Catherine Hill Textile Artist Archives

23rd August 202623rd August 2026

Beginners Embroidery In Person Workshops

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.

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

16th July 202617th July 2026

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.

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.

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 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.

13th July 202614th July 2026

Day of Hand Darning

Yesterday’s day of Hand Darning at Shavington-cum-Gresty Village Hall was everything a workshop day should be – a wonderful group of students, slow stitching and, with temperatures soaring outside, a beautifully cool space to work in.

We began by working through a series of foundational stitch blocks and as the day progressed, so did the confidence in the room. By the afternoon we had moved into experimental crosshatching – one of my favourite areas of darning – where the rules begin to loosen and the real creative exploration begins. The results were beautiful and, I think, genuinely surprising to the students themselves.

Day of stitching — Experimental crosshatching

Hand darning is often thought of as a purely practical skill – a way of mending and making do. But spend a day with a needle, a thread and a blank piece of cloth, and you begin to see it very differently. It is patient, meditative and endlessly inventive.

Thank you to every one of my students for their curiosity, enthusiasm and wonderful company yesterday. I hope the stitch blocks we worked through together find their way into your future projects.

Tag: Catherine Hill Textile Artist

Beginners Embroidery In Person Workshops

Beginners Embroidery

The Creative Thread Issue 2

Day of Hand Darning

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