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
Bizview.tv
Val; Some of you may have heard that Bizview.tv as a company is no longer trading but I have to tell you that the boys are alive and well; Justhands-on.tv will continue to have close links with Dave & Matt (and the cameras) as well as Paul, so for us its business as usual. We have lots of wonderful plans including visiting the Festival of Quilts on Sunday 14th August with the cameras; the event at Hever Castle in September and Jennie and I will be together later in August to film the new Block of the Month programme (which is coming along well in my sewing room!)
Rosebud Fayre – our New Block of the Month
Jennie and I had a wonderful day filming on Tuesday – all seven parts of our new block of the month programme and I have now given the quilt a name (!) – Rosebud Fayre - which is also the name of the range of fabrics that we used; designed by Gail Kessler for Andover and distributed in the UK by Makower, these fabrics have been mixed with some of the Makower Itsy Bitsy range.
Holiday Sewing
Max was so taken with the pattern he found of Owl on the Daisy Chain stand at the National Patchwork Championships in June that he couldn't wait to get the sewing done.
He chose the fabrics too (good choice!) and while Twit is finished and obviously much loved, Wit and Woo are still works in progress. (Mum's supervision time is being taken up with sewing on name tags!)