Friday 31 January 2014

January in stitches


Great to start teaching again .... in this six week course at Hoop I am teaching all the embroidery families, starting with running stitches and all their variations, then chain and today was cross stitches and herringbone. We settle comfortably into a happy contentedness experimenting and discovering the different ways of embellishing a simple basic stitch into a glorious rich brocade!

I often use my mother's stitch cards to demonstrate what is possible, and my students now confidently work in stranded cotton on felt swatches which we will make into little sample books when complete. I am designing a special sampler for them to complete at the end of the course.

But this business needs new input ... it has taken all my time to build it with the designs I have but now that I want to grow, I need to take some time out, during the relatively quiet winter months to design a new range of kits, and finally get those stitch cards produced! So for the next two or three weeks that is what I am going to do. There are a lovely lot of kits made up ready to go when orders come in ( I have lost lovely Sarah who has gone to live in Pevensey Bay!) and accounts are done and studio ordered ...

It feels oddly like a guilty pleasure ....

stitch card teaching aids by Joan Nicholson
Stitch Cards by Joan Nicholson 1960

Samples of stitches on card and felt
Running Stitch variants 

Stitch samples in class
Sticthed sample cards

Work by students
Embellished chain stitches

Work by students


Herringbone Varients
Herringbone variants

stitch card teaching aids by Joan Nicholson
More Stitch cards

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