Innehållsförteckning för February/March 2023 från Stitch

There’s something about springtime and the sights and sounds of nature which unleashes our creativity. I was reminded of this while marvelling at this wonderful piece by Nigel Cheney, a finalist in the Hand & Lock Prize for Embroidery 2022, in the Textile Art Open Category. The contrastof the vibrant plumage of the hummingbirds against the monochrome background featuring the hare is so striking. You can see all the finalists at the website below and the overall winner is due to be announced at the end of January: handembroidery.com/2022-hand-lock-prize-embroidery-finalists. Registration for the 2023 Hand & Lock Prize is open until 31 March 2023. Go to handembroidery.com/the-prize/how-to-enter-the-prize for full details of the competition. Good luck to anyone who enters this year! Nigel’s beautiful birds in turn remind me of the joy-filled…

Spring is a season where life starts to reawaken, the cherry blossoms, the flowers bloom, and the grass is verdant green again. This garden embroidery hoop includes all the flowers and trees that evoke Spring. From delicate cherry blossoms, to bright yellow daffodils and striking irises, to unforgettable forget-me-nots! YOU WILL NEED MATERIALS • Felt or linen (I used a sandstone coloured felt), 23 x 23cm • Sulky - Super Solvy Water Soluble Stabilizer Translucent, 23 x 23cm • DMC stranded embroidery thread: - 14 Pale green - 16 Lime green - 163 Grass green - 210 Pink - 211 Pale pink - 552 Lavender purple - 741 Orange - 817 Red - 824 Blue - 840 Mid brown - 841 Brown - 935 Dark olive green - 973 Yellow…

Lino cutting has most definitely moved on from the ‘school days’ of gouging groves in tough sheets of linoleum (while trying not to stab yourself with a slightly blunt blade!). More modern materials are easy to handle and cut like ‘a knife through butter’. Inks have evolved too – traditionally lino printing is seen as a paper-based fine art process. What you’ll see here are washable printing inks for textiles, appliqué and a play with some free machine stitch. This tutorial makes a great taster of my explorative textile workshops ‘lino cut, print and stitch’. YOU WILL NEED Consider making sure you have: • A decent working space for printing and for laying out drying fabrics.• If you don’t like a mess, use an apron and protect your printing area…

Regarded as creatures of nobility, blue-tits are connected with the Gods and are symbols of love, trust, hope and freedom; their blue wings spanning out like the wide open sky! This colourful design is inspired by the little bird that brightens our gardens with flashes of blue and yellow, nestling in early Spring flowers. Follow the step-by-step guide to combine free-motion and hand embroidery; then sew a simple handy pouch to use when you are on the go! YOU WILL NEED MATERIALS • Light to medium weight green cotton (outer pouch): 23cm x 15cm, x 2 • Light to medium weight cotton in colour and pattern of your choice (inner lining): 23cm x 15cm, x 2 • Medium weight fusible interfacing: slightly smaller than the pouch pieces • Medium weight…

Golden Grace Page 7 Scale: 100% Spring Has Sprung Page 31 Scale: 100% Buds to Blossom Page 41 Scale: 100% True Blue Page 37 Scale: 100% Tumbling Rhythms Page 53 Time for Tea Page 23 Scale: 80% Secret Garden Page 17 Scale: 100% A WORD ON COPYRIGHT Sharing may be encouraged in many aspects of life, but when it comes to original material, you have to be wary of copyright. By all means, copy the project or demonstration for your OWN PLEASURE, but no part of this magazine may be published, reproduced, copied, or stored in a retrieval system without the prior permission in writing of the publisher. Even where permission is gained, it’s still courteous to credit the original source and designer. Any activity used to benefit commercially from…

Although I’ve never had a goldfish, I’m always fascinated by their graceful movements. They look like little dancers in the water with their tails and fins moving beautifully around the wavy seaweeds. With this goldwork project you can keep a goldfish forever! YOU WILL NEED MATERIALS • Fabric: - Synthetic velvet, Dark blue, 25 x 25cm - Lightweight calico, 25 x 25cm - Felt, Yellow, 20 x 10cm - Backing fabric, cotton (plain or print of your choice), 25 x 25cm • Threads: - Gutermann linen sewing thread, 4013 - DMC stranded cotton, 976 & 977 - Machine sewing thread, Dark blue (for finishing the back) - Buttonhole thread, any colour (for plunging) and black (for finishing the back) • Metallic threads: - (a) Japanese thread, No 8, 10m -…

