Stitchery Stories

Today on the Stitchery Stories textile art podcast, Nikki Parmenter shares her life in fabric & thread & a wide range of interesting materials too! She chats with Susan Weeks about the wide range of inspirations and materials that she uses to create her large scale art. And although Nikki has a Fine Art background, she is very much self-taught when it comes to incorporating textiles and embroidery...

Tanya Bentham is an expert in the style of hand embroidery known as 'Opus Anglicanum'. It is a style of embroidery that was prevalent in the 13th & 14th centuries in England. Very specific stitches are used in a specific way with specific materials and style. Tanya shares her fascinating story of how she got started in embroidery and how the obsession with Opus Anglicanum started. It may sound dul...

Vendulka Battais is a textile artist, quilter, embroiderer and designer who started her creative journey making clothes with her mum in the Czech Republic. She learnt simple patchwork when she moved to the UK and was looking for a new hobby! Vendulka shares her fabulous story of where that early interest in patchwork took her. It's a story of creativity and of making opportunities and of taking ac...

Lorraine Turner is a textile artist who gives support for endangered animals through her vibrant textile art. Lorraine has been a practicing artist for many years as a graphic designer, working on wide variety of commercial projects but her adventure into textile art started a few years ago, and she adopted the 'no rules' approach to her textile art creations. Lorraine works on large textile art p...

Catriona Baird is Textiles Curator at Paisley Museum, in Scotland, which celebrates it's 150th anniversary on 11th April 2021. Catriona shares the story of the Paisley pattern - that swirly floral stylised teardrop motif that pops up in so many designs and objects, as well as of course on the famous Paisley Shawls. This is a story that brings together geography, history, fashion and textiles and g...

Dr Gail Cowley is the founder and director of The School Of Stitched Textiles. Through the school, Gail offers a range of courses from beginner through to advanced practitioner, in a range of textile related subjects. As we hit the one year anniversary of Covid disruptions, lockdowns and challenges, we dig into many topics around online education and the acceptance of technology and learning via t...

Ruth Norbury is a textile artist who specialises in creating urban decay art. But Ruth is full of contrasts and surprises, and today we dig into her story. She is almost entirely self taught, and loves to experiment to create the look and feel of her textile art. It's an ongoing challenge to represent the processes of decay in the urban landscape and buildings, using fabric and thread. So with tha...

Deanne Fitzpatrick is the artist and businesswoman behind HookingRugs, a globally popular rug hooking business based in Nova Scotia, Canada. Deanne shares with us a very interesting glimpse behind the scenes of her daily life as an artist and creative business owner. Susan Weeks chats with Deanne today on the Stitchery Stories textile art podcast. We delve into the backstory of how Deanne got hook...

Mary Corbet is the creator behind 'Needle N Thread' a globally popular and very long-standing hand embroidery blog. It is very much the hub of her brand, and through it, Mary shares her beautiful hand embroidery designs and kits, embroidery 'how-to' videos and creates an informative and enjoyable stream of blog posts about all things hand embroidery. Susan Weeks chats with Mary today on the Stitch...

Cindy Jackson is a freelance embroiderer, embroidery designer and embroidery tutor based in Ottawa, Canada, with a fascination for Tudor embroidery. In fact Cindy is an expert in this area, with published research papers and she has also developed kits and classes focused on Tudor embroidery. Susan Weeks chats with Cindy today on Stitchery Stories embroidery podcast. Some highlights of our chat in...

Here we are on the final day of 2020 and what a challenge it has been! But we all know that so let's focus instead upon the inspiring highlights based around stitching, embroidery & textile art. Come and listen as Sue Weeks presents some fabulous 2020 Stitchery Highlights from listeners from around the world. Stitchery Stories embroidery and textile art podcast is a globally popular podcast, and e...

As we head towards Christmas 2020, Sue Weeks, from Stitchery Stories embroidery and textile art podcast, shares her Christmas Greetings. Sue is searching for your inspiring 2020 Stitchery Highlights to share in a special Highlights episode for the last day of 2020. She knows that they are out there - let's share our creativity and positivity and celebrate what we HAVE achieved in this very weird y...

