About Kate
Kate grew up in North Wales and originally studied costume at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama in Cardiff before graduating in 2001 with a BA Hons in Theatre Design. Following this she worked as a freelance costume maker at Glyndebourne Festival Opera and then as part of the Touring Wardrobe department at the Welsh National Opera. Kate has always loved hand embroidery, and got the stitching bug from her Nan at an early age, so in 2013 she decided to take the plunge and re-train as an embroidery tutor at the Royal School of Needlework (RSN) at Hampton Court Palace.
Kate graduated from the Future Tutors Programme at the RSN with distinction in 2016. During the course she studied many traditional hand embroidery techniques including goldwork, Jacobean crewel work, blackwork, stumpwork and silk shading. In 2015 Kates Advanced Silk Shaded budgie “Smuggler” was accepted by the Royal Academy of Arts for their annual Summer Exhibition. The piece was also made into a greetings card.
Kate loves to design her own embroidery kits, using traditional techniques in a contemporary way. She also likes to combine her embroidery with her love of historical dress, creating kits based on original pieces. Her classes can cover all levels of ability, from absolute beginners to more advanced stitchers. When she’s not involved in freelance projects Kate works as a stitcher for the RSN in their commercial studio, working on conservation, restoration and private commissions.
Kate has taught for the Royal School of Needlework at Hampton Court Palace, RSN Bristol, Bath Fashion Museum, Williamsburg School of Needlework in the U.S., and the RSN 2018 Summer School in Lexington, Kentucky. She also teaches for The Craft Sanctuary, Needlework Tours and Cruises, The Alpine Experience, Crewelwork Company, and justhands-on.tv !
In 2018 Kate was runner up in The National Needlecraft Awards 2019 Embroidery Designer of the Year category.
Signature Technique
Silk Shading
Top Tips
- You invest a lot of time and love in your stitching so always buy the best quality materials and equipment you can afford. This will give you better results and will create pieces that will last and hopefully become heirlooms!
- To help stop your threads from becoming knotted and tangled, work with a fairly short length in the needle. About 30cm is a good length and it will also help to maintain the condition of the thread.
- Don’t be afraid to have a go! Even the best stitchers get very good at unpicking! One of the nice things about hand embroidery is that you can take things out if you’re not 100% happy.
- Use traditional techniques in a contemporary way to create beautiful textile art.
- Practise, practise, practise. I know it’s a bit of a cliche but every has to start somewhere are the more you stitch the better you get.
- Don’t underestimate the healing effects of hand sewing. Your projects don’t need to be complicated, even simple stitching can bring great pleasure and calm.
Videos
Posts
Traffic Pattern quilt
Pat was the lucky winner of the Boys quilt pattern a few months back, donated by Kids & Co.. I have now finished the "traffic" quilt that I won in one of your competitions and have sent you a picture from my iphone - hope it arrives ok. It really came out well and looked stunning. Thank you. It was well received by mother father and child!! I felt very proud of it - thanks to all of your teaching over the years. and she plans to make two more for the other grandchildren! Happy Sewing
(we have Bugsy and Alphabet Jungle from this range available in the shop)
Rotary cutters
I was wondering if you could tell me which rotary cutters Jennie used in the fabric balls video? My cutter needs replacing and I fancy one of the safety ones which become safe when raising the cutter from the fabric. Answer: I think Jennie was using the Trucut range of rotary cutter which has a groove in it and is best used with its own ruler; however Olfa do both sizes 28mm and 45mm cuttter with a self-closing system, and these are readily available from quilt shops (but if in doubt you can contact Isa@creativequilting.co.uk) Want to see the Fabric Balls video? click here:
How do I know if the fabric is cotton?
Do a burn test – I know that sounds dramatic but we aren’t suggesting you set your stash alight!! In essence, cotton fibres ignite as the flame from your match draws near Synthetic fibres curl away from the heat and tend to ‘melt’. Take a few fibres; put into flameproof container with sides maybe, and apply a small flame from a long handled match maybe, and watch what happens.
