Thank you for your interest in this workshop. Tickets have currently sold out but we have been overwhelmed by the response and plan to run a follow-up workshop later in the year. If you would like priority booking for the next workshop, please do join our waitlist.

This will be a relaxed session of stitch and chat sharing skills and a little textile social history..

Blackheath Embroiderers Guild is working with Illuminated Arts, a South East London Community Interest company , on a project to get people stitching.

The Stitch Hub project, funded by the National Lottery Local Connections Community Fund, is designed to involve residents of care homes, primarily for the elderly in South London through a series of web-workshops to create a collection of stitched ‘Pockets’

The pockets will be based on those of the 16th-18th Century worn by women either under their skirts or outside their garments, tied around the waist and often beautifully stitched or decorated with applique.

Our members are taking part by creating examples of embroidered pockets which will be incorporated into the workshops and subsequently exhibited to the public. The pockets will also be incorporated into a planned fashion show in 2022!

There is absolutely no pressure to create a perfect piece of technical embroidery - the most important thing is to take part, enjoy and use the medium to tell your personal story. We will guide you through the basic techniques of stitching a pocket and our workshop leaders will give some social historical background to the pockets and guidance for absolute beginners and experienced stitchers in creating embroidered pockets. The presentations will be by the Illuminated Arts team, Samina Sattar and Chris Solly .

Our online workshop on Saturday the 27th March will be focussed on the history and creation of these very personal textile pieces and we would love to open the virtual doors to other embroiderers that might like to take part. You will be free to choose whether or not to contribute your work to the exhibition and fashion show, we would however, love to see pictures of anything you produce as a result of the workshop for inclusion in the project’s catalogue.

In preparation you may like to gather together the following materials:

2 pieces of roughly A4 sized fabric of your choice ( Plain or patterned)

assorted embroidery silks

Coloured small fabric scraps for appliqué

Ribbon or bias binding, long enough to wrap around your waist and tie in a generous bow.

Usual sewing kit - scissors, needles fabric chalk/pen.

If you. feel confident enough, please do feel free to start designing your pattern and stitching before the meeting!

(Remember to allow for the central opening slit in the centre of the pocket in your stitching design!)

Below is an image of the shape to be drawn on your fabric ( cut from an A4 piece of paper) and an example of a pocket from the V&A museum for inspiration.