The Stitch Safari Podcast: Recent Episodes
Cathy Jack Coupland
Australian Textile Artist, Cathy Jack Coupland hosts this brand-new fortnightly safari-inspired podcast, journeying into the beguiling world of stitch, sewing, and embroidery, with insights into its history, use, and innovations. Join this unique expedition and thread your way into the amazing and irresistible world of needle and thread. Learn more about Cathy's work with needle and thread at cathyjackcoupland.com
This is the perfect time to begin ordering and assembling those gift ideas for loved ones, family and friends, well before the Christmas rush sets in.
I'll explore thoughtful gifts to delight stitchers from traditional hand embroiderers, through to creative machine embroiderers and experimental textile artists.
Fill this festive season with artistry that reminds you of connection, creativity and joy - all centred around the use of a simple needle and thread - one of the oldest tools known to man.
Show Notes: https://stitchsafari.com/christmas-gift-g…-textile-artists/
This is the fascinating history of Khayamiya - a lavishly decorative textile art that was originally used for tents, palace interiors and ceremonial pavilions and one that continues in the bustling market of Sharia Khayamiya or, as we know it, the 'Street of the Tentmakers', where skilled artisans continue to create dazzlingly intricate and colourful stitched panels, that have evolved into wall hangings and other cherished collector's items now often made for the tourist industry. We need to be reminded that embroidery and the textile arts not only serve aesthetic and functional purposes, but are also the profound carriers of cultural heritage. These panels, cushions, cloths or spreads are not relics of the past but the embodiment of a living practice that has an enduring power.
Show Notes: https://stitchsafari.com/khayamiya-the-tentmakers-of-cairo/
In this lively episode of the Stitch Safari Podcast, I'm celebrating the quirky, personal, rule-breaking world of Idisyncratic Embroidery. This is the space where individuality thrives, where traditions are bent or broken, and where embroidery becomes a deeply personal language of expression.
Rules, patterns and expectations become blurred with stitches finding themselves wandering every which way, where colour choices are meant to surprise or challenge and where compositions tend to make you want to stop and think.
Join me as I explore four embroidery artists who break rules or use a technique unexpectedly, but to my mind, that only enriches and enhances the world of embroidery as they explore and develop.
Show Notes: https://stitchsafari.com/idiosyncratic-em…daring-to-differ/
Embroidery is frequently imagined as something small and delicate, nestled in a hoop or stitched onto clothing, and that's all well and good. But by turning embroidery into something monumental or, conversely, something tiny, an artist can help create a sense of dynamism in their work.
Join me as I explore the hidden opportunities available to embroidery artists simply by utilising the power of scale.
Show Notes: https://stitchsafari.com/dynamic-embroide…e-power-of-scale/
Whether man-made or naturally occurring, pattern suggests rhythm, repetition, and energy that have the power to move our eyes, stir our emotions, and tell stories that go far beyond the surface.
From ancient cultural motifs to bold contemporary designs, pattern can transform embroidery into something alive and dynamic.
In this episode, learn how to invest in the aesthetics of patterns to create beauty, harmony, and visual rhythms in your designs, providing a sense of order and structure that can help make designs more understandable and meaningful.
Show Notes: https://stitchsafari.com/dynamic-embroide…power-of-pattern/
Contrast creates visual interest, emphasis and clarity in a design that can guide the viewer's eye, separate information, and make certain parts of the design stand out from everything else. It can make your work pop, sparkle and sizzle, creating the difference between nice and wow.
Join me as I explore ways to add contrast to your embroidery art, offering current embroidery artists for you to research.
Contrast can transform your work from the ordinary into the extraordinary.
Show Notes: https://stitchsafari.com/dynamic-embroide…ower-of-contrast/
This episode of the Stitch Safari Podcast is the first in a series entitled 'Dynamic Embroidery'. Embroidery is an art form that adheres to the same practices, principles and devices as all other art forms - and that's exactly what I want to demonstrate with this Dynamic Embroidery series. And the first in this amazing series deals with the Power of Texture.
Show Notes here: https://stitchsafari.com/dynamic-embroide…power-of-texture/
This is a unique space where abstraction encourages us to look beyond what we see, to feel the artist's expression of emotion and imagination formed by using fabric, techniques involving a needle and thread and a whole bucketload of intuition.
What does abstraction in embroidery mean? How do artists use stitches as their expressive tools? Who are some of the artists working in this arena of embroidery, and what ideas are they exploring? Finally, how can you begin to embrace embroidery in your unique creative journey?
