Textile Talk Gail Cowley

Sarah de Rousset-Hall is a hand embroidery artist and teacher, she works as a tutor for the Royal School of Needlework and runs her own embroidery business, Sarah Stitches.
Sarah came to embroidery as a second career, but has been embroidering as long as she can remember. Following on from a cancer diagnosis at 30, she returned to being a student a few years later to turn her hobby into a profession.
Sarah graduated from the RSN’s Future Tutor Programme in 2020, and has been working as a professional embroiderer ever since, teaching, developing kits and working on art pieces and commissions. In 2021 she became a Liveryman of the Worshipful Company of Broderers and a Freeman of the City of London.
In 2022 Sarah exhibited three art pieces at Broderers’ Exhibition: The Art of Embroidery at the Bankside Gallery in London, and she is currently working on pieces for their next exhibition in 2025.
In 2023, Sarah was honoured to be part of the Embroidery Studio team at the Royal School of Needlework who worked on a number of items for the Coronation of Their Majesties King Charles III and Queen Camilla, including The Queen’s Robe of Estate, the Anointing Screen and the Stole Royal.
Sarah lives in West Sussex with her husband and two cats (who occasionally make featured appearances in her online classes).
www.sarah-stitches.com
www.sofst.org

Scottish artist Jo Hamilton moved to Portland, Oregon in the early 1990s, after earning her BFA from the Glasgow School of Art. Her technique combines years of fine art practice with the craft of crochet which she learned as a child from her Gran, rendering traditional categories, which include portraiture, landscape and nudes in a contemporary light. Her work has been widely shown in the U.S. and Europe as well as in Beijing, Australia and South Korea, and belongs to museums and private collections in the US and worldwide.
You can view Jo work over on our website.
johamiltonart.com
facebook.com/johamilton4rt
instagram.com/johamiltonart

Jamie Chalmers, aka Mr X Stitch, aka the Kingpin of Contemporary Embroidery, took up cross stitching fifteen years ago and he’s never looked back.
Since establishing the Mr X Stitch website in 2008, he has been showcasing new talent in the world of needlework and textile art and has curated a number of stitch-based exhibitions in the UK and Ireland. He is the curator of PUSH Stitchery and the author of the Mr X Stitch Guide to Cross Stitch. He is the founder of XStitch, the game-changing cross stitch design magazine and the host of NeedleXChange, a podcast dedicated to conversations on the Art of Thread.
Jamie is a thought leader in the online stitch community and what he has dubbed ‘the new embroidery movement’ and is active on various social networking platforms. He loves introducing new people to the benefits of embroidery from a creative and wellbeing standpoint and is proud to be an ambassador for this ubiquitous craft.
https://www.mrxstitch.com/
www.sofst.org
 

Northern Yarn is an independent wool shop, situated in the historic city of Lancaster, with a stong focus on locally sourced British wool, including their own line produced from the fleeces of local flocks of sheep. Owner Kate Makin works together with local farmers, paying a higher price for good quality fleeces - then follows the process from sheep to skein creating a completely traceable product, using a renewable, local resource. The unique nature of the shop not only attracts visitors from all over the UK, but from visitors worldwide. Kate also organises local events promoting British wool and the women that work with it; shepherds, farmers and specialists, encouraging people to switch from acrylic - to natural fibres. 
www.northernyarn.co.uk
www.sofst.org 
IG - northern_yarn

FB - NorthernYarn

Zoë is a freelance artist, designer & illustrator based in Edinburgh, Scotland.
She has an honours degree in industrial design for textiles (print) and enjoyed a career in graphic design & the creative arts spanning over twenty years. Zoë now focuses on illustration commissions and personal work.
Zoë loves travelling, trying new foods and enjoys lifting weights in the gym. In her work, nature is Zoë's main source of inspiration and she uses a range of techniques in her work both traditional and digital.
Represented by her US agent, Lilla Rogers Studio, Zoë has happily been with the agency since 2013 when she won representation with her agent in a global competition.
You'll find Zoë's work on fabric, stationery, greeting cards, magazines, books and home décor products. Zoë is also the author of “Oh, My Gouache!” and “Drawing for the Soul” published by David and Charles.
http://www.zoeingram.com
http://www.instagram.com/zoeingram.illustration

http://www.instagram.com/zoeingramsplayground

www.sofst.org 

Gail chats with Debbie and Di from Appletons Wools. Appletons brand of crewel and tapestry wool has been used for nearly 200 years across the globe in some of the most prestigious tapestries and embroideries in cathedrals, stately homes, and government buildings.
Founded in 1835 by Thomas Appleton, Appletons is just as evangelical about British wool today as he was back then. All 425 colours are dyed and spun in Yorkshire and the wool is 100% British.
The range, which is available in crewel, 2 ply and tapestry, 4 ply yarn still incorporates all the William Morris shades as well as featuring a contemporary colour palette. the wool is used by modern and traditional designers, stitchers, weavers, needlework schools and rug restorers throughout Europe, Asia, Australasia and North America.
More recently Appletons has also worked with needlepoint designers to launch a range of tapestry and embroidery kits under the Appletons brand, all hand assembled in Buckinghamshire.
Today, Appletons prides itself on the quality and consistency of the wool they produce and on creating distinctive, beautiful kits to encourage others in the mindful, therapeutic, and creative art of stitching.
https://www.appletons.org.uk/
https://www.instagram.com/appletons_wool/
sales@appletons.org.uk
https://www.sofst.org/