I’ve been taking inspiration from my authorised perambulations over the last couple of weeks. We live in a busy suburb of Leeds and there’s been no shortage of street art along our routes. I’m drawn to the bright colours, patterns and drips of paint. They offer a wealth of inspiration for both hand and machine embroidery.

In the studio I’ve started work on a journal/sketchbook recording my inspiration and samples. These project books are a new part of my working process, they help me to gather everything in one place and I can easily refer to them as I work. I love putting these books together, adding images from my research, notes about the samples I’ve made and sketches for potential stitched pieces.

It’s been great to start working with my Pfaff Creative 3.0 embroidery machine, deconstructing the photographs I’ve taken in 6D, the design programme I use to create my embroidery files. I’ve started to experiment with satin stitch, rather than my usual PhotoStitch style. These dense stitched areas are now ready to embellish with hand embroidery and beading.

I’m looking forward to seeing how the pieces develop and finding more inspiration on our walks. To find out more about my work you can visit my Portfolio page and follow me on social media, just click the links in the sidebar.