Join me now as I explore this complex yet highly expressive world of abstract embroidery.
Show Notes: https://stitchsafari.com/abstract-embroidery/
In this episode, I'm travelling to exotic India, where embroidery isn't simply decoration; it's devotion to a long and fascinating heritage, as told through the Lehenga, a tale of elegance and timeless beauty.
Whether you're a textile artist, an embroiderer, a lover of fashion or simply curious about the art that clothes us, join me in this episode as I explore the exquisite world of India's embroidered Lehengas.
Show Notes: https://stitchsafari.com/the-lehenga-indi…at-its-very-best/
What happens when one lets go of convention, yet still retains strong connections with beauty and craftsmanship? We can still utilise symbolism and fine work to explore and disrupt norms by using non-traditional materials, aggressive motifs, unusual threads and unconventional imagery, making textile and embroidery art one of the most interesting artistic genres to explore for the up-and-coming while maintaining craftsmanship.
Join me as I explore how bridal couture is honouring yet redefining tradition.
Show Notes: https://stitchsafari.com/the-subversive-bridal-gown/
This is the episode where fabric and thread meet imagination. Can a needle and thread truly be used to trick the eye? Is it magic or simply sleight of hand? For centuries, artists and embroiderers have been playing games with our minds to suggest that what we see might just represent something else. The thing is, these illusions are still in use today.
In today's episode of Embroidery Illusion: Distorting the Senses, I'll explore the fascinating worlds of trompe l'oeil, shading, dimension, shadow work, transparency and perspective as they are used in the art of embroidery.
Show Notes: https://stitchsafari.com/embroidered-illu…rting-the-senses/
So why do people fall in love with embroidery, and what keeps them hooked? We know it's a sensory experience that's soothing and engaging, allowing personal creativity free rein. But embroidery is also a learned skill, one that can be successfully self-taught, providing a sense of accomplishment and confidence-building. It's continuous learning and curiosity that sparks further innovation, still able to offer a connection with our past and an appreciation of the artistic heritage of embroidery.
In this episode, let's find out more about the connective power of passion and curiosity in embroidery through the stories of five fascinating embroiderers who have followed their own paths to create unique textile art.
The legacy of Hand & Lock is the championing of artists through their annual Prize, reminding us that even the most delicate threads carry powerful and insightful stories across the centuries and cultures.
Join me as I explore this pillar of excellence, a house where embroidery is not simply a craft but an art, a legacy and a living, breathing story - all recorded in stylish stitching.
Show Notes: https://stitchsafari.com/embroidery-and-t…-hand-lock-prize/
This inspiring form of embroidery offers a deep dive into how easily obtained natural elements, such as leaves, can be transformed through embroidery.
To help round out this episode, I'll explore how natural design motifs such as leaves have been used in traditional and modern design, and delve into historical practices and the cultural significance of the leaf motif.
Show Notes: https://stitchsafari.com/the-leaf-motif-f…arden-to-gallery/
In 2025, gloves are emerging as a prominent and versatile medium for artistic expression. More and more artists are using them as repurposed items, or to explore their symbolism and narrative potential. Join me as I briefly journey through the history of gloves and their uses, to the modern-day culture of the iconic embroidered glove.
Show Notes: https://stitchsafari.com/the-sartorial-embroidered-glove/
Join me as I explore the predictions from 2024 for embroidery trends in 2025. Are they correct? Do they tally with what embroiderers are creating now? Let's find out together.
Show Notes: https://stitchsafari.com/2025-embroidery-…they-here-or-not/
Hoops can be used to maintain tension while stitching but also to display the finished work, as I'm doing with my 100 Stitched Circles. En masse, they make a great installation. They can be hung from the ceiling or used for 3D embroidery, and they make fantastic wall art incorporating different shapes and sizes. Join me as I jump through some hoops in today's episode.
Show Notes: https://stitchsafari.com/the-wonderful-wo…hoops-and-frames/
100 Stitched Circles: https://www.instagram.com/cathyjackcoupland/
Join me on this examination and inspection of anatomic embroidery as I dissect, audit and review the whys and wherefores along with the artistic evaluation and interpretation of this genre of embroidery. It's unique, it's educative, and it may not be for everyone - but it's out there and needs to be explored. These embroidered artworks will make you marvel at how we are made and function.
Show Notes: https://stitchsafari.com/anatomical-embroidery/
Recently I saw a post on social media questioning whether embroidery was outdated. The resounding answer is, of course, no - but why? The wiser question would be, why is embroidery enjoying a renaissance? Hasn't it been around for eons? What's the value of embroidery in the 21st century? Just who is picking up a needle and thread now? Join me in this fascinating episode to find the answers to these questions.
