I got the chance, even on holiday or while visiting relatives. I became known in my family for always making something.

When it came to my business, I wanted a name that conveyed that I’ve always made things, and always will and that creativity is integral to my life. I felt that the word ‘perpetual’ was a more interesting way to say forever – and followed by ‘maker’ it made the perfect description of me.

How did you discover embroidery?

Textiles and embroidery constantly featured in my list of projects. I started out by making kits and following other embroiderers’ designs. I decided to specialise in embroidery during university when I became more aware of organisations and companies such as Hand & Lock, The Royal School of Needlework and Lesage. I found their creations inspirational.

I was also intrigued by some of the more specialist embroidery techniques used by these ateliers, such as goldwork, tambour beading and monogramming, and I wanted to be able to use these techniques myself.

I love embroidery because it’s such a calming pursuit. Each stitch has to be considered. I like the control you have with it. It’s entirely up to you how you make each stitch, which means nothing is left to chance.

It’s also very hard to ruin an embroidery because you can always unpick your stitches which, when most embroideries take many hours of work, is very forgiving.

Tell us about the techniques you love?

The traditional embroidery techniques I use most are goldwork and tambour beading. I was inspired to learn goldwork after a studio tour of Hand & Lock. The visit included a talk on goldwork, and the technique really appealed to me because it felt so different to any other form of embroidery. I found the specialist threads and wires fascinating and loved the use of padding to create raised embroidery.

I learned tambour beading as a way to speed up applying beads and sequins, as I wanted to work more with these materials. It also interested me because it’s a technique frequently used in haute couture embroidery, and I wanted to be able to achieve this high standard of embroidery.

How did you set about learning them?

I took day classes in goldwork and tambour beading at Hand & Lock, The Royal School of Needlework, and with Lesley Coidan (a tambour embroiderer).

I also think I learned a lot from my creative exploits while growing up. Even though I was just embroidering fun projects, I got a lot of practice. This gave me a basis I could build on when it came to more advanced embroidery techniques.

Both tambour beading and goldwork really suit my style of embroidery. I’ve always been a very neat embroiderer, and both techniques require precision.

I enjoy using these techniques to create interesting textures and details within my embroidery. There’s a great variety of different goldwork wires, beads and sequins, and I love having this range of materials to make beautiful embroideries with.

Back to nature

Are there any recurring themes in your work?

I often work to a theme, one of my favourites being the seasons of the year. For me, flowers and plants are so characteristic of each season, and I enjoy creating series of work based on flowers that feature in each. 

I’ve also themed embroidery around flowers from a particular country, such as native British wildflowers or flora that’s characteristic of a country I love, such as Italy.

Embroidery takes much effort and many hours to create so I feel like it’s a fitting tribute to something as precious as nature.

I’m trying to highlight and celebrate the beauty of nature through my embroidery. For instance, when I feature wildflowers in my designs, I aim to draw attention to the value and beauty of these special plants, especially in the context of climate change.

What preparation and research do you do?

I always start with lots of drawing. If it’s a large or very detailed design, I’ll make a few small rough sketches to establish the layout. Then I’ll make some detailed studies of my subject matter. I scan and trace these drawings using Illustrator so that I have a digital copy. Finally, I combine these with other drawings to create the design.

I usually draw from my own photos of flowers and insects taken in my garden. I’m always on the lookout for interesting plants to feature in my work.

I find organic shapes in nature much more interesting to embroider, and I love the intricate details and subtle textures of petals, which are so exciting to interpret with embroidery. And there are also so many fascinating insects that are such brilliant shapes and colours.

Can you tell us about some of your commissions?

At the moment I’m doing a lot of tambour beading but before this I worked on two commissions. The first was a cushion embroidered with the leaves of native British trees in pearl cotton thread. This is one of my favourite threads, due to the way it reflects the light beautifully when laid in different directions.

I used canvas work stitches to create interesting textures and patterns within each leaf. Canvas work is normally embroidered onto open weave fabric but for this project, I used an upholstery fabric, which meant I had to draw grids on the fabric to use as a guide.

The other commission was a hand embroidered bouquet for my sister’s wedding. It took me months to create and was made up of 3D flowers in goldwork embroidery, including anemones, cosmos and poppy flowers.

The process of making 3D flowers from goldwork involves many different stages, from making a flat embroidery of all the individual petals, to constructing them into flowers. It was embroidered with silver plated goldwork wires, and to match the wedding’s colour theme, I included details in shades of soft sage green. On the wedding day I added real eucalyptus foliage and tied it up with a hand embroidered ribbon.

