Creative Stitch Graduate Show 2026 - save the date

 

The end of an era. 2026 will be the final Creative Stitch Graduate Show.

This will be an extra special show and a real celebration of all that Creative Stitch have achieved since SEFWI first started supporting our courses in 2007. I was a student in that first cohort with tutor Annette Morgan and I am proud to have continued her legacy alongside many tutors over the years -   Marion Barnes, Diane Thompson, Kate Thomson and Tina Finbow.

There will be student displays by 10 Advanced Stitched Textile students with some very exciting, innovative and meaningful work on show.

As it is the final show we have invited some of the textile groups formed from past students. There will be exhibitions by

Out of the Fold 

Feed Dogs Down

Textile Connections 

Spotlight Textiles 

Fibre Transformations

There will be lots more information coming out in the run up to the show. But for now please save the date.

Sat 18th and Sun 19th July 2026   10am - 4pm each day

Needham Market Community Centre, School Street, Needham Market IP6 8BB

Entry £5, under 18's free

Wearer Unknown

 

It is two years since I joined E.A.S.T. and we have been working for most of that time towards the 'Paradigm Shift' exhibition.

Reasearch and experientation are at the heart of E.A.S.T.s working practice, looking for ways to make work with real depth and meaning. Alongside regular one-to-one mentoring sessions with the group mentor Anthea Godfrey.

Each new series of work takes a long time to evolve. I have enjoyed all the research, the finding of a story to tell, and the experimentation of new materials and techniques. It has been a struggle at times and lots of things I tried just did not give me the result I wanted. But finally..........

My series is called 'Wearer Unknown' as despite my best efforts I was unable to discover the owner or wearer of the little clogs found in my mother's house.

My research led me to the Concealed Shoe index held by Northampton Shoe Museum where each shoe, discovered in the walls or chimneys of old buildings, has been recorded. 

The index lists the place, the location, the finder, the date and the shoe description but never the wearer

I have been free to imagine the wearers of my own little shoes and of those concealed shoes.

Plaster casts from my original clogs can help tell the stories

Shoes have been hidden for hundreds of years. 

Some are in a very poor state

Shoes feel very human, taking on the shape of the (unknown) wearer which can still be seen.

To help tell the story of  concealed shoes and their imagined wearer the plaster casts will walk on a path made from mixed media, recycled and rusted hexagons

The CSI. index number gives the location of each concealed shoe find.

Each hexagon relates to a concealed shoe entry using maps for the location, related text, and imagined fabrics for the wearers.

All are aged and distressed to suggest the many years the shoes spent in chimneys, roof spaces, under floorboards and in walls. 

You will be able to see the whole 'Unknown Wearer' installation including the supporting research notes and design work, at the E.A.S.T. exhibition.

Grundisburgh House Gallery

Woodbridge Road

Grundisburgh

Suffolk

IP13 6UD

20th May - 2nd June 2026

10.30 - 4.30 each day

FREE entry

Workshop result

 

I love it when a workshop student shows me images of their completed pieces. Jane Starnes has taken it to a new level! 

Jane came on a one day 'Monoprint Magic' workshop at the Cosy Cabin last summer and has used the techniques from that day to make a beautiful large panel in delightful pale shades. It is really lovely.

If you would like to try the 'Monoprint Magic' workshop there is another one day workshop running on Saturday 6th June 2026

We will gather natural foliage and use this to monoprint with a gelliplate or similar to create lots of unique fabric before spending the afternoon making these up into a semi-transparent panel.

Wide choice of colourways - go pale and pastel like Jane or hot and vibrant like the piece I did last year (see left). The size can be adapted to fit your planned space. Simple machine stitching.

All materials provided for £15. You will need to bring a gellipate and roller and a sewing machine. Workshop cost: £55 

The Cosy Cabin, Risby Barns, Bury St Edmunds IP28 6QU

To book please contact The Cosy Cabin on 01284 811 222

New workshops at The Cosy Cabin

 

New workshop for 2026 Lutradur Lantern

Using a spunbond fabric we will stitch, colour, foil and burn to create a delicate filigree design before making up into a glass candle holder. Straight stitch, progammed stitches or free motion options. Choice of colour ways. Machine stitching. Suitable for all levels.

Date: Sunday 19th April  2026 10am - 4pm

Venue: The Cosy Cabin, Risby Barns, Risby, Bury St Edmunds IP28 6QU

Cost: £55 plus £6 for materials

To book please contact The Cosy Cabin  01284 811 222 or visit www.thecosycabin.co.uk/

New workshop for 2026 Handmade Fabric Book

Learn the skills of basic bookbinding to make an unique A5 sketchbook from scratch. We will print the fabric for the cover and paper for the endpapers before making up the the book. Suitable for all levels

All materials provided for £10. Choice of colourways.

Date: Saturday 2nd May 2026  10am - 4pm

Cost: £55

Monoprint Magic will return on Saturday 6th June 2026

Using gathered foliage to print onto fabric with paints and inks before making up into a panel with the contemporary machine stitch Pojagi piecing technique.

The outcome will be a semi-transparent hanging to be dispayed in a window or against a pale wall. Can be adapted to fit your space. Machine stitching. Suitable for all levels.

