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
Lots of free stuff to watch
We have a wide variety of videos that are free to registered viewers dotted through the interviews, tips, techniques and workshops on the site. BUT you can access them all now through a new page 'What's New' which is located on far rh side of the green menu bar when you hover over 'videos'. or click here One of our most popular workshops has been the 40 minute scrap quilt - why not take a look.
First Sampler Quilt Finished!
Hurray I have just finished my quilt. I love it. For me it looks fabulous. I know I can improve in stitch in the ditch and quilting but as you tell us practice makes perfect.
Thanks a lot for your tuition and guidance.
Regards
Joyce It's lovely Joyce and yes you will always improve with practice, but we never seem to stop learning or improving! Its a journey that I hope you will continue to enjoy.
How do you do an applique flower with 4 layers?
This was a question posed to us by Sandra: and here is my answer: The easiest way to do this layered flower is to put the first piece down - i.e. the largest, and sew all the way round; turn the work over and trim away the excess fabric (i.e. the background fabric) from beneath the flower leaving approx 1/4" (if you watch the tip for the grandmother's fan you will see what I mean;)click here:
then add the second, smaller flower, turn the work over and again trim away the excess fabric; and you then repeat for each of the layers - that way you keep the fabric from being very bulky and it is easier to quilt through - even by hand.