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
Giant crocheted doily appears under Bristol bridge
The 12ft (3.6m) diameter "spider web" was seen hanging under Stapleton Road railway bridge by Gail Boyle as she drove into work . click here to learn more Thanks to Paul for finding this - great fun
Justhands-on.tv Sewing Getaway Weekend
Car is loaded with quilts and fabric and ready to go - just need to pack the suitcase; Dunford House (our venue in Midhurst - find out more in the classified ads) is full to bursting; Jennie will be teaching her Superstar Medallion quilt; Myfanwy will be showing her students how to use the embellisher (and we have one to play with for the rest of us with the opportunity of getting a Janome embellisher of our own at a VERY GOOD price - exclusive to Justhands-on.tv) plus bringing her Winifrid Cottage shop of goodies: Val will be making quick quilts with her students using up Fat 1/4s; and Wendy will be making sure it all runs smoothly for us.
8th Prague Patchwork Meeting Competitions
For those of you interested in competing here are the details of the competitions and the dates of the events: Authors of the topics for 2014 are members of the traditional patchwork club BPK. The artist collection (this time Embroidered Surfaces) will be replaced with MOTHER NATURE, the technique is not limited. The traditional patchwork compe-tition will be featuring APPLICA-TION as one of the basic tech-niques in every basic workshop.