Yellow season
Plus new in-person and online workshops
Midsummer has arrived with a heatwave in the UK so allotment visits have been early morning ones - to check the tomatoes, water the squash and collect plants to make some colour. My studio is mercifully the coolest room in my house.
The dye bed is full of yellow - in the flower heads of dyer’s chamomile, dyer’s greenweed, St John’s wort, weld and goldenrod and also in the colours they produce.
I’ve been busy capturing this brightness in small batches of silk thread that I mordant in bulk in the spring so that I always have plenty to use. I’ve been mostly using the power of the sun in my back yard for the dyeing process itself. The plant material, thread and water go into jars or old pots and sit on the paving slabs in the heat of the day and this is enough to create vibrant colour.
In a note I posted on the susbstack app this week I reminisced about a workshop I taught in Tversted, Denmark at this time of year in 2019.
I arrived there on St John’s Eve, where midsummer was celebrated at a community bonfire and it was still light at 11pm. During the dyeing and stitching workshop we discovered St John’s wort (hypericum perforatum) growing wild in the hedgerows and used it to dye our threads. The flowering plants created a beautiful greenish-yellow.
Harvesting the same plant this week reminded me of this experience and the connections through colour and textile I’ve made in my practice over the decades.
Textile connections like these are explored in more detail in my new book for Batsford, Reflective Stitch: Time and Place in Textile Art which is published on the 3rd September.
My first print copy arrived in the post this week. I am delighted to feature work by Robin Bray-Hurren, Ruth Broadhead, Jordan Cunliffe, Rachelle and Diana Francis, Sue Green, and Carol Tulloch, alongside work made in long-term community based projects and in my own studio.
Pre-order is available internationally now.
Workshop News
I’m pleased to announce Stitching Connection, a workshop in London - the first for many years. This will be at the Batsford Gallery in Hackney on Saturday 12th September where I’m exhibiting work from my new book.
This hand stitching workshop explores textile as a daily practice through my Stitch Journal (2013-2023) and other durational work. You will make a series of textile samples and have the opportunity to discuss textile making as a tool for community and individual wellbeing. You can find more details and book your place here.
Also in September I’m teaching a three day Slow Stitch workshop at West Dean College in Sussex where we’ll be using the beautiful walled garden as inspiration and colour source for our stitching.
And finally Material Thinking is back in September. This is a series of four online workshops taking place monthly and based on my 20+ years of textile practice. My projects and research, book development, curatorial work and studio practice will all feature.
Sessions will focus on a particular theme - place, time, mind and body, and memory. Each will include an illustrated talk about an aspect of my work, time for questions and discussion and a reflective stitching exercise. After each session you will receive a PDF of resources and prompts on that theme.
The course begins on 14th September and takes place as four zoom sessions ending in December 2026. Paid subscribers to this substack receive a discount and early booking which will open on 1st August. Look out for an email nearer the time.
The next Stitch with Me zoom for paid subscribers is on Monday 29th June - I’m looking forward to seeing some of you there for stitching and chat.
Once again a huge THANK YOU for supporting my work.
Will you teach about creating a dye bed and plant dying during the upcoming online workshops?
Such an interesting read. I have huge amounts of self-seeded St John’s Wort in my Sussex garden but have never tried dyeing. I wonder if it could be used to paint with (I’m a miniature paintings artist)? Your book looks wonderful- I love the cover 💛