I love to stitch. I make costumes and needlework, and I enjoy all forms of textile art. I talk about it whenever I get the chance. (Here’s a podcast interview at The Right Stuf’s website and a picture and snippet on the AnimeVice website.)
I owe my passion for stitching to several people. My grandmother taught me to do cross stitch. My infant school teacher Miss Bowditch encouraged me by allowing me to use proper thread and fabric when she realised that I’d already had enough practice not to need to work with Binca and raffia and big plastic needles like the rest of the class.
After school, I spent a long time in the embroidery wilderness, without a stash to call my own or an unfinished project to my name, until my friend, long-time costuming partner and stitch guru Barbara Edwards took me to a needlecraft fair in London and reawakened my inner cross stitcher. I’ll never be able to thank her enough, but looking at the piles of fabric and skeins of glorious coloured thread spilling out of odd corners all over the house, I certainly have enough materials to knock out a thank-you sampler! (A devoted cat-lover with a Yorkshirewoman’s gift for dry humour, Barbara was very much in my thoughts when I was making my Haikats.)
With Mr. X Stitch on his elegant stand at Olympia’s Stitch & Craft Show
No matter what your preferred medium – knitting, collage, patchwork, quilting, any form of embroidery – creative needlework is so much fun. I’ve met some famous people, made some great friends and encountered astonishing, mindblowing art.
Honestly, you should try needlework, at least as a spectator. (But once you’ve seen it, you may not be able to resist giving it a go!)
Here are links to a few of my past projects.
and some related articles
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