Making Stitches Podcast

When Micah Clasper-Torch first designed a coat using fabric which had been embellished with punch needlework, her passion was born. Moving from the intense world of fashion design in New York to a more laid back lifestyle in California, Micah embraced the craft of punch needle and ran with it.  Her passion for the craft is infectious, so much so that she launched Punch Needle World, a platform to...

The 'Woven in Kirklees' textiles festival first launched in 2019 and is due to kick off for its 2025 edition this weekend. The community festival celebrates all kinds of textiles and related crafts with yarn bombs, textile art exhibitions, workshops and talks. The biennial festival runs for a whole month and this year will have 130 different events happening throughout June. Initiated in...

When Rachael Mills took up crochet as a means to giving up smoking, little did she realise that it would one day lead to her making a Turner Prize winning doily! Last year, when the Glaswegian artist Jasleen Kaur was named the winner of the Turner Prize, crocheter Racheal was celebrating at home in Blackburn. I was thrilled when she agreed to come onto the podcast to share her side of this amazing...

My guest for this episode is my yarny friend, Christine Perry, who first made an appearance on the podcast back in 2021. Since chatting back then, we have become friends and when I heard that she was gearing up to a big milestone in her sock-knitting journey, I asked her if she would like to come back onto the podcast and chat about it.  Last weekend, on Saturday 3rd May, Christine celebrated a wh...

When I first approached Sara from Crochet in the Glen and asked if she would like to be a guest on Making Stitches Podcast, she couldn't understand why I'd want to speak to her. Like many (thousands) of other people who follow her Instagram account I'd enjoyed seeing her posts from her home on the picturesque Cowal Peninsula on the West Coast of Scotland - not just for the scenery,...

For so many of us, crochet (or any craft) is as gift which offers mental release, a chance to focus on something away from the day-to-day worries of life and that creative spark so many of us need. When Marianne Rawlins was working part-time whilst raising her very small children, crochet arrived in her life. It gave her a creative outlet and ultimately an additional career, as her hobby developed...

After dreaming about a craft festival one night, Justine Robson woke up and decided she should arrange one. Two months later, she’d booked the venue (the South of England show ground) and ten months later Carry on Crafting opened its doors for the first time.  This summer sees the fourth edition of the summer craft festival and with over 600 people camping (tickets to camp sold out in a week) a hu...

My guests for this episode are a pair of friends who met at a tap dancing class and went on to become creative business partners. They have been sewing for more than 30 years, many of which were spent working together in their sewing studio in Ilkley in Yorkshire. Since Covid, their classes in sewing and quilting have gone from in person, on a local level, to online and a world-wide audience. They...

It’s so good to be back with you bringing another series of Making Stitches Podcast to your ears! My guest for this episode is Felicity aka Felix Ford, an artist who works in colour, sound and yarn. I first heard about Felix’s work when a mutual friend contacted me and suggested she might be a good guest for the podcast – she was right! Before our chat which features in this episode, Felix asked t...

Hello and welcome to the Making Stitches 2024 Christmas Special! As always at this time of year, I'm taking a look back at some of the year's highlights for Making Stitches. Included in this year's extravaganza is Tansy Forster from The Longest Yarn , author and academic Barbara Burman , Emma Varnam , Dr Gemma McKenzie from Threads of Protest , Heather Gibbs from Keep Calm And Croch...

Thank you for joining me for the 80th episode of Making Stitches Podcast! This time I'm sharing a chat I had with Becky Davies-Downes from William and Tilda , who, after almost two decades working in TV & film costume departments, is now sewing beautiful bags and other accessories inspired by 1940s wartime Britain. I first bumped into Becky in September this year at the Yarndale Festival....

This time on Making Stitches, I'm doing something a little bit different. I want to speak to you about food poverty, especially in my home city of Manchester and how I need your help to try to making things a bit easier for those who are finding it tough. As the weather gets colder and we head towards winter, the terrible decision between heating and eating affects many people. FareShare Grea...