Inspired thinking

Where did the idea come from to work with goldwork in a more sculptural form?

Initially, it was an experiment. When I was newly self-employed I didn’t have a full work schedule so I had time to try out ideas. I wanted to create something striking and extravagant and to use goldwork in a really different way.

The idea was inspired by the Dutch Masters’ still life paintings and the work of the photographer Jamie Beck, who arranges and photographs beautiful floral arrangements. I wanted to create my own everlasting floral still life with embroidery. 

In my work, I used goldwork wires to try to mimic the delicacy of flowers and portray the textures and patterns within their petals. Something quite important to making the flowers look organic is that I design the flowers so that each petal is a slightly different shape.

The idea of how to display the flowers was inspired by Victorian floral still life arrangements, which were placed under glass domes. The domes are also an attractive way to solve the problem of keeping the work dust-free and airtight to slow the process of the precious metals tarnishing. I use a brilliant company called Suffolk Glass, who will make bespoke glass domes to your specified dimensions, which means I have the freedom to make a floral sculpture to any size I like.

Since making my first experimental goldwork flower sculpture a few years ago, I’ve gradually been refining and improving the way I create the flowers with each piece I make.

Do you regard your work as traditional or modern?

I would say that my 3D goldwork flowers are more unconventional. Although goldwork is often raised from the fabric, it is usually applied to a flat piece of cloth. By cutting out pieces of goldwork embroidery from the surface material and manipulating them to create sculptural forms, I’m using goldwork in an unusual way.

Working in this way requires different considerations to working a flat embroidery too, such as adapting the way the goldwork wires are applied to the fabric so they don’t become damaged when the petals are bent into their 3D shapes.

Other aspects of my work are more traditional, such as my use of traditional embroidery stitches with pearl cotton thread. But I always aim to give the embroidery a contemporary feel through the style of my designs. Colour selection also plays a part in this – my designs are often quite colourful, which I think helps to keep them contemporary.

Rather than always using a single technique to embroider a whole design, I often combine embroidery techniques within the same design.

For example, I will use a tambour beaded background to offset the goldwork on top. Or I will use beads as well as goldwork wires to fill shapes, which I think creates a texturally interesting embroidery. Whether or not I’m using embroidery techniques in an unconventional or more traditional way, I’m always trying to achieve a high level of technical skill in everything I create.

Where do you turn for inspiration?

Most of my inspiration is gathered from my own garden, and gardens I visit. Every year I grow a selection of mostly annual flowers for cutting so that I can have bunches of fresh flowers all summer. It’s another design source for my work.

I spend a few minutes in the garden each day observing the flowers, and I photograph them from different angles as references to draw from. I often spot interesting insects such as beetles, bees and butterflies on the flowers, which also make their way into my designs.

The practicalities

What’s the biggest challenge you face creatively?

Sourcing the perfect materials is quite often challenging, I usually have a specific idea of what I want and sometimes this is hard to match. This is especially difficult when ordering online, as it’s hard to tell the true colour of materials on a screen. I usually have to wait until they arrive and hope I am lucky and have picked the right shade!

Sometimes I’m not able to find the right colour or size of materials anywhere. When designing my sister’s wedding bouquet I wanted to feature metallic sage green details in the flower centres and the petals. This soft green colour was impossible to find in either goldwork wires or round beads in the right size.

To solve this, I decided to buy plain white round beads and sequins and dip these in green metallic paint to give the colour and finish I desired. To mimic goldwork wires I applied clear tube-shaped beads over pieces of soft green fabric – the colour of the fabric showed through the beads to give the impression of them having a green tinge.

What do you love about hand embroidery?

Hand embroidery is really special because it cannot be truly imitated by machine. You can create intricately detailed and texturally interesting embroidery, which has a unique quality due to it being worked by hand.

I think hand embroidery is such a unique skill. There are so many different techniques you can employ, and the individual techniques can be used in varying ways, which means there really are endless possibilities.

Creating a beautiful embroidery from fabric and thread is so satisfying and I find the physical process of embroidery so meditative and relaxing. It takes time and cannot be rushed; the careful consideration needed to make each stitch means that I can fully immerse myself in the embroidery process.

I also absolutely love teaching hand embroidery. It’s such a pleasure to share my embroidery skills with others and amazing to see the sense of achievement that a student gets when they have a finished creation that they have made completely with their own hands.

What led you to work for yourself?

