Category: Embroidery

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Beginners Embroidery In Person Workshops

Beginners Embroidery

The Embroiderers’ Guild has teamed up with Hobbycraft and a network of talented textile artists to share our skills and bring beginners embroidery workshops to venues across the UK. Whether you’ve never picked up a needle before or you’re looking to build a little more confidence with a needle and thread, these sessions are designed for you.

Spaces are limited and pre-booking is required to secure your place. All materials required for your workshop are provided so all you need to do is arrive ready to stitch.

I enjoy teaching so I’m delighted to be supporting the Guild this Autumn, running four sessions at the Crewe branch of Hobbycraft. Each workshop lasts two hours, and I’ll be teaching on the following dates:

  • Saturday 26th September 2026, 10.30am–12.30pm – Book
  • Saturday 26th September 2026, 1.30pm–3.30pm – Book
  • Saturday 17th October 2026, 10.30am–12.30pm – Book
  • Saturday 17th October 2026, 1.30pm–3.30pm – Book

Alongside the workshops, there are also dates to enjoy an up-close look at a curated selection of pieces from the Guild’s own collection, as well as sessions where textile artists explore embroidery in more depth. A full list of dates, venues and activities can be viewed and booked directly via the Embroiderers’ Guild.

Beginners Embroidery

Workshops are running from September 2026 through to March 2027.

Come along and join us. Sessions take place in the teaching area of each Hobbycraft store, and class sizes are kept small so everyone gets plenty of support. You’ll learn three to five essential embroidery stitches and create your own beautiful design, choosing from four stylish patterns. Fabric, threads, needle and patterns are all provided, so you’ll be ready to keep stitching long after the workshop ends.

Beginners Embroidery
Beginners Embroidery

Here are the dates for September.

Hannah Glossop @hg_textile_arts
Nottingham: 12th September, 11am – 1pm
Derby: 13th September, 11am – 1pm

Catherine Hill @catherine_hill_textile_artist
Crewe: 26th September, 10.30am – 12.30pm & 1.30pm – 3.30pm

Mae McCourt @stitchmaestitch
Bristol: 26th September, 11am – 1pm

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The Creative Thread Issue 2

Earlier this year, The Creative Thread – the new magazine for members of the Embroiderers’ Guild – approached me to write a contribution. I was delighted to say yes. The result appears in Summer 2026 Issue 2, themed around Savouring Summer.

The Common Thread section brings together an experienced embroiderer and an emerging talent. Together, they explore how heritage, skills, support and ideas are shared. In this issue, I joined Lottie Mayland – a contemporary embroiderer whose beautiful hand-stitched napkins, aprons and personalised textiles draw inspiration from nature, vintage French linens and her parents’ kitchen garden.

The Creative Thread Issue 2

Lottie looked at my work and I looked at hers. What followed was a genuinely generous exchange. She particularly loved the Lancashire Courting Cake and the Lancashire Rich Jam Cake. She noted the restrained colour palette and the quiet sense of a more unhurried time. Simple at first glance, but revealing layers of skill and storytelling on closer inspection. That means a great deal coming from a fellow maker.

The Creative Thread Issue 2

In turn, Lottie’s work gave me much to think about. Her pieces carry an exquisite attention to detail. A wonderful balance exists between decoration and function. Her motifs feel both timeless and modern. As a result, I found myself thinking about how her practice could grow an even stronger personal narrative. Smaller bodies of work rooted in memory and place, alongside her existing commercial collections.

The Creative Thread Issue 2

The exchange also gave me the opportunity to talk about my own process. Specifically, how I approach a set of napkins. How a sampling and experimenting book has become one of the most valuable things in my workroom. And why I always encourage makers to keep asking: what if?

Finally, if you are a member of the Embroiderers’ Guild, do look out for Summer 2026 Issue 2 of The Creative Thread. And if you are not yet a member – it might just be the nudge you need.

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Family History Society

How a chance meeting at Snowshill Manor led to a journal article, is a story that begins earlier this year. During a week away in the Cotswolds, my husband and I discovered Snowshill Manor – a small and extraordinary National Trust property in Gloucestershire. Once owned by English kings and queens, it was later purchased by the eccentric collector Charles Wade. He spent his life filling it with the things he loved most. Little did I know that a chance conversation there would lead to my work – Matchbox Challenge and Summer ’76 – appearing in the Journal of the Shropshire Family History Society.

Family History Society
The Shropshire Family History Society

Among the rooms that stopped me in my tracks were those dedicated to Wade’s textile collection. Frame looms, spinning tools, warping equipment – all capturing a long and rich tradition of weaving. It was here, in one of those upstairs rooms, that I fell into conversation with one of the volunteers. As it turned out, she was the Chair of the Shropshire Family History Society and a fellow textile lover.

We chatted about sewing, dressmaking and our love of cloth. Before long, I found myself sharing photographs of my embroidery work on my phone.

We said our goodbyes and I thought nothing more of it. Then, a few weeks later, an email arrived. It was my new textile friend asking for permission for my work to appear in an article for the Journal of the Shropshire Family History Society – exploring the different and sometimes unexpected ways to record and share family history. In this case, through needlework – and of course I said yes.

The Journal of the Shropshire Family History Society

The article has now been published and I couldn’t be more pleased. It is a wonderful reminder that the best connections often happen when you least expect them – in a quiet room, surrounded by old looms, on an ordinary afternoon in the Cotswolds.

Family History Society
Screen shot of the article featuring Matchbox Challenge
Family History Society Summer '76
Screen shot of the article featuring Summer ’76

Thank you to my new textile friend at the National Trust, and for the most unexpected and lovely article.