All materials provided for £15

Date: Sat 6th June 2026  10am - 4pm

Cost: £55

New workshop for 2026  Eco printed silk scarf

Learn the skills of mordanting and eco printing onto a 100% pure silk scarf using gathered fresh leaves. 

I will provide all the equipment needed - pans, stoves, drainpipes, iron water etc. A 100% ponge 5 silk scarf 28cm x 114cm with a hand stitched rolled edge from George Weil can be supplied for £6 if ordered in advance.

Date: Saturday 4th July 2026   10am - 4pm

Cost: £55

To book please contact The Cosy Cabin  01284 811 222 or visit www.thecosycabin.co.uk/

Workshops at Sew and So's

 

I enjoy teaching at Sew and So's near Bungay with a lovely light teaching space and a wonderfully stocked shop fully of textile goodies.

Thread Bowls is running as a one day workshop there on Sunday 29th March 2026

10am - 3.pm

We will use soluble film with sheer and glitzy fabric and LOTS off thread to stitch a delicate, yet surprisingly strong, thread bowl.  A good one to try free motion machine embroidery without too much stress. 

To book go to  www.sewsos.co.uk/courses/thread-bowls-with-mary-mcintosh

Then on Wednesday 8th April there is a Shrivel Up and  Dye one day workshop where we will create a highly textured panel using a shrinkable wool base and lots of lovely silks, satins, cottons, linen and lace fabrics.

Learn about procion dyes when we dye our piece at the end of the day ready to take home to wash (and shrink)

sewsos.co.uk/shrivel-up-and-dye-with-mary-mcintosh

Workshops at £45 for the day. Plus materials. 

Remember the shoes?

 

It was way back in March 2025 when I did my last post about the ongoing series of work for the EAST exhibition planned for May 2026. 

Lots of other things got in the way - teaching, exhibiting with Out of the Fold and Juxtasposition, and a wonderful trip to India.

The original inspiration was the discovery of a pair of old children's shoes when clearing out my nother's house. No-one knows who wore them.

The title "Wearer Unknown" was reinforced by my visit to the Northampton shoe museum and the discovery of the Concealed Shoe Index (CSI) which records finds of shoes hidden in old houses. The index lists the location, finder and date for each shoe but never the wearer.

My aim is to make as many shoes as I can before the exhibition. The Consealed Shoe Index has almost 2000 entries - this is a little ambitious as so far I have managed ten!

It is quite a long process as after casting each shoe needs to dry before being subjected to various ageing and distressing treatments and I am still experimenting with different effects. So far I have used tea - coffee - iron filings - vinegar - hydrogen peroxide - soot - mud - salt - copper water and sand. 

EAST work with a group mentor Anthea Godfrey who visits our monthly meetings and we all have a one-to-one session to discuss our work. Anthea asked the questions "How are you going to display your shoes?" and how are you going to tell the story of the Concealed Shoe Index? Both good questions.

My solution is to give the shoes a path, made up by stitched hexagons, with each one suggesting an entry in the shoe register. 

I can repurpose some hexagons from a previous installation and add lots more using recycled materials from my vintage fabric stash.

There is a paper record in each hexagon detailing the location, image or history of each shoe find.

My old friend the rust bucket is proving useful once again and the smell of vinegar pervades the house as stitched hexagons are given the rust treatment.

I like how the rust brings out the stitching of a Concealed Shoe Index register number - CSI. 894 - this one from a find in Clare, Suffolk

The initials E.K. where already embroidered on this repurposed linen. I do not know the identity of the stitcher and like the shoes her name is unknown but her story can be imagined.

Each hexagon is double-sided and can be rearranged to fit different spaces.

So I will continue to make my steps and shoes until I run out of energy or time before the exhibition. It will be an installation, exhibited on the floor of the Grundisburgh House Gallery with visitors invited to move the work around if they wish. 

Hopefully the smell of vinegar will have evaporated by then!

"Wearer Unknown" will be exhibited as part of the EAST exhibition 'Paradigm Shift' at the Grundisburgh House Gallery, near Woodbridge, Suffolk from 20th May until 2nd June 2026

 

Juxtaposition at Spring Into Textiles East Fair

 

Juxtaposition - Textile Artists Heather Evans, Penny Evans and myself - will be taking a small exhibition to the Spring Textiles East Fair

Dates: Saturday 21st and Sun 22nd February 2026

Opening times: 10.30am - 4pm each day

Venue: Rowley Mile Racecourse, Newmarket, Suffolk CB8 0TF

Entry: £10 (Sat) £9 (Sun)

Lots of free parking

www.textileseastfair.wordpress.com/

Textured and smooth

 'Juxtaposition' is placing two or more contrasting items side-by-side to highlight their differences or surprising similarities creating deeper meaning.

Each of the three exhibiting artists work in very different ways and use different materials and techniques.

Thick and thin

'Touch' is invited by raising the surface

'Direction' is given with lines to follow 

'Glow' is illuminated by the use of light

Light and dark

 'Form' is explored with the deployment of fins

'Fragility' is strong

'Transparency' can be spurprisingly opaque