About Niamh
Niamh Wimperis is one of the most colourful and dynamic embroidery artists currently practicing.
According to Niamh, she’s “all about feminism and plants”, and finds a lot of her inspiration from her vast collection of house plants, and childhood memories of her grandparents house, Selsley Herb and Goat Farm. Her work has evolved from ultra political – – with her feminist pieces featured in Ms Magazine, Buzzfeed and The Huff Post – – to this more calming botanical style.
Niamh achieved a Masters Degree in Contemporary Craft in 2017 from Plymouth College of Art. Her final piece, an interactive installation titled ‘A Feeling Of Safety, Perhaps’ was exhibited in the MA show and as part of Dwell, a two woman collaboration for Plymouth Art Weekend at Plymouth Art Centre.
In 2018 Niamh was chosen to be on the BBC2 programme, The Victorian House of Arts and Crafts. This was a “living history” reality show in which Niamh and 5 other talented crafts people lived in a William Morris-esque arts and crafts commune for a month, complete with wearing Victorian clothes, eating Victorian food and using Victorian tools. The 4 part BBC2 show aired in January 2019. You can read more about her experience here, and watch the series here.
Niamh now lives in Camden Town with her partner Alex, a watch maker. She is currently writing her first book, continues to make work (including commissions), and has launched her #WEStitchKit – a monthly embroidery kit subscription box. You can find about more about her kit subscription here.
Signature Technique
Botanical Embroidery
Top Tips
- Use the Satin Stitch for a shimmer and shine effect.
- Stitch on two layers to avoid warp and seeing stitches on the back.
- Keep your fabric tight as a drum in your hoop or your piece will pucker.
- Nothing in nature is perfect, so don’t be afraid if a stitch appears strange or off the centre line. That’s how it appears in real life.
- The Fly Stitch is wonderfully versatile; use it for pine branches, flowers and leaves.
- If you find your thread is suddenly shorter, you probably have a knot. Use your needle to pull the knot apart.
Videos
Books and Patterns
Posts
Is backstitching necessary for strip piecing?
Question from Youtube
Still a little new to quilting and enjoy it already! One thing I noticed is that you didn't back stitch when starting to join a new row. Is it necessary? Thanks, I know this is probably a simple question. Answer Nope the backwards and forwards and fixing stuff isn't necesary as you will be sewing across at rightangles at some future point (and at the time of sewing you don't know where you will be cutting). Make sure the stitch length isn't too long though - 2.2 or 2.4 is perfect for strip piecing (and piecing in general).
Recyling men’s ties
Question: Having watched the video: (click here to view) How many ties were used to make the quilt in the video, recycling men’s ties? I would like to make a quilt the same size as the one in the video. Would you recommend this project to a beginning quilter? Answer from Valerie
Sorry I can't recall how many ties I used BUT each tie contains a huge amount of fabric once its unravelled and if you cut into uneven strips then you can use it all (I still have a stash of large scraps for another quilt);
Its a great quilt for beginners BUT remember that the ties are on the bias of the grain so the strips will move until you anchor them onto their calico (or similar) backing - if you are a complete beginner spray starch may help you during the sewing process.
Its extremely forgiving especially since you can trim the blocks back to be exactly the same size as each other - whether you use the complete block of ties or couple it with a plain piece of fabric to make the half-square triangle unit - which in turn means you need to make only half the number of original blocks.
A few nice comments from you
Hi everybody really a good website will watch this space more often Jill Sent from my iPad (Oct 2013) Just to say that I think Carolyn Forster is a very good demonstrator. She speaks clearly and without a dull monotonous voice which some of your speakers unfortunately have! Her projects are also fairly easy to follow. Secondly, I really enjoyed Kaffe`s exhibition of his quilts in Wales. It was very interesting listening to Jen Jones talk about his work. Pity it is so far away to visit!