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
40 Minute Scrap Quilt
Here is what one viewer who found it on Youtube said: I LOVE this video. I wish everybody made quilting videos this way. thank you SO much for posting this video Have you seen it yet? click here and here is mine finally quilted (and given as a gift!)
What you can enjoy watching on the site in December 2012
An Exhibition to wander round We have started the month off with a wander round the Hope Quilters’ Exhibition that was held in Kent earlier in the year; this was a fantastic exhibition organised by Sylvia Critcher to showcase the work created (and finished!) by her students over the previous 3 years – and boy is there a lot of it! (so this is just part 1!) Still time to make things for Christmas As Christmas is just around the corner we thought you might like a couple of really quick ideas to help with making some wonderful woven cards (but these will be good for other occasions too) from The Stitch Witch plus a really quick last minute wall hanging decoration from Valerie.
Dresden Plate and Grandmother’s Fan
These traditional patterns work so very well for scrap quilts but here are some that Valerie put together from petals sewn by one of her students: The challenge was to see what different settings worked and also how to use up the various petals which had been made at random!