Show Notes: https://stitchsafari.com/why-is-embroidery-popular/
We've all been there, haven't we? In stressful times it's too easy to make the sewing room a dumping ground for works-in-progress and newly acquired items. We're all visual artists, so visually the space we work in has to be pleasing too, but it also has to be efficient, effective and safe. Listen to this episode to learn how I revamped my sewing room. Show Notes: https://stitchsafari.com/podcast/
What better way to begin 2025 than with something gaining traction as a popular means of documenting life events, happenings, memorable moments or simply feelings - I'm talking about Embroidery Journalling. Join me as I explore this amazing, relatively new embroidery community.
Show Notes: https://stitchsafari.com/embroidery-journalling/
Embroidered food is an unusual topic offering a surprisingly interesting and complex level of realism that's truly off the charts.
But the simple needle and thread are also used here to comment on consumerism, everyday life, and things we take for granted such as our daily bread or the simple pleasure of growing our own vegetables.
Each artist uses the art of embroidery in their own way, expressing the utter beauty of something we all see and use daily.
Stitch Safari listeners, whether faces or figures, embroidery, patchwork or quilting, these artists capture the synergy of humanity through a gesture or a look. They do it with flair and vivacity giving personality to each and every stitch and thread colour and that's important because these faces and figures need to sing.
Show Notes: https://stitchsafari.com/embroidered-faces-and-figures/
How often do embroiderers think of perspective? Well, in the case of the following embroidery artists, the answer would have to be, often, because they take their work to an aerial perspective depicting embroidered scenes one does not often think about or get to see.
Join me in this fascinating episode detailing the magical work of four amazing embroidery artists.
Show Notes: https://stitchsafari.com/embroidered-aerial-views/
This bountiful aspect of the natural world offers such scope for variety, colour, shape, and pattern it's hard to overlook it. Vital to the world's ecosystems and sustainable food production, they are also incredibly beautiful and are increasingly used as subjects for embroidery.
Join me as I introduce five embroidery artists who work their magic using the insect world as their muse.
Show Notes here: https://stitchsafari.com/beetles-butterfl…ts-in-embroidery/
In this episode, I dip into some Yuletide bliss offering suggestions to make ourselves a Merry Little Christmas or a Winter Wonderland of creativity and love. This pre-Christmas countdown is really about slowing down and thinking about the people in our lives we love and treasure - the people who would be delighted to receive a thoughtful, useful or completely kitch hand-made gift from us.
This episode pays tribute to an embroidery artist who, from a very young age, was devoted to capturing and recording the beauty and complexity of nature, learning to note intricate details that would later lay a foundation for her work in textiles.
Show notes here: https://stitchsafari.com/australian-textile-artist-annemieke-mein/
This is a follow-up to the previous episode of the Stitch Safari Podcast, Masters of Our Machines, and focuses on books offering inspiration, technique, and thoughts on the artistry of machine embroidery today.
The sewing machine becomes an extension of ourselves and a means of describing the world around us. It can produce many marks and qualities to express artistic vision and perceptions, including colour, texture, dimension and pattern—just as a painter works with brushstrokes to create line, shape, and movement, our machines become a design and mark-making tool.
Show Notes: https://stitchsafari.com/masters-of-our-machines/
What a privilege to introduce two inspiring embroidery artists. Whether or not you like machine embroidery or small dolls, these two artists are worth studying for their amazing use of technique and how they apply that to create wonderful narratives - they bring ingenuity, inventiveness, flair and finesse to their art.
Emanating vintage vibes the fascinating, exciting, and inspiring genre of Steampunk, an off-shoot of science fiction is the perfect inspiration for a new body of textile and embroidered art - think past, present and future - all with a touch of mystery, adventure and romance.
Show Notes: https://stitchsafari.com/steampunk-and-textile-art/
This episode covers the vastly underrated and underused area of textiles, embroidery and fibre used to create imagery for children's books. It's one we should all be looking at a little more closely.
Show Notes: https://stitchsafari.com/books-using-stit…or-fibre-imagery/
In this episode, I review three YouTube videos that recreate historical costumes and embroidery, two with input from Hand and Lock and The Royal School of Needlework, the third is presented by a fashion historian.
Show Notes: https://stitchsafari.com/videos-recreatin…e-and-embroidery/
The artworks featured in this episode are exemplars that thread is resilient and unifying, connecting heritage with painful memories and histories that can and have become the voice of the abused and the marginalised.
