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Award winning textile artist Holly Searle, also known as The Subverted Stitcher, is a textile artist who uses her needle and thread to spotlight social issues close to her heart. In 2020, she launched her Subverted Vintage Tea Towel Series to provide a platform for these important topics. 

Each artwork consists of hand cut felt letters, a vintage tea towel and a curated collection of words. To date, Holly has hand stitched over 160 artworks in her subverted tea towel series.
Holly Searle: https://www.instagram.com/the_subversive_stitcher

Holly’s passion for embroidery was ignited after seeing a sampler by Mary Frances Heaton, an inmate of a Victorian asylum, at a mental health exhibition. Inspired by Mary’s use of needle and thread to petition Queen Victoria about social injustices, Holly began creating pieces that draw attention to social issues and empower women. Holly’s work has been featured in solo and group exhibitions, resonating with echoes of Mary’s enduring voice and passion.

Creatively shut down in the Covid Pandemic of 2020, Holly found her voice again by subverting pre-loved vintage tea towels (little domestic works of art), to raise awareness of issues she felt needed soap boxing.  

Prior to the Covid Pandemic of 2020, award winning Textile artist Holly, had established a healthy and progressive career in the art world.  After she began her current textile practice in 2016, she went on to exhibit her work both collectively and independently in art spaces such as the Saatchi Gallery. 

In 2018, she was diagnosed with breast cancer. Throughout her treatment, her work acted as both an outlet and a distraction from her illness. During this time, she won her first solo show of her early embroidered pieces.  

Filmed at the Knitting and Stitching Show 2024.

Further reading

If you’ve enjoyed watching this video, you might like the work of Batool Showghi featured in a video from the Knitting & Stitching Show 2023.