Painting on Linen: Useful Resources

Hello hello!

There’s a frisson of hope in the air at The Stitchery today as we talk about making tentative plans for fairs, retreats and events at the studio. With potential ‘release’ dates from the Prime Minister yesterday it feels even more important to really stick to the rules and stay strong for just a little bit longer.

We are sending out the February kits for Stitchery Lane this week; kits will ship on Thursday and Friday this week. There’s some painting involved which I know can sometimes be a bit intimidating, particularly if you are a beginner. It really isn’t scary and, certainly for embroidering The Stitchery style , slight imperfections make your embroidered art extra charming!

I will be doing a monthly class for the Stitchery Lane subscribers and you can find the dates for those lessons here. Other resources include a blog post I’ve written on linen painting here and a youtube video here. Hopefully they will help you to enjoy the painting aspect of kits a little more!

I’ve been doing some lovely online art classes this lockdown (more about those another time) and have come across a lovely inexpensive set of watercolour and gouache paints that are not only good on paper but ideal for fabric too. We now sell Seawhite of Brighton watercolour in sets of 12 tubes with all the colours you could need for my embroidery kits. I haven’t used much gouache yet in my embroidery - it sits on top of the fabric rather than soaking in - but a little white gouache is perfect for white buildings and snow if you don’t plan to stitch through it, adding lots of texture. Click on the photos below to buy. I also have a small packet of the basic watercolour brushes that you might need too. All in the Tools section of the website.