I really wanted to have a job focused on creating hand embroidery and I wanted to develop my own range of work rather than always working on other people’s designs. Most of the hand embroidery jobs in the UK are located in London and, not wanting to relocate, it also suited me well to work for myself because I could work from home.

Of the many creative skills you can work in, embroidery is quite an easy one to set up on your own: it isn’t essential for you to have a separate studio space because you don’t need lots of machinery or specialist equipment.

Working for myself has meant that I am able to have control of a project from start to finish. I love the variety of work I get to do, and I never know what exciting projects are going to pop into my inbox.

Tell us more about a typical week?

I live and work from my home near Bristol in the UK. I work in my bedroom, which also doubles as my studio. It’s a cosy, colourful space with soft pink walls, floral curtains, filled with bunches of cut and dried flowers throughout the year, as well as books, and my treasured collection of handmade ceramics. I love working in this space, with everything to hand and neatly organised – at least most of the time!

I mostly work from home, and usually arrange each day in a similar way. The natural light in my workspace is normally best in the morning so I always spend this time working on embroidery.

I split the afternoon into two parts: after lunch I’ll reply to emails and then work on any writing, such as information for teaching or instructions if I am making embroidery kits. I might also spend some of this time drawing. Later in the afternoon, I’ll work on the computer creating designs, editing images or updating my website.

Any advice for those who might feel nervous about tackling traditional techniques?

Goldwork embroidery encompasses many different techniques that can seem overwhelming at first. I’d recommend getting some help from an expert. You can do this by getting yourself a good book: Glorious Goldwork by Sarah Rakestraw and Susan Hinde, or Goldwork Embroidery by Lizzy Pye are both great comprehensive guides to goldwork.

Or take an online or in-person class, which can be a great introduction to goldwork. This will help you to master essential techniques and understand how they can be used in designs. You can then experiment with the techniques and use them to create your own designs.

Don’t be disheartened if your first attempt is not perfect, the likelihood is it won’t be! Every embroidery technique requires plenty of practice so keep persevering until you have mastered the technique. And most importantly, enjoy yourself!

Hannah Mansfield is an embroidery designer based near Bristol, UK. She graduated with a degree in Textile Design in 2016, and founded The Perpetual Maker soon after, and now works to commission, as well as creating her own embroidery designs and kits. She also teaches classes around the UK and online. In 2019, she was awarded First Prize in the Textile Art Open category of the Hand & Lock Prize for Embroidery (UK). Hannah became a Trade Freeman of the Worshipful Company of Gold and Silver Wyre Drawers since 2020.  

Website: theperpetualmaker.com

Instagram: @theperpetualmaker

Discover the work of Sue Rangely and Corrinne Young – two artists seduced by nature, who’ve not only made a successful career in textiles, but relish the challenge of taking embroidery into three dimensions!

Traditional or modern? Do you like to stick to the rules, or bend them? Do you like to perfect a technique, or prefer to experiment? Tell us more in the comments below.

The darker side of life has always fascinated Ruth Norbury. Ruth was already a successful artist with customers queuing up to commission her embroideries of British birds. However, something was missing. She wanted to make work that expressed her passions and interests.

But Ruth had never seen anyone embroidering the kind of subjects that intrigued her. It would mean a complete change of direction, as well as experimenting with an array of new textile techniques in order to create the gripping images she pictured in her mind’s eye.

So she asked herself the question, what do I love? And the answers opened the door to a whole new way of working, and an entirely new audience, who are in love with Ruth’s interpretation of Gothic Decay. Now she even shares her techniques and teaches workshops, thanks to taking that first step to be more true to herself.

Her story is one of determination, as well as love for the simple art of hand embroidery. Her journey wasn’t always easy but her courage and honesty is inspiring to anyone looking to express more of themselves in their stitching.

Making a change

Can you share a little about your practice?

Ruth Norbury: I produce unique pieces of embroidery that are quite dark, often based on themes of loneliness and with a slight post-apocalyptic feel. I used to hand embroider British birds but needed to make things that spoke more to me so, one day, I made a piece that was based on an abandoned building, just for fun.

Initially, I was scared what people who liked my old work would think, but I posted it online anyway and it proved very popular. I think these pieces seem to be quite different to other embroidery that I’ve seen, and people either love or hate them, but at least they have a strong opinion one way or the other. They are not bland! 

I started this new style around 2018. I still do the occasional bird commission but I’m no longer known as ‘the birdie lady’ by my framer!

How did your fascination with the darker side of life transform into your Gothic Decay journey?

