Why do you stitch?

I stitch because I'm compelled to, it's in my blood. I inherited my passion for needlecrafts through my maternal lineage and grew up surrounded by embroidery threads, knitting and crochet paraphernalia, balls of wool, metres of fabric and sewing machines. I confess that simply the smell of a fabric shop does it for me more than any other retail experience.

The photo is an old one of me with my great-grandmother, my gran, my mom and my sister.

What is your embroidery style?

My style can be summed up as contemporary creative surface embroidery. It's an ecclectic approach to needlework that draws on myriad traditional techniques - Jacobean or crewelwork, mountmellick, raised and padded stitching, appliqué, anything that catches my attention… I enjoy experimenting, so tend to make it up as I go along.

 

What drew you to embroidery design?

I quickly ran out of projects to stitch when I started embroidering for real a good few years back and found myself seeing much more interesting ideas all around me. So it was only a matter of time before I started using the skills I've accumulated working in the media industry to design my own projects. And growing up in a "stitchy" family gave me the intrinsic knowledge I needed to make up the finished items.

 

What qualifies you to design embroidery projects and produce patterns and a publication such as the Stitch and Thimble?

On a professional level, I've worked in the media industry for about 10 years now - writing, editing, sub-editing, designing, art directing and working on layouts for various publications in South Africa and the UK. I've won a Mondi runner-up award for magazine design and illustration and two group newspaper design and layout awards for work that I spearheaded. I've written for, edited and sub-edited various publications during this time. And I spent a year as an advertising copywriter. I have a commerce degree and a post-graduate degree in advertising (copywriting).

From a needlework point of view, I have a project coming up in issue 74 of Inspirations, "Australia's most successful embroidery magazine". I designed a set of embroidered placemats for issue 67 of the magazine, which came out in the second half of 2010, and I've written a full-page feature for Inspirations in the past (issue 62). I've had an applique cushion project featured in British Patchwork & Quilting magazine (issue 184) and have been mentioned on several prominent needlework websites and blogs. You can see these in the press section of this site.

On a personal level, I love textiles and can't help but see potential designs in everything around me. And according to the Kolby A Index, I'm an off-the-chart Quick Start personality, which means I solve creative problems by modifying the parameters - a good trait to have when it comes to design.

 

Where can I see more of your work?

I load photos of most of the things I make on to my flickr page or blog, Materialistic, as well as my Hand Embroidery Network and Facebook pages. Or you can browse my online pattern shop or the Stitch and Thimble shop to see images of the projects I've designed and stitched for these. 

 

Do you write a blog?

Yes, I do. It's called Materialistic and I've been writing it since 2008. It's a blog about stitching, so you won't find many unrelated musings there (I told you I was compelled).

 

Do you dabble in other fibre or needlecrafts?

I do a bit of quilting and sewing on the side, and consider crochet a highly therapeutic hobby. You'll find the odd knitted scarf in my repertoire as well. This is why techniques from these crafts sometimes creep into my embroidery patterns.

 

What other things are you into?

Books, music, cooking, walking, being outdoors, hanging out with my husband, family and friends, movies, a bit of sport and generally interesting stuff about the world in which we live.