About Susan
Susan has been teaching embroidery for many years and loves to share her enthusiasm for a wide range of techniques.
She completed her City and Guilds Part II in Embroidery with the inspirational Anthea Godfrey at the London College of Fashion (as it then was). Over the past twenty years, she has taught a wide range of classes including City and Guilds and leisure classes, with the WI, and most recently independently in the Wivenhoe and the Colchester area of Essex.
Susan took early retirement in 2013, giving her more time for embroidery and textile related activities. She enjoys being an active participant in the local branch of the Embroiderers’ Guild, visiting more exhibitions, attending workshops and reading more about her favourite textile art topics both in print and on-line.
She has also become a student again, signing up for the City and Guilds in Patchwork and Quilting with Creative Stitch Suffolk. According to Susan, “It’s been great to take on new challenges and learn new skills.”
Susan blogs regularly on her website, Threadlines, where she gathers together various elements of her long-standing fascination with embroidery and textile arts more generally. Her hope is that Threadlines will widen her circle of embroidery and textile art friends, and encourage non-embroiderers to try it – just once (that’s all it takes!
Signature Technique
Embroidery
Susan’s Top Tips
- The simpler the stitch, often, the more you can do with it.
- One of the (many) aspects of textiles that I love is that you don’t need to be doing just one project. Try new things…several at a time!
- Doing something completely new with a group of friends makes it extra special.
- If you want to know the ‘right’ way to embroider then turn to a technique manual.
Books and Patterns
Posts
Quilting groups at the heart of their communities
We thought you might like to listen to this from Womens Hour on Wednesday 15 Aug 2018 on BBC Radio 4. https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0bf4cjw They had a 'Listener Week' where listeners are invited to write in to suggest topics of discussion. If you listen from 32.00 minutes you'll hear a lovely discussion about quilting and quilting groups. A quilter from Dundee- Penelope Wild, who attends a monthly group in her area had written in and suggested quilting as a topic.
17 August 2018
New Videos Every Friday Dyeing in a Plastic Bag [...]
Festival of Quilts 2018
Valerie and our Director Steve Barton, took a working visit to this year's Festival of Quilts and Steve couldn't help but steal some time to admire the amazing array of quilts and take some pictures to share with you. This was Valerie's personal favourite - 'Metropolis' by Lesley Brankin - a delightful and talented textile artist whose work we have featured on the site .