I am a creative mixed-media textile artist with a passion for working with cloth & thread, doodling with inks, journalling and eco-dyeing.
Each piece always tells its own story and is filled with a symphony of delights relating to a link to our past, perhaps a way of showcasing a moment in time, or it can simply be a collage of forgotten treasures and everyday found objects.
I love to concentrate on textures, layering of fabrics, adding surface stitching, embellishing with ephmera, drawing and shading with embroidery silks using a variety of traditional sewing skills with a few mixed media techniques thrown in for good measure.
I design and make, using the cloth as my foundation and leaving the threads to tell the rest of the tale...
Slow stitching particularly makes my little 'ol Fen heart sing... taking time out to 'simply be' with any design is so therapeutic and calms my meandering creative soul.
I am surrounded by inspiration every day and regularly add all the lovely pockets of joy I find in my Daydream Journals.
Each one eventually turns into a complete novel heirloom by itself...
I love capturing the every day beauty of the ordinary snippets of life through my photography, poetry and doodling which have a huge influence on my textile work.
The cloth itself in any of my projects always starts a story, and I love discovering the social history connected to each snippet and buidling that into a design linking any information I discover along the way into the mix of ingredients.
Mother Earth is also always on hand, waiting in the wings, to offer me some daily gossip and gentle delights for a design.... colour combinations, patterns, textures and shapes; they all help to add a rich depth of flavour to my work.
I am especially inspired by the wild beauty of the Cambridgeshire Fens; the flora and fauna, the rich tapestry of the Fenland heritage and the woven threads of belonging to such an ancient landscape.
I also adore different forms of language; beautiful sayings, phrases, poetry and old 'lost words'. These are added into my many stitched collages.
My real passion is in treasuring those vintage beauties such as old linens, faded embroideries, vintage fabrics and treasured found objects.
For me they all hold a story to our forgotten past.
I love being able to breathe new life into something old and pre-loved and watching it turn into something gorgeously beautiful again....
My heart always wanders towards the tattered unloved boxes of linen left under a table in a charity shop or at the end of a stall at an Antique Fair, wondering what the story is behind each piece and thinking of ways to add them in my designs to capture their own social stories.
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I launched my own online subscription club, Tilly's Slow Stitch Cafe in May 2024, offering members a safe space to be creative, learn new skills and make friends with others all around the world.
you can find more details HERE
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In addition to my design work, I teach a variety of craft workshops at events around the UK and in my own studio, showcasing many of the traditional skills of sewing, patchwork and slow stitching alongside various techniques in textile art, journalling, eco-dyeing and mixed media.
I have recently returned from India where I hosted a Textile Tour with Aahilya Holidays in Delhi & Jaipur which I absolutely adored!!!
My next tour is in Nov 2025. You can find more details HERE
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Finally, I am very proud to say I work as a brand ambassador and influencer for the following companies -
Search Press Books www.searchpress.com
ICHF Events www.ichfevents.co.uk
My first book 'Stitched Memories' with Search Press, launched in July 2018 and very quickly sold out in the UK, becoming one of their top ten publications in 2018 and 2019. It has been reprinted three times and continues to be one of their best sellers...
My second book Daydream Journals launched in Feb 2022 which again became another best seller.
To date I have sold over 30,000 copies of my publications which is incredible to believe really and I am incredibly blown away by the continued support of loyal readers.
I launched two books in 2024 -
Among The Wildflowers & Connecting with Nature
Currently I am working on my fifth book...
Thanks for reading all the way to the end!
Gentle Blessings from me to you....
Tilly x