Hello and welcome to the latest episode of Making Stitches - back after a longer than anticipated break! This time, I'm sharing a bumper episode featuring lots of creative chats with some of the lovely people I met at this year's Yarndale festival in Skipton two weeks ago. You will hear from:  Zoe Coates from British Wool Eleonora from Coastal Crochet Lindsey from Curate Crochet Box and...

My guest for this episode of Making Stitches Podcast has a background in law and human rights and a passion for crochet too. Dr Gemma McKenzie is a researcher in the Midwifery Department at King's College London specialising in maternity rights and obstetric abuse. She has decided that in order to raise awareness about her work in the field of maternity rights, she is going use crochet (and k...

When my guest on today's episode was about to leave a career in London for a quieter pace of life on the Cornish coast, one of her first concerns was where she would be able to buy yarn from. Fast forward a few years and Jane Abraham not only has her own yarn shop, she hosts creative retreats, has her own You Tube channel and has built an online community for crafters 'of a certain age&a...

One of the unexpected things many people experience when they lose a loved one and have to sort through their posessions, can be unfinished craft projects. Maybe the person who has died was partway through making a baby blanket for a new family member, a quilt for a forthcoming wedding or simply a pair of socks or jumper for a loved one. If there's someone within the family with the skills an...

This time on Making Stitches Podcast, I'm thrilled to be sharing a chat I had with knitting & crochet designer, Emma Varnam. To date, Emma has written 13 books filled with inspiring designs for your home and to gift, from granny square homewares to adorable cuddly toys and crocheted pot plants! Emma is also a regular columnist for Inside Crochet magazine where she shares her passion for c...

For some of us makers, there's the desire to take our creativity beyond something which is purely a hobby. Whether we opt to teach our craft to others, design patterns or sell finished items at craft fairs or online, there are many ways to potentially make money from making. In this episode, I looked at Etsy as a platform for selling creative makes with Claire Reed, an Etsy mentor who guides...

Yesterday marked the 80th anniversary of the D-Day landings in Normandy. Along with the military commemorations, there was a very special one created in yarn, by hundreds of knitters & crocheters around the globe - The Longest Yarn. Tansy Forster, who has lived in Normandy for over 20 years, was inspired by the Post Box toppers she saw when she traveled to visit Arundel, in southern England. S...

Hello, I’m thrilled to be back with another series of episodes of Making Stitches Podcast. This time I’m doing something a bit different, instead of launching the new series with a new interview, I’ve taken a dive into the archives. Since I last spoke to you, Making Stitches celebrated its 4th birthday (which I think is pretty decent in podcasting) so I thought I’d indulge in a look back at some o...

Ten years ago, Heather Gibbs was looking for an outlet for her crochet creativity and set up her blog; Keep Calm and Crochet On UK. Little did she know that her blog would be going from strength to strength a whole decade later, but that she would also end up working with a selection of different crochet magazines and yarn companies as well. In this latest episode of Making Stitches Podcast, I cha...

Hello and welcome to Making Stitches Podcast! My guest for this episode is the historian and writer, Barbara Burman, whose latest book is 'The Point of the Needle - Why Sewing Matters'. Barbara, a retired academic from the University of Southampton and the University of the Arts, spent more than 40 years teaching and researching the history of dress and textiles. In her latest book, Barb...

Welcome to the first episode of Making Stitches in 2024! Sorry for the longer than anticipated break.  This is the first of the final three episodes in series seven.  This time, I’m sharing a chat I had late last year with Cathy Wright from Lazy Kate Textiles . Cathy’s a spinner and weaver sharing her love of creativity  by teaching these heritage crafts to anyone who wants to learn. Based in Live...

Hello there and welcome to the Making Stitches Podcast 2023 Christmas Special. Join me for a selection box of treats looking back at the past 12 months in my podcast world. You can hear from guests including Dr Mia Hobbs from the 'Why I Knit' Podcast on the mental health benefits of being creative, Dr Fran Darlington-Pollock from the Greater Manchester Mayor's Charity about their ya...

Jane Czaja has been trying to spread the love of crochet for decades, from teaching beginners groups back in the 1980s to running a crochet and chat group in her local library now! Jane has always been a maker, and since her retirement from computer programming and lecturing students about it, she has turned her attention to crochet full time. You can find Jane's name in the credits of croche...