Link a worldwide group of collaborative embroiderers to see the true power of stitch to connect and depict. This episode highlights three collaborative embroidery projects driven by women for women.
Show notes: https://stitchsafari.com/collaborative-embroidery-projects/
I've chosen three books published at different times - 1980, 1994, and 2013 giving scope to all those ideas just waiting to be released into new traditional or innovative work, because I believe ‘you need to look back to move forward’.
Show Notes: https://stitchsafari.com/book-reviews-from-my-library/
Constructive feedback for your artwork is hard. Do you self-critique or rely on the opinions of others? It takes strength, discipline and courage to be an artist and to learn to trust our inner selves to assess our work.
Do you have a vision? Are you focused? Will you learn a new technique or skill or are you after something far more relaxing, entertaining and fun? We all have different needs and as a result, different expectations, so let’s understand some of those needs and expectations.
Show Notes: https://stitchsafari.com/what-do-you-want-from-a-workshop/
This episode delves into how to move forward in our work to exercise all the areas of artistic life that lead to success - the hidden gems many don't see.
Show notes: https://stitchsafari.com/the-hidden-gems-behind-success/
Ideas and tips to value-add to your website, promote what you do and the wonderful world of embroidery and textile art - all by writing a regular blog. Show notes are available here.
This episode explores ten textile and embroidery artist websites looking for features that promote and explore their vision, with basic tips on what I look for and don't want to find in website design. It's thought-provoking if you already have a website and informative if you're setting one up.
Ideas on what may appeal to the new embroiderer, the traditional embroiderer, the textile artist or someone who may love collecting sewing-related paraphernalia?
This is an expedition into an artistic duo who create magic - two artists had a vision to conceive a world that hovers within and between photography and embroidery, traversing and immersing both arts with an almost palpable dynamism - yet the images are static, serene, and stationary.
In this episode, I have two very different, very inspiring new books ready to review - and I chose them for various reasons - but most of all for their value - they delivered something special in terms of content, emotion, insight into process, and that ever-present, behemoth, technique and creativity.
The Dorset Button is something very different indeed - something that remains handmade and meant to be decorative not simply utilitarian.
Not all online video tutorials are professionally crafted or indeed offer great content - but many do, so buyer beware, do your due diligence, check out what’s on offer, understand exactly what it is you’re after and what exactly it is that you’ll receive in the tutorial.
Dolls, those miniature human figures so beloved by the young and the young at heart are a worldwide phenomenon - they’re a means of imitation helping to satisfy a child’s need or instinct to copy and learn through play, but they’re also a BFF.
Dolls are time travelers with a series of complex stories to tell about resilience, racism, culture, tradition, family relationships, childhood, memories, escapism, and love and embroidery adds emotion, and individuality to every doll.
Straw has been used to decorate and embellish costumes and ecclesiastical garments since the 1600s - some sources believe that straw was used as an imitation for goldwork embroidery hence the name, poor man’s Gold - it is very reminiscent of goldwork embroidery.
Truly successful embroidery relies on colour to express emotion and mood, focal point, suggest patterns, retain traditions and relate cultural storytelling - when you think about it, colour has a lot riding on its shoulders, but it’s a burden of pure pleasure once you break through that confidence barrier - and that’s a huge struggle for a lot of people, so let’s break down some of those barriers in this episode of Stitch Safari, let’s offer some insights into how to use colour in embroidery, what suggestions may help people conquer colour confidence and what other embroiderers do to help them choose their colour palletes.
In this episode, I’d like to swing the pendulum back a little towards a book that forges inspiration through the study of historical textiles to see the process of 27 modern-day working embroiderers. Published in 1993 it’s a gem of a book - and belongs to a time that really was one of the Golden Ages of English embroidery.
The Stitch Safari Podcast is expanding to include live interviews with Australian embroiderers - and this is the first. Introducing Effie Mitrofanis a researcher, and tutor ofboth creative and traditional hand embroidery who has lectured and exhibited internationally as well as throughout Australia.
For many embroidery is about gaining a certain amount of freedom from a prescribed formula - their design inspiration may form a narrative, or it may be pure abstraction, expressive mark making, or simply just the coalescence of fabric, texture, and embroidery - and sometimes that’s all it takes.
Pleated embroidery or smocking, as it’s called now, has always held a sort of mystical allure - it’s a technique that appears complicated and intricate, allowing drape and ease of movement for the wearer, creating an irresistible number of pattern combinations. But fashion designers and innovative textile and fibre artists are also using this traditional technique to create unique and inspiring art and wearable art.
