Come along with your sewing machine and join me and a group of likeminded stitchers and sew up the mysteries of free machine embroidery in this fun and informative machine stitching workshop. Learn how to use your sewing machine as a drawing and painting tool to create your own unique stitched pictures.

Working with your sewing machine and a sumptuous array of colorful threads in a variety of thickness you will be guided through all aspects of how to create a picture in free machine embroidery. All subjects will be covered from making a composition, placing imagery, incorporating a background and a foreground into your design and how to finish and present your work to its full and deserved potential.

As well as working on cotton fabric there will be the opportunity of embroidering onto the magical soluble fabric, where once submerged into water all the fabric disappears and only the stitching is left creating exciting 3D embellishments. These can be incorporated into your pictures or if desired turned into brooches, earrings, and other trimmings.

Bring along a picture, photograph or drawing that inspires you or use one of the templates supplied as inspiration for your own picture in stitches. The workshop is inclusive and designed for all from the novice stitcher to the more confident sewer. Everyone works at their own pace in a relaxed and creative environment under the guidance of expert machine embroiderer Linda Miller.

To ensure happy sewing it is important that your sewing machine is in good working order and has a compatible free motion embroidery foot and that either the feed dog teeth can be dropped or that a plate can be fitted over the teeth.

Please Bring with You

• An electric sewing machine. It is very important that your machine is in good working order and that the feed dog teeth can be dropped, or that a plate can be fitted over the teeth
• Sewing machine manual
• Sewing machine accessories (oil, screwdriver, etc.)
• A darning foot/free motion machine embroidery foot that is compatible with your machine
• Size 80 sewing machine needles
• Hand sewing needles
• Calico, medium/ heavy weight. (Approx. 50cm/half a yard)
• Notebook and pen, pencil, paper, ruler
• 8”/20cm wooden embroidery hoop
• Embroidery/sharp scissors
• Any threads you have, machine embroidery thread or ordinary dress making thread
• All bobbin spools that are compatible with your sewing machine
• Any hand embroidery threads you have
• Stitch and Tear- stabilising fabric
• Reference materials such as: pictures, drawings, books, photographs, patterning-visual material that interests you<

Please remember:

It is very important that your machine is in good working order and that the feed dog teeth can be dropped, or that a plate can be fitted over the teeth and that you have a free motion machine embroidery foot/free motion darning foot that is compatible with your sewing machine and fits correctly. Please bring all your sewing machine tools and the sewing machine manual.

Please bring as much as you can from the equipment list, if however, you do not have any of the list, I always bring everything with me, (except sewing machines) and items can be purchased at a small cost.

Materials Costs to Students

All materials are provided at a cost of £5 but do bring along any threads you have along with your sewing machine and all its sewing machine accessories.