I have no idea why I like dark things. I was obsessed as a child with Franklin’s lost expedition to the Arctic, and I had a book with photographs of some of the sailors who were lost. It’s not a weird obsession, just a fascination. I wanted to be a pathologist for a long time, probably because of those expedition photographs, but getting a medical degree before specialising was a long road.

I love TV programmes and books about death and also the workings of the mind. What can seem a tiny thought with one person can take over someone else’s life. How does the thought ‘did I lock the back door’ become, for example, a ritualised checking until they are unable to leave the house?

I have no art background, I hated it in school, so getting the concepts down that I want to use is hard. I keep practising and trying to find out why it scares me so much.

I think I expect perfection even though I haven’t learned to draw. So I need to be nice to myself, take off the pressure and just play, for example, doodling while watching a TV programme, rather than sitting at my desk waiting for both inspiration and perfection to appear like magic.

At the moment I’m trying to change the themes in my work again, using some of the darker topics but carefully, with respect, and trying not to sound like an angsty teenager!

I don’t want to shock people but maybe make people think about a subject. It’s more than just embroidering an unpleasant image.

Bumps along the way

I love the way you call it a Gothic Decay journey because it makes it seem much more real. There are ups and downs: work that you hope no one sees, and some you want everyone to see.

The new style of work didn’t just pop out one day. I experimented and had a lot of disasters along the way – the woodburning stove on the boat I lived on concealed a lot of evidence in that department!

I think it’s easy to read about other people and just see the finished pieces that they want you to see. We don’t photograph the failures, or the tears. We shouldn’t assume everyone is blindly striding forth on a journey where each piece is better than the last.

What was your path to becoming a textile artist?

I started with a cross stitch snowflake in primary school, which I managed to do wrong! I just loved it and, because kits were expensive, I used to ask for them for Christmas and birthdays.

After a while, I started filling in designs from stencils and I managed to get full marks for my GCSE Textile practical, as it was a full Jacobean design from a book, all hand stitched. I suppose that embroidery has just been part of me since I was around six.

What has become interesting to me is the realisation that I prefer to look at ‘grungy’ art, so that’s why I have spent so long trying to make my work look grungy. Now, however, I realise that hand embroidery is my favourite, so I have to cram grungy, death-related subjects and embroidery together and make it work.

I think it’s that determination to mash together things that don’t belong that’s driving me at the moment.

Taking a risk

My decision to become an artist came about because I used to give my embroidery as presents to my boyfriend in school (yes, the same James I’m married to now!). When his mum suggested I could do it as a job I laughed because, to me, artists were either broke or dead (although I forgot that his dad is an artist too). I spoke to a friend after I’d finished university and she said if you don’t try, you will never know… so here we are.

My mum and sister also embroider. I think we inspired each other to some degree but I’m not sure who started it really. We all have very different styles and sometimes we send pictures to each other if we’re stuck. Mum’s work is very colourful, and my sister makes pieces based on moss and lichen. 

My mum made all of our clothes as children, and I remember using a tiny sewing machine to stitch paper together whenever I sat in her workroom, so I guess I have always been around fabrics.

Tell us about the materials and techniques you like to use?

The piece I’m currently working on, called Compliance, is very experimental. I’m using Photoshop to design it. I like the grungy, yucky textures that I can create using the computer and love to try to translate these in the best way I can into textiles.

It is all hand embroidered in stem stitch, with the stitches packed really closely together. I’ve then stitched Lutradur over the top, along with inks and paint to try to create the texture I want.

It’s quite a challenge for me to be more ‘scruffy’ with my embroidery. Compliance is quite small as the whole background is hand stitched, even if you won’t be able to see it in the end.

Before this, my work was created from pieced patches of fabrics, with machine embroidery to show outlines, plus inks, paint, hand embroidery, beads… anything that gets across the effect that I want.

Breaking the rules

I like the slow nature of hand embroidery. You can ponder how you are going to stitch the next bit with no hurry or panic, just settle down and things make sense.

I keep going back to hand embroidery. It has always been my favourite, but I tend to be too neat with it, which is why I add all the textured elements. I suppose I’m trying to take the thing I love to do and shove it into a design it doesn’t belong in, and therefore create something new. Hopefully!

Inspiration often comes from a sentence from a TV programme that I have watched that really resonates with me, or a quote about a subject.

Sometimes it comes from the music I like. I like heavy industrial metal and there’s often really interesting music videos too, with great imagery. My pieces are almost all named after songs.

I try to experiment as much as possible. And try different methods of designing. I don’t like a blank page and a pencil, but charcoal makes me loosen up because I can’t rub it out and it’s completely different to drawing with a sharp point. At first, I thought it was a terrible idea to try something that I was even more inaccurate with, but it actually helped.