One of the main considerations for embroidery is the type of needle you actually need and how to care for it. Needles can either hinder or help during the stitching process, so it’s important to understand the hidden mechanics of their usage.
The three books reviewed for you here in this episode are all written by Australian embroidery artists - showing the depth of innovation and creativity abiding here in Australia. They are all outstanding - and all for very different reasons.
Go back far enough through history, and you’ll find that magic and mysticism were at the forefront of everyday living and people's remedy was to use embroidery that became part of their visual language - it was storytelling for all to see, educated or uneducated, but, within that embroidery was power - the power of magic.
World Embroidery Day celebrated annually on July 30, was set up in Sweden by one of the Swedish Embroiderer’s Guilds, with a Manifesto encompassing their vision about embroidery to help aid Peace, Freedom, and Equality. This episode examines their Manifesto along with a recent YouTube video celebrating World Embroidery Day 2023 and ideas for celebrating World Embroidery Day 2024.
Covid19, self-isolation, and Lockdowns created a revolution in how we associated and communicated with each other - it was a time of re-shaping and re-thinking during uncertain times, but when you think about it, embroidery is a form of connection in itself - through the patterns and imaginative stories captured within every single pull of a needle and thread through a base fabric, connecting us with our past, our present and our future.
This topic is murky, leaden, and depressing - and I’d just like to know, who’s making the decisions pertaining to what art actually is, because I find that to be very blurry indeed. It's time to explore this topic more fully from the perspective of a textile and embroidery artist.
Craftivism is a gentle form of protest, it’s not extreme yet allows makers a platform to voice their concerns and opinions about social justice, political viewpoints, and environmental issues.
This is the first time in 110 years that an artwork that includes embroidery and collage has won the prestigious Archibald Prize. This episode looks behind comments and critics to find a precedent from 1950s America.
It's a tortuous history, the invention of the sewing machine, but surely one of the most important and useful machines ever devised.
After weeks of speculation, we were able to witness the Coronation of King Charles III - and what a celebration of British designers and British craftsmanship, past and present who created spectacular embroidery full of rich symbolism fit for a new King and Queen.
Join me as I discuss five contemporary embroidery artists who make use of both simple and intricate embroidery techniques, using hand and machine embroidery, to create amazingly innovative and diverse stitchery.
A short recap of the history of Canvaswork for context, moving onto the complexity of contemporary Canvaswork, featuring the design work of two highly regarded artists, Kaffe Fassett and Raymond Honeyman.
‘Queering the Subversive Stitch - Men and the Culture of Needlework’ written by Joseph McBrinn, Published by Bloomsbury in Great Britain in 2021, is the focus of this episode.
The Bloomsbury Set were a very important group of influencers of their time - an influence that, surprisingly, continues to this very day. They questioned normative thinking about literature, criticism, and economics, not to mention their modern attitudes toward feminism, pacifism, and sexuality, but most of all created a self-fashioned design aesthetic. ‘They lived in squares,painted in circles and loved in triangles’.
I’ve touched on men who stitch before, but the combination of the artistic skills and technical ability of the two men I’m going to feature in this episode is beyond exceptional - and what’s unique is that they collaborate - they live together and they stitch together, creating work that revolves around the reconsidered role of gender - the gay family.
Where would we be without the inspiration and creativity we derived from informative books brimming with crisp, colourful drawings and images? The Stitch Safari Podcast will now include book reviews pertinent to the topics recently covered.
Sketchbooks are thepersonalized visual storytelling of an artist’s process that allows us to see behind the scenes, so to speak, to see the successes as well as the failures, that eventually forms into a fully resolved piece of embroidered textile art.
Using either paper or metal in embroidery work is to add to the offering of infinite creative options available for the modern embroiderer.
Zero waste is a philosophy of sustainable upcycling, with the benefit of limiting the impact waste, has on our environment. This episode explores the work of Jessica Grady, Marian Jazmik, and Jane Perkins - all of whom work very differently with recycled elements.
Aloha ‘Ania - that’s Hawaiin for ‘love of country’ - and that’s exactly what we see here, so plainly and beautifully expressed in the graphically striking, exotic Hawaiin quilts as well as Tivaevae quilts from the Cook Islands.
From the Sindh in Pakistan on the Indian subcontinent to the Amish settlements of Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Indiana in America, Stitch Safari now travels into two very different styles of quilts resulting from two very different cultures - one is based on long-held, ancient sewing traditions and motifs using appliqué, patchwork, and embroidery to make quilts that vibrate with energy and colour, the other is bound by the restrictions of belief and community, yet still with the ability to produce luminous quilts glowing with colour and pattern.
