Category: History

  • Trapunto Quilting

    Trapunto Quilting

    Trapunto, Italian quilting or stuffed quilting is an old and rather under-appreciated technique which I am a huge fan of. Unlike ‘normal’ quiting, where two layers of fabric have a layer of wadding between them and are stitched through all the layers, Trapunto uses two layers of fabric and the stuffing is only placed in…

  • Embroidery commission for Jan Garside

    I recently completed a small embroidery commission for my friend, the weaver Jan Garside, who I’ve collaborated with before. She asked me to make some pieces based on Elizabethan embroideries at Hardwick Hall for a commission she was working on. Jan & her finished pieces. Find out more about Jan & her work here. This…

  • Exhibitions at Waddesdon

    There’s textile delights aplenty at Waddesdon Manor at the moment. I particularly wanted to see Sacred Stitches, an exhibition of ecclesiastic textiles from the Rothschild Collection which is reviews in Embroidery magazine (July / August).  I love Medieval church textiles so was excited to see examples that have not been displayed before, and I was…

  • Trapunto quilting

    One of the most popular sessions I teach is Trapunto or Italian quilting. My new book, Fabric Manipulation, 150 Creative Sewing Techniques, covers this technique in detail and includes lots of variations including shadow quilting, corded quilting and using stretch fabrics. Detail of Time Bubble 1.  I’ve been using Trapunto for years in small projects…