How do you source your images?

I don’t come from an art background, so I often use Photoshop to manipulate photographs, but I’m starting to get better at drawing. I suppose Photoshop is a necessity for me as otherwise there would be some terrible perspective and all sorts of issues!

I source images based on things I see. For example, I’ve just finished two pieces of work – What Then Is Time? and Fading Memories – based on an abandoned theatre in Swansea. It’s a lovely building with a great history and it has been sad to watch parts of it fall off. Thankfully now it is being looked after.

Can you tell us a little about your life at the moment?

I am a full-time artist. James and I have always worked for ourselves (except when I had a job for six months). We had always been a bit stretched, but James recently wrote a book and life has taken a dramatic jump financially.

I only mention this because it has allowed me to work on what I love and not make things in a similar style to previous work. I suppose that it has given me time to fail and make mistakes, and that has been very liberating.

Sharing the love

I thought teaching would simply take some financial pressure off selling work, but I actually love to see how other people work with the information I give them. A room full of people with the same fabrics and threads will produce wildly different things. 

I also like to work in new styles every few years so I can share the ‘special sauce’ without feeling like I am giving away secrets.

What do you love about being a textile artist?

I love sitting with a small hoop, grabbing the perfect colour thread and making things.

I love working from home, sitting with a desk full of cats and having sudden inspiration as to how to complete a troublesome section of an embroidery. For instance, realising that teabags make great leaves and wanting other people to know as well, not out of arrogance, but just wanting to share my tips so other people can use them too.

Also, I get a thrill from finding just the right fabric, beads or threads in a charity shop, like a hunter-gatherer in the modern age. Upcycling is very important to me. I try not to buy anything new for my work and all the fabrics are found in charity shops and from old clothes.

Have there been challenges along the way?

There are so many… too many to count. My lack of confidence is a huge problem. One day I’ll think I can take over the world and everyone must see my work, then the next I’ll feel like I have no idea what I’m doing and want to hide. I guess I am learning to ride it out when my confidence is low and do things that I know that I can do. 

Creating work that I like, using the tool of hand embroidery, which appears highly inappropriate at first, has been a challenge but it all seems to come down to experimentation.

Maybe one section of an embroidery works well, so I’ll try it again in the next piece. Maybe another part didn’t go so well, so I ask myself how can I make sure I don’t do that again?

Standing in front of a room full of people to teach is hard, but I tell myself that I really do know the subject.

I feel we really understand you as an artist in everything you do. How did you arrive at that point creatively?

The artist Roxanne Hawksley (1931-2021) listened to music to help get the emotions flowing while making her pieces. It often makes me smile when I have a small hoop full of embroidery and loud industrial metal on the stereo – it isn’t the traditional mental image of an embroiderer!

James (my husband) said I should use the things that ‘make me, me’. I love dark art, decay, gothic fashion, hand embroidery, and creepy old asylum images. I say to people to make a list of things you like and see if you can combine them to make ‘your work, you’.

Perhaps this is the ultimate personal challenge, to make work that truly reflects who you are. And it’s a risk that we are very grateful that Ruth Norbury made.

Key takeaways

• If you want to bring more of ‘you’ into your stitching, start with a list of all your passions. Start collecting images and ideas – particularly those you are drawn to, and try to work out what connects them. For Ruth it was gothic imagery and ideas.
• If you’re uncomfortable with drawing then put away the pencils and, like Ruth, try a loose medium like charcoal, inks or dyes. Or go back to basics with some paper or fabric collage. Don’t be afraid to play.
• We all have days when we’re feeling less confident with our work. Keep an easy project to hand that you can lose yourself in. Often inspiration strikes when we’re working on simple or repetitive tasks.

Artist biography

Ruth Norbury grew up in Gloucestershire and is currently based in Swansea, near Gower in Wales. She has been a practicing artist since around 2000, and works from home, which she shares with her husband James (also an artist) and her ‘feline army’. Ruth is a member of the Society for Embroidered Work, and has exhibited and taught at Swansea Festival of Stitch (2018).

Website: www.gothicdecay.com  

Facebook: facebook.com/ruthnorburyartist    

Instagram: @gothicdecayart

Discover two more artists who have developed their own distinctive creative voice.

Tilleke Schwarz embroiders random doodles and found phrases, creating her own unique visual vocabulary, while Jessica Grady recycles materials otherwise headed for landfill to create a huge array of original embellishments.