This episode of The Stitch Safari Podcast focuses on Quilts of Confinement - quilts made by women who were held captive, namely The Rajah Quilt, and the four Changi Quilts including the Girl Guide Quilt.
Each of these quilt-making disciplines holds a valued place in that huge quilt-making pie - adding to the depth and complexity of this beautiful, ancient craft. Each is distinct from the other, each is highly valued and each has its own absorbing history.
American pieced quilt blocks derive from almost every aspect of life and society including nature, household objects, politics, history, the stars, and people or places. It really is a case where art reflects life.
Quilts and quilting are and have always been, a worldwide phenomenon - a way to connect, communicate, celebrate, acknowledge or simply remember, and enjoy.
One of the most important gowns the Queen would have worn during her long life was her wedding dress, designed by Norman Hartnel at a time of clothing coupons in an austere and deprived post-war Britain.
From the sensible to the va-va voom, lingerie is revealing, in more ways than one, be it sex, gender, class, morality, or style - and it’s an amazing and intriguing part of our fashion history.
Words like Sew Bros, Seamsters and Manbroiderers have now been added to the stitch and embroidery lexicon, but what are the reasons why more men want to stitch?
The corset is a garment of feminity, grace and glamour and is a very cleverly engineered garment, one that perfectly balances function with aesthetics.
Shoe obsession is nothing new. From the exquisitely embroidered Chinese Lotus shoe to the stunning Indian Mojaris, societies world-wide have exhibited their culture through their couture - and their footwear is no exception.
Remembered as an innovator and revolutionary, many critical artistic genres owe a great deal to the dedicated work and example of Constance Howard. She nurtured the idea of embroidery as an art form and vehicle for artistic self-expression.
Historic images of ornate, over-the-top embroidery tends to make us think it was destined for use by women - but no, fashion in the middle of the 17th century saw the evolution of a new style featuring elegant embroidery, and it was all for men.
People embroidered war embroideries for many reasons - for some it was a means of income, for others it was a form of therapy and rehabilitation.
Judy Chicago, feminist, artist and art educator is best known for her seminal artwork, The Dinner Party 1974-79. This conceptual art installation also incorporates the use of embroidery.
This episode focuses on some of the embroidered embellishments created for this delightfully charming, thoroughly modern, fictional character, Phryne Fisher by Australian costume designer, Marion Boyce.
In this episode, I'm honouring two amazingly talented and creative embroidery artists - Sonia Delaunay and May Morris - two very different aesthetics, yet both used stitch in their work.
From something as simple as a needle, thread and cloth, women created thought-provoking, powerful and inspirational messages - showing us the materiality of the history of the women's suffrage movement.
Far from being either small or insignificant, women's tie-on pockets, of which many were embroidered, were a portable and flexible item, forming insights into the lives of women and the things that mattered to them.
Maison Lesage is a French dynastic embroidery house that now operates under the brand Chanel. Its history dates back as far as Napoleon III. This episode begins with WWII.
Say hello to the stunningly beautiful, elegantly innovative and seductively alluring world of French Haute Couture embroidery and The House of Lesage - a journey through the who's who of couturiers worldwide and the French embroidery house that helped interpret their dreams in stitch.
A fascinating journey into three extremely simple embroidery techniques that have grown to encompass and embrace modern technology and advances, yet are basically worked exactly as our ancient forebears would have worked them.
This episode is about deep-diving to unearth some of the more unique and unusual tools and materials created by utilising Mother Nature.
Mexican Otomi embroidery, or the more simplified Tenangos embroidery, is a vibrant celebration of riotous colour using a mix of both ancient and modern culture, showing the Otomi's ability to overcome adversity.
Used for centuries, the exoskeletons or hard outer casings of the Jewel Beetle, have been incorporated into decorative jewellery, objects and stunning embroidery.
In this episode, the focus is on three very distinctive embroidery techniques easily associated with India - Indian Shisha work, Phulkari embroidery and the often overlooked, yet exotically beautiful Beatle Wing embroidery.
Indian Kantha embroidery breathes new life into old textiles and is one of India’s most treasured examples of artisanship. The basis of the art of Kantha is the spiritual practice of ‘making whole again that which is fragmented or broken.’
Welcome to the kaleidoscope that is Indian textiles - a vividly colourful and unendingly inspiring world where embroidery, design and techniques are as varied as the very culture of India itself.
