A Day with Seaglass, Needle and Thread

I do love a craft workshop, so when my plans for today got cancelled I realised I could go to one that I thought I’d miss. This was the first embroidery one I’ve been to at the Amble Pin Cushion where I teach my crochet workshops.

Today we were learning “Embroidery with Sea Glass” taught by skilled stitcher Bronagh, who works at the shop and is studying for qualifications with the Royal School of Needlework . She is also part of the team of skilled needleworkers that make and repair textiles at Durham Cathedral.

Bronagh collects seaglass as she walks on local beaches and has found a way of incorporating them into her embroideries – today we were learning the techniques used in the piece she made pictured at the top of this post.

We used some lovely batik printed fabric in subtle shades of sea green as a background and attached the pieces of sea glass using a network of stitches.

Bronagh then demonstrated various embroidery stitches which we incorporated into our work.

Finally she showed us some techniques for adding beads, so we had a go at that.

All the material (embroidery hoop, fabric and backing, wadding and felt to line the piece, ribbon for hanging, seagrass, needles, embroidery threads and beads) were provided with instructions and a tote to carry everything.

Bronagh is a great tutor (you can tell she’s been a teacher in a past life) and I really enjoyed spending my Saturday in her company along with the other lovely participant.

This is my work in progress. I’m going to have so much fun doing it.