Are you drawn to stitching unusual subjects or working with unconventional materials? Tell us in the comments why your work is unique to you, and how you’ve discovered what you really love to make.

Limitless. That’s how so many artists describe the creative medium of textiles. Time and time again they explain that the possibilities are never-ending, and so very exciting.

Take Debbie Smyth, Lisa Kokin, Rosie James, Inge Jacobsen and Lindsey Gradolph, who have all found unique and personal ways to express their ideas.

These makers are constantly experimenting and advancing their craft. Some are well versed in traditional techniques and materials, others are new to textiles.

But what they all have in common is a curiosity to look beyond what’s expected. Each plays with the medium in order to tell a personal story, create a striking image, interpret feelings or to comment on the world around them.

We asked each of these contemporary textile artists about one of their artworks and to reveal the ideas that shaped it.

Debbie Smyth

‘Drawing is the foundation of what I do and you can draw with any materials.’ It’s a bold statement but one Debbie Smyth, who’s known for her statement thread drawings is definitely qualified to make.

Tensioned threads are stretched between precisely plotted points. Up close, you find your vision overwhelmed by a cluster of colliding, hanging threads strung amid a constellation of dressmaker’s pins, each hammered directly into the wall. Step back and suddenly the entire canvas comes into focus.

The result is a powerful, dynamic image that’s full of movement. Yet there’s not a stitch in sight.

Debbie, who’s known for her monumental, statement thread drawings, likes to blur the boundaries between the disciplines of drawing and textiles.

Using thread allows Debbie to ‘draw in space’, transforming 2D lines and planes into 3D shapes and spaces. It’s a process that results in floating, linear thread structures.

Her practice is about pushing the limits of her materials and making the ordinary, extraordinary. Take her FOLIO X FUBON series, made during a three-month residency in Taiwan.

 

Line of enquiry

In this expressive series of thread portraits of local people, each character represents a personal impression of Taipei City developed from sketches and photographs. These were then scaled up and the all-absorbing ‘meditative’ process of plotting each image began, along with the winding and knotting of countless lines of thread.

‘I like the idea of using the most familiar textile materials (pins and thread) in an unorthodox way. Having worked with thread for some time now, I tend to see it as an alternate drawing medium. The process is very material-led; how the thread falls or knots often dictates my next step.’

Singled out, these materials appear flimsy and delicate, however when built, layer upon layer at a monumental scale, they become a robust tapestry-like architectural surface pattern: a quality that’s difficult to achieve through stitch alone.

Debbie discovered her technique while in her final year at university, intrigued by the idea of finding a way to lift the drawn line off the page. She says it’s important to experiment.

‘Get hands-on with materials and allow yourself to be material-led. It’s very easy to follow instructions with textile techniques, as it’s seen as a craft, but try not to. Deviate and see where you end up. Enjoy the process.’

 

 

UK artist Debbie Smyth established her studio practice in 2009 in Stroud, Gloucestershire. Her family-based design studio collaborates regularly with interior designers and architects, and counts companies such as Disney, Marvel, Ellesse, Adidas, BA, BBC, Mercedes Benz, The New York Times, and Sony among its clients. The three works from the FOLIO X FUBON series are permanently installed at Folio Da’an Hotel, Taipei.

Website: www.debbie-smyth.com
Instagram: @Debbiesmyth
Facebook: www.facebook.com/debbiesmythX/

Lisa Kokin

Materials can often act as a catalyst for new ideas, and Lisa Kokin’s practice thrives on this idea of chance and spontaneity.

Lisa is no stranger to the potential of found, often random, materials – from textiles, paper, books and metal to shredded money. She brings a textile sensibility to working with them within a conceptual framework. ‘My work is often a commentary on the world around me, incorporating the age-old Jewish response to adversity – humour,’ she says.

In Shooter, part of her ‘How the West Was Sewn’ series, Lisa reimagined the natural form of a branch, inspired by a set of discarded paperback books, which she rescued from her local recycling centre.

The techniques are straightforward – she machine stitched the outline of leaf veins directly onto the paperback covers, after backing them with bookbinding material and incorporating wire for rigidity. But she used the books’ ‘campy’ imagery to tell another story.

‘The machismo and violence were so overt, and over the top, that they begged to be rearranged and recontextualised.’

 

The medium is the message

The series was stitched in 2008, at the end of the Bush Administration, a time when Lisa hoped the cowboy mentality would soon ‘be left in the dust’. ‘How wrong I was! I continued to use the cowboy novels to comment on guns and the violence that is prevalent in our culture, and I make them now as commissions when asked.’