The romantic and exquisitely wrought designs of the Japanese aesthetic featured on numerous Kimono, inspired many through their elegance and exoticism. From the understated, to the overt, from wartime propaganda kimonos of the 1930’s and 40’s to some of the most beautiful depictions of blossoms and geometric patterning ever seen, the Kimono seduces and captivates, still.
Rank Badges or Mandarin Squares as they’re also known, are a true representation of the elegance and diversity of East Asian embroidery – there’s absolutely nothing not-to-like here, combining design and embroidery skill of an extremely high level – an experience that should not be overlooked in the annals of research or design styles.
Dragon Robes conjure exotic, mythical images of a colourful past concept of the mysterious Far East, drawing deeply on ancient Chinese culture and symbols, creating exquisitely embroidered garments of magnificent elegance and technical prowess.
East Asian Silk Embroidery - an exquisite and stunningly beautiful art form emerging from China, the ancient masters of silk, migrating to Korea and Japan – forming the remarkable and unmistakable, East Asian embroidery aesthetic.
Embroidery was front and centre, of Elizabeth I's wardrobe, playing its role in enriching surfaces, referencing the symbology of colour – a tool highly used in Elizabethan times, and the means by which she could communicate through the sometimes disparate elements of the designs used.
Bess of Hardwick is probably best known for the immense value of the inventories she had made sometime during 1601, itemising all the furnishings and embroidered textiles from her three properties – many of which were examples of her own craftsmanship and that of Mary Queen of Scots.
There was one event during 1520 that was quite possibly the costliest, most excessive, most elaborate, dazzling display of overt and blatant showiness and wealth the world had ever seen. It was, of course, the man-made chivalric court festival known as The Field of The Cloth of Gold.
The Tudor’s were the great image-makers of their time, glorified by some of the world’s most magnificent paintings and extant textiles and embroideries, displaying both their majesty and their rituals.
Dimension and height in the needle arts create visual excitement and form, and the Elizabethan’s propelled this form of embroidery to a whole new level in their Raised or Embossed work.
This delicate, counted thread technique, traditionally worked in black thread on a white or off white even-weave fabric such as cotton or linen, has a long lineage, harking back to its North African and Moroccan roots as the true birthplace for this style of embroidery.
Derived from the Latin word ‘exemplum’ or Old French term ‘essamplaire’ meaning example, Samplers were a way to reference various designs, types of stitches and their textures, becoming a personal authority or aide-mémoire to record and trial multiple complex stitching techniques, featuring moralising texts, pictorial motifs as well as alphabets, numerals and personal information.
With the Elizabethan age, came high adventure and travel, bringing new design inspiration, and fostering that much-needed re-birth or re-flowering of the art of embroidery, especially for secular use.
In this episode, I explore Opus Anglicanum and its effect on fashion and embroidery in the 20th and 21st centuries. The simple fact is, that in the 20th and 21st centuries, there has been an upturn in the creative arts – especially embroidery and textiles. We’ve again fallen in love with accomplishments from our past.
Opus Anglicanum was the Haute Couture of its time, whether, for secular or religious garments, coverings, purses, seal bags or even horse trappers, these items were made to be part of an experience – they were made to be seen, to stand out and to display the object or wearer as someone or something of status and was central to an art form displaying the rich material culture of the medieval elite.
Opus Anglicanum refers to the body of unsurpassed English embroidery, spanning a period from 1100 – 1450. It took the medieval world by storm and was viewed as an art form in its own right, on a par with architecture, sculpture and stained glass work.
The focus for this episode is on a medieval garment – over 600 years old, worn by Edward of Woodstock, the Black Prince.
This episode will end our exceptional journey with inspired satire, as well as its marketing appeal, uniquely reinforcing the Bayeux Tapestry’s long-lasting appeal.
One of the most fascinating aspects of the Bayeux Tapestry is its indisputable power as an influencer, both Napoleon and Hitler saw power in the medieval embroidery’s appeal, but what about its power in the modern era and across a diversity of media?
Enter Matilda. A secret operation, called Special Project Brittany, codenamed ‘Matilda’ was brought into play where The Bayeux Tapestry was to be taken from Chateau Sourches to Berlin in two stages, to make it less obvious that it was being taken out of France.
The Bayeux Tapestry - a fragile strip of medieval linen covered in embroidery telling the story of the Battle of Hastings, wrangled over by so many during the second world war – French and German and transported no less than five times on open roads with little protection from Allied bombing.