CREATIVE EMBROIDERY, MIXING THE OLD WITH THE NEW By: Christen Brown Publisher: C & T Publishing ISBN: 978-1-644031032 RRP: £17.99 2 COPIES TO GIVE AWAY Feeling thrifty? This book features a host of possibilities using only the elements you already have in your stash. You are shown how to create unique projects using items such as lace, linens, trims, ribbons, buttons and treasured pieces. The examples shown provide inspiration for your own custom designs and there’s a stitch library with over 100 stitches included so you can keep your decorative options open. FLOWERS FOR ELIZABETH By: Susan O’Connor Publisher: Inspirations Studios ISBN: 978-0-648767084 RRP: £29.99 A collection of Elizabethan inspired motifs, inspired by needlework artist Susan O’Connor’s love of Elizabethan Botanicals. Expanding on her Elizabethan blanket design, she has devised…

This piece was inspired by my love of walking through the bluebell fields at the first sign of spring – they have the wonderful ability to always lift any mood. I wanted to recreate those feelings onto a frame, that once complete with a photo of your favourite people, it will never fail to put a smile on your face. YOU WILL NEED MATERIALS • Dusky blue linen, fat quarter (I’ve used Dusky Blue–Essex Linen by Robert Kaufman) • Threads: - DMC stranded cottons: - Pale blue, #928, x 3 - Blue, #927, x 8 - Dusky blue, #929, x 3 - Dark blue, #924, x 2 - Cotton thread (for backing) • Picture frame, 23 x 23cm (I used the IKEA Hovsta Birch Effect Picture Frame) EQUIPMENT • Embroidery…

Tell us about your journey to becoming an embroiderer… It all started as a child, my Mum was into cross-stitch in the late 90s and she brought me a stitch guide book to learn from. I remember flicking through the book in complete awe of all the things you could create with just a needle and thread and the vast number of stitches I could learn. I was always creative as a child whether it painting, building cities out of Lego or making clothes for my dolls and it then followed me into adult life. When at university studying Mixed Media Textiles, I specialised in smocked leather and needlework, combining the two together, which really opened my eyes to just how versatile embroidery and needlework really is. I’m more conservative…

Tell us a little about your textiles background and how your would describe your work… My formal training in applied art occurred relatively recently, at the University of Hertfordshire up to 2010, and it was here that I eventually found my vocation for producing stitched portraits and figurative textile panels. This occurred right at the end of my time there, after years spent experimenting with other techniques, approaches and media. Studying there gave me the time, space, guidance and experience to find my own voice as an artist. However, the formative experiences which led eventually to this point of departure go back much further, through my time working as a nurse in the UK, leading back eventually to my childhood in Malaysia. My original interest in textiles was learned from…

BUY 6 MONT HS GET 6 MONTHS FREE NOW! ✓ Extra exclusive pages that you won’t find in the printed issue ✓ Receive your issues the week before it hits the shops ✓ Access your issues on any device ✓ Do your bit for the environment by reducing use of paper ✓ You own the issues you pay for ✓ Energise your creativity ✓ Protect what matters to you SECURE A YEAR BURSTING WITH INSPIRATION, WITH THIS LIMITED TIME OFFER, NOW: bit.ly/STCHHALFDIGITAL Offer expires 26/07/2023.…

Inspired by traditional Japanese Embroidery, this little plum blossom circle is an introduction to the technique with a few broken rules and short-cuts, but still a lot to sink your teeth into. It will allow you to work with flat silk and Japanese metallic threads. YOU WILL NEED MATERIALS • Fuji silk fabric, 20 × 20cm • Threads: - Flat silk, #16, #7, #21, #121,#138 - 1 reel of each - Japanese Metallic twist, Dark brown with Blue, #2801, 2 × 5m (on paper tube or similar) - Padding cotton thread - Japanese metallic, thread, Silver, #1 - Silver passing, EMC 008, 2 × 1m or a #4 silver A pack containing all the supplies (including the pattern pre-printed on silk fabric) and some Japanese embroidery tools is available to…

We can create dimension on the flat plane of stitching in many ways. Subtle changes of colour in shading work, creating a drop shadow in needlepoint or stitching at angles on embroidered work. In Bargello both the pattern and the colours used can create dimension. Here I used the box-like illusion of this stitch to create what at times looks like upright stacked boxes, and at others horizontal tubes. YOU WILL NEED MATERIALS • Plastic canvas sheet, 10 count, 26.7 x 34.3cm • Baker’s twine or cord • Wooden dowel • Split rings x 4 • Threads: - Anchor tapestry yarn in the following shades (one skein of each); - 8022 - 8438 - 8968 (Or be adventurous and use what acrylic or wool you have in your stash) EQUIPMENT…