Trees and the natural environment were another influence since Lisa’s move to her current base in El Sobrante, a semi-rural area in California.

‘It adds a layer of richness because of the fragments of imagery and text, and also the unexpectedness of book parts being stitched into horticultural forms. I also like the symmetrical, conceptual element of tree to paper to book, and back to the image of tree and leaves.’

 

 

‘I love the fragments of imagery that occur, the inadvertent compositions that result from randomly cutting out the leaf shapes from the book covers. I make dozens of leaves and then start to arrange them by colour and shape until I have an arrangement that works. If I have to make more I do, until I’ve made enough to create a composition that works colour- and form-wise.

For Lisa, it’s an exciting approach that can bring huge rewards for anyone working with textiles creatively. ‘I would suggest that you regard materials that you encounter in everyday life as potential art supplies, not limiting yourself to what can traditionally be found in stores or online.’

 

Lisa Kokin’s work is in numerous public and private collections, including the Boise Art Museum, the Buchenwald Memorial, the di Rosa Preserve, Mills College, Kaiser Permanente San Francisco, Yale University Art Museum, and Tiffany & Co. She has received multiple awards and commissions in her four-decade long career. Lisa currently maintains a thriving teaching and mentoring practice.

Website: www.lisakokin.com

Instagram: @lisakokin

Inge Jacobsen

Centuries ago, the value of embroidery and lace lay not only in the time consuming and skilled nature of their production but in their exclusivity and signalling of status, as any portrait of Elizabeth I or Henry VIII reveals.

Today, mass-produced images infiltrate our every waking moment. They’re available for instant consumption, to be scrolled and liked, shared or forgotten, each quickly replaced by another in an instant.

So when Inge Jacobsen chooses to spend hours embroidering a magazine cover, an obsession that results in works such as Beyoncé – Dazed & Confused – Hijacked, the result is something of a conundrum.

Obscuring the cover star’s carefully selected outfit, her perfectly styled hair and make-up are thousands of meticulously hand embroidered cross-stitches, forming a pixelated yet recognisable facsimile of the singer.

And in a further twist, the cover is stitched from the back: ‘It was such a good image and outfit, I didn’t think embroidery would improve it, so I decided to disrupt it by inverting it,’ says Inge.

Beyond the surface

While the overall image is retained it is simplified. The embroidery is still an embellishment of sorts, yet it’s a playful subversion around the conventions of worth assigned to labour and materials.

‘Why would anyone in their right mind spend hours and hours carefully embroidering something that could melt if it gets wet or tear if you pull the thread too hard, right?’ It’s a question that Inge loves to consider.

‘I love working on magazines because for most people, once they’re read or looked at a few times they become disposable – more mass-produced artwork for the trash heap, so adding time consuming embroidery adds a certain uniqueness that’s lost in the mass-production process.’

 

 

‘It goes back to the idea of making something mass-produced unique, beautiful, delicate and special. I could embroider the same cover 50 times and each one would be unique.’

For Inge, the aim is to push beyond what’s expected. ‘You can do a lot with a needle and thread – physically and conceptually. I love appropriating images versus creating an image from scratch. There is nothing wrong with a bit of creative collaboration.’

 

Inge Jacobsen was born in Galway, Ireland where she currently resides. She attended Kingston University, London, graduating in 2011 with a BA in Fine Art Photography and has worked as a professional artist with brands such as Apple TV and WIRED magazine UK.

Website: www.ingejacobsen.com

Facebook: www.facebook.com/IngeJacobsenArtist

Instagram: @ingejacobsen

Rosie James

‘I love seeing how the stitched version of a photo will turn out,’ says Rosie James. ‘I think that the sewing machine has some say on what comes out the other end; you never quite know… But mostly I think I love the possibilities: there are so many different ways of working in this way and so many ideas to explore.’

Rosie James likes to use her sewing machine as a drawing tool, and photography as her inspiration. Her machine-stitched works are usually figurative, and composition is always a key element, something she’s intuitively drawn to.

 

Take Rosie’s artwork Copenhagen Streetlife, a textile hanging based on a photograph snapped in Copenhagen. Three cyclists pedal away from us, while a man strolls towards us – both elements are balanced on a long diagonal axis – a road that sweeps from the foreground into the distance.

Composed of two fabric layers, contrasting coloured stitched lines differentiate between the architecture (stitched in black on the base layer) and the figures (in orange on the top sheer layer). The ‘road’, made from blue shirting fabric is sandwiched between the layers, which are stitched together in green running stitch.