Moving forward to World War II - The Bayeux Tapestry was now a survivor for almost 880 years, so what exactly was it about this monumental embroidery that attracted those looking to walk in the self-same footsteps as William the Conqueror? They wanted what William achieved. A defeat over England certainly, but even more than that, they wanted to use William’s powerful and emotive story, carefully embroidered into the Tapestry as propaganda to promote their own ends.
This episode explores the three French plays inspired by The Bayeux Tapestry along with its return to Bayeux, where it was easily accessible for a time by the public at large. And we also look at the work done by Charles Stothard in capturing the Tapestry to help prove its English heritage.
The longevity of the Bayeux Tapestry displays the footprint of its past, both artistically and historically, and most importantly, as an embroidery telling a visual story anyone can relate to. It's unique and unlike any other surviving artefact from this period. Its survival is one of almost implausible endurance.
In this episode, we'll be taking a quick look at the types of stitches used throughout this time as well as to re-cap on just how far we’ve come in this fascinating journey into stitch and the art of the needle.
Looking at, and researching surviving work produced during the Middle Ages, has made me want to explore the tools Medieval embroiderers used. Would they recognise any of ours? Would I recognise any of theirs? Quite a few, surprisingly, so let’s explore just what they had secreted away in their Medieval sewing baskets.
Medieval Guilds were formed to promote and protect the art of embroidery, a major trade in the Middle Ages.
In today’s episode I’m looking through some fascinating information on Medieval embroidery worked in nunneries and monasteries, the providers of an honourable profession for highly born women along with those with a true passion and calling for the religious life.
Today the connection I want to explore, deals with the art of a stitched or woven narrative in Medieval textiles – a world in images, to see if I can justify design parallels and influences going back as far as I can.
There are so many ways to approach Colour – it’s something I love working with and I’ve researched a great deal, but I have to say, looking at it from a Medieval perspective is very different and absolutely fascinating.
Embroidery is and will always be a reflection and mirroring of cultures, fashions and styles. Just look to the many excavated finds throughout the world, and you’ll see some of the most beautiful and mesmerising treasures from this time. It’s no coincidence then, that there’s a similarity of styles and symbols, re-interpreted throughout medieval design and needlecraft. Design is an influencer. Covering the first four of eight styles used in Medieval design: Romanesque, Viking, Byzantine and Gothic.
In this episode, I’ll be focussing on the final four of the eight styles that impacted on Medieval Art. I like to call them The Influencers. In Part 1 I covered Romanesque, Viking, Byzantine and Gothic Art. Now in Part 2, I’m featuring Islamic, Celtic, Carolingian and Ottonian Art. Together these eight styles synthesised into that sometimes ambiguous term ‘Medieval Art, Art of the Middle Ages or Dark Age Art.’
Medieval Art - a period when embroidery was King. It’s time, fellow followers of needlework and stitch to embrace the stunning aesthetic of Medieval art and embroidery.
Believed to bring good luck, the rare byssus cloth is extremely light and warm and is made from fibres harvested from giant molluscs. One of its remarkable properties is the way it shines when exposed to sunlight - it glows with an unbelievable richness.
Do you remember that feeling of comfort and warmth from a favourite hand-knitted woollen jumper? Each interlinked stitch enveloped us with hand-made love and utilized one of the world’s most used natural fibres. Wool.
Cotton, that soft, fluffy, staple plant fibre, was well known and used from ancient times. It grew wild, it travelled the globe naturally, via its salt-resistant seeds, finally becoming a domesticated crop when societies recognized they could live and stay in one place, year in and year out.
In this episode, I explore some of the figurative illustrations of the word stitch and its component family that have enriched our daily lives and literature.
The word silk conjures the exotic romanticism of The Far East and The Silk Road, with a history replete with the secrets of sericulture, caravan trade routes, and the expansion of silk production throughout the ancient world.
Meander through history and pre-history and delve into the wonderful world of fibre. This episode sheds some light on one of the big four natural plant fibres, flax, which like the needle, opened endless possibilities for commerce and craft. It’s a tantalizing story.
In this episode, I’m going to start our trek with a connection between Leonardo da Vinci, The Ceremony of the Broken Needle, and The Needle and Thread Gaudy, plus a few other interesting stitch-related legends.
The hand sewing needle was a precious resource, of global importance, but at some point in time, it’s utilitarian use for garment construction also embraced surface decoration and embellishment or, in other words, embroidery – and gave birth to the art of the needle.
The Stitch Safari Podcast is a brand-new fortnightly expedition into the art of the needle, stitch and embroidery, trekking through its development, applications and innovations. Hosted by Australian textile artist, Cathy Jack Coupland this will be a light-hearted, informative tour of the art of the needle.