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
Does the Microtak gun make holes in the quilt?
Well its a yes and a no; the original gun did have HUGE tags that made really nasty holes and I refused to use or stock them (I owned a quilt shop at the time); however the current generation has a much smaller needle and tiny tags which hold the layers better since we have moved to flatter wadding and don't make holes in the fabric. I use them all the time and despite having several 000 in each box seem to be constantly running out!!!!
TIP: do invest in a tack remover as well as this will keep your quilt safe from little snips from your scissors and also stop you being tempted to use your best scissors to remove them (and spoil your scissors) NB: all these products are in the shop
Another great filming day with Jennie Rayment
From bunting to pincushions; waistcoats to neck bands; Serging to Pineapples - we had a great day and Jennie as always was on good form; lots of great content for the site - you will just have to keep watching!
Mini Mosaics – can you buy the grid separately?
I just thought I would let you know that Paula now has this in packets to sell at £5 plus p&p and is on our site in the shop now: Mini Mosaics Grid Pack
the grid is for 1" giving ½” finished and 1 ½” giving 1" finished If you are interested in seeing the video on Mini Mosaics with Paula Doyle click here