But there’s something else. The original photograph pictured the scene after a recent downpour; Rosie has used loose dangling threads to give the surface ‘a rainy feel’, as if the coloured threads are actually dripping from the surface.

 

It’s raining thread

‘I started out by having a go at free machine embroidery and realised the possibilities immediately as a form of drawing,’ says Rosie. ‘I think it achieves a different kind of line. It’s reliant on the machine, which creates a continual line. It’s a more flowing line and lends itself to the way I like to draw, which is a kind of contour drawing.’

Even though Rosie primarily works with two materials – thread and cloth – she’s adamant that the possibilities are endless.

‘Within those two things there are so many varieties… Thread can be anything from thick cord to very fine hair, it doesn’t have to be thread as such. What else could it be?’

And she regards her materials with the same curiosity. Any surface – ‘paper, card, plastic, whatever you have lying around’ is ripe for experimentation on her sewing machine. ‘Experiment,’ she says. ‘Also consider the loose threads: change the length, the colour of them, where they go, attach them, pull them straight. Consider all the possibilities.’

 

Rosie James is based near Rochester in Kent in the UK. She is the author of Stitch Draw: Design and technique for figurative stitching, and a member of Art Textiles: Made in Britain.

Website: www.rosiejames.com

Instagram: @rosiejamestextileartist

Lindzeanne

Eddies of white stitches swell into circular whirlpools, nudging up against thick, broad brushstrokes of thread and thousands of tiny stabs of cotton. Lindsey Gradolph’s stitch palette may be an economical mix of back, seed and blanket stitches, but she lets them meander over the entire surface of her cloth.

A kind of pattern emerges but it’s hard to pin down. There are hints of sashiko in the work, yet there’s none of the orderliness of the technique’s uniform lines of running stitch.

Lindsey (who goes by the online name Lindzeanne) lives and works in Japan. That’s where she developed her method of expressive hand stitching, which was actually born out of creative frustration.

‘I really was just desperate for an avenue to express myself… I’m always trying to create a visual landscape and record of my inner thoughts and ideas. I have never been adept at expressing myself with language. Abstract imagery combined with the thoughtful slowness of embroidery has been a lucky discovery for me.’

 

 

The idea of freely stitching in this way helped Lindsey to develop her own personal form of expressive, stitch vocabulary.

‘I’m an excellent over-thinker in all areas of my life, but my embroidery is the one place where I don’t feel compelled to do so. Whatever comes out, comes out. Sometimes it’s good, sometimes it’s only ok, and sometimes it’s pretty ugly. I just keep going.’

Choosing to work with discarded or unused and unloved textiles was also a positive choice for Lindsey, as is embroidering with fine, machine weight or button thread, handy for creating detailed repetitive patterns. For this artist, it’s the perfect combination of her aesthetic tastes and personal values.

But what most excites her is that this way of working always results in the unexpected. She never draws or makes a plan before starting a piece, and never unpicks her work.

The goal is to try to capture a feeling or an idea through her freestyle stitching.

Up close and personal

‘Basically, my work has been just an exercise in throwing my hands up, thinking to myself “whaddya gonna do?”, and then just keeping going.’

And her advice to others is similarly succinct. ‘Don’t worry so much. Just show up, get started. Make what you want to see more of in the world.’

 

 

Lindsey Gradolph (Lindzeanne) is a self-taught embroidery artist and English teacher based in Tokyo, Japan. Her work is inspired by traditional Japanese textile traditions such as Sashiko and Indigo dying, and also the concept of Mottainai or ‘waste nothing’.

Website: lindzeanne.com

Instagram: @lindzeanne

Key takeaways

There has never been a better time to explore textile and stitch in all their forms.
But where to start?

• By thinking outside the box, Debbie Symth discovered a different way to work with her threads. Take something from your stash and avoid using it for its intended purpose; instead play around with some ideas of what else you might create with it.
• Think about alternative surfaces for stitching into. Inge Jacobsen was drawn to magazine covers, but what do you have lying around at home that has potential?
• As Lisa Kokin says, with imagination most items can be seen as ‘art supplies’. Consider working with a random found object, or a collection of things. What ideas or associations do they spark for you? How might you develop this idea?
• Taking Lindsey Gradoph’s lead, why not try to capture a feeling or a thought by making a sampler of hand stitched marks? Let go and indulge in some freestyle stitching – the wilder the better!

Find out more about the textile artists who have found contemporary and creative ways to express their ideas through various media, from newspapers to photographs.

Do you have a favourite contemporary embroidery artist? Tell us in the comments.