Today we meet Kris Campbell, a textile artist from New York state who has decided to take cross stitch to the absolute MAX! This is a fascinating story where we can see the threads of an artist's story come together in a body of work. In response to the global pandemic and the desire to make viewing art a safe experience, Kris decided to create a series of bold flowers, sewn in cross stitch.... on...

Claire Fell is a machine embroidery artist who believes that textile art is a haven from the harsh realities of what we call modern life! She has recently written her first book 'Machine Embroidery - Techniques and Projects' and Claire shares her story of how her 'creative outburst' came into being, and the creative adventure she enjoyed along the way. In fact Claire's whole creative career is a f...

Justine Warner is inspired by the beautiful Yorkshire countryside on her doorstep and has developed a distinctive style for the textile art landscapes she creates. She works under the brand Pearl Loves Paisley. She loves to experiment with different techniques and materials. A VERY surprising and very important element in her work is... patterned men's ties. Yes, stripey, spotty, and particularly...

Sharon Boggon embraced the internet back in 1996 and has been an inspiring leader in embroidery both online and offline, for many years. She has a passion for building enriching communities of stitchers and strives to keep embroidery alive. Sharon reminds us how difficult it was in the early internet days to make and share images and create web pages, and tells the story of how her online stitch d...

Today on Stitchery Stories we have a very unique story, where embroidery has been the catalyst for a personal journey of discovery, of re-connecting with family and deep spiritual meanings. We are usually chatting about embroidery as an art form, or decoration of functional items. For Erika Maizi however, the interest in embroidery has grown from meditation, spiritualism, and the symbolism within...

The inspiration for today's episode of Stitchery Stories comes from litter, running and Sheffield Embroiderers' Guild. David Morrish is enjoying his exploration of digital embroidery and he very much enjoys collaborating with other artists to grow awareness and appreciation of embroidery as a vibrant and fascinating art form. David, who has a background in fashion, shares his very interesting stor...

Phillipa Turnbull is an expert on historic crewel embroidery and has spent the last 25 years building her embroidery business The Crewel Work Company, which sells exquisite crewel embroidery kits and organises luxury embroidery retreats. Phillipa shares many inspiring stories around the ups and downs of building a business based around embroidery. She also shares her passion for ensuring that thos...

Collette Kinley is an embroidery artist who uses both free motion machine embroidery as well as hand embroidery, although she is really enjoying hand embroidery at the moment. Collette shares her story of how 'going for it' and a new piece of embroidery has sparked several exciting opportunities for her. Collette talks about her artistic journey so far, which started with sewing childrens clothes!...

Alison Carpenter-Hughes is a mixed-media artist who loves free machine embroidery. Today on the Stitchery Stories textile art podcast, Alison shares her life in fabric and thread. And since she decided to give her art practice her focus and 'go for it', there have been some fantastic opportunities reveal themselves to her. Alison talks about her artistic journey so far, and of course, how she has...

Meredith Woolnough shares her insight and techniques around the beautiful machine embroidered natural specimens she creates. They are inspired by the skeletal forms of flora and fauna, particularly those she finds on walks and scuba dives. Meredith has specialised in working exclusively with water-soluble fabric, using machine embroidery to re-create the lacy, delicate forms she loves so much. Onc...

Today we meet Jenni Dutton who shares stories around her powerful work and the unique way in which she creates her large portraits. Although starting her creative journey as a fine artist, creating large oil pastel landscapes, Jenni ventured into textile art portraits. We talk about how life takes unexpected twists and how surprising opportunites can pop up as we share our work and thoughts. Jenni...

Today we meet Annie Crane, from Fort Collins, Colorado, on her birthday. It's a milestone birthday and Annie is marking it as a new beginning. After years of putting everyone else first, Annie is stepping out into the creative world. She is excited about (finally) giving herself permission to develop her art and to create with whimsical abandon. Annie shares her story. She started making and paint...

Today we meet Claire Edwards, who embodies her brand name of Defiant Embroidery. Claire shares her fascinating story of how she discovered her creativity and passion for hand embroidery as part of her quest to discover her third career. After an enjoyable career in the RAF and then working with young offenders, Claire suffered some setbacks that led her to going to University and discovering hand...