The Stitch Safari Podcast

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.Show Notes: https://stitchsafari.com/machine-embroidery-book-reviews/

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.Show notes here: https://stitchsafari.com/stitch-and-texti…-art-two-artists/

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 of both 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.