InStitches Creative Textile Courses
  • Home
    • Contact us
    • The Small Print
    • Privacy policy
    • COVID-19 information page
  • About us
    • The story of InStitches
    • How to find us
    • Want to stay locally?
    • News and events
    • What our students say
    • Gallery
  • Courses & workshops
    • Courses and workshops at a glance
    • short courses and workshops >
      • Artful Stitch
      • Free Motion Quilting
      • Colour to dye for workshops: Adding colour
      • Colour to dye for workshops: Adding marks & pattern
    • Studio Days
    • Year-long courses >
      • Inspiration to Stitch
      • Stitching by Design
      • Bringing colour to life
    • Textile adventures >
      • Guest tutors 2021 >
        • Judith Needham - weave your own chicken
        • Cas Holmes - Layers, lines and image 2021
        • Stewart Kelly - Following a line
        • Christine Chester Poetry of decay
        • Caroline Bell - eco printing on fabric Masterclass 2021
        • Amanda Clayton - Fragile Forms
        • Judith Needham - Willow apple basket
        • Caroline Bartlett - An Investigative Journey
        • Amanda Hislop - Abstracted Land 2021
        • Alice Fox - Natural Structures
        • Matthew Harris - Text-ile
        • Wendy Dolan - Architecture in stitch 2021
        • Liam Biswell - Experimental Printmaking
        • Debbie Lyddon - stitched collage 2021
      • Guest tutors 2022 >
        • Christine Chester Poetry of decay 2022
  • Online workshops
    • Online
    • Online Live: Debbie Lyddon
    • Online Live: Wendy Dolan
  • Shop
    • Workshop Gift Vouchers
  • Blog
    • On our travels

#institchescreative2020 - the D-word

14/4/2020

0 Comments

 
Courses and workshops at InStitches are all about building up people’s confidence in their abilities and one of the things that many people are often really underconfident about is the D-word!

People can’t draw: or at least that’s what they think.

But actually, we can all draw. We can all make marks on paper (did you have a go at the mark-making challenge in #institchescreative2020 week one?). As children we made marks on paper without thinking about what they looked like or whether they were realistic, and without listening to that inner critic. When did we lose that? 
Picture

Read More
0 Comments

#institchescreative2020 - stacked up and a little cross?

10/4/2020

0 Comments

 
This week we are carrying on working with a straight stitch.

Still? I hear you say,

Oh yes, I reply, keep reading!

​We are going to stack it, curve it, mix it up and generally become playful with it...have you realised yet how versatile this simplest of stitches can be?
Picture

Read More
0 Comments

#institchescreative2020 - daily practice

7/4/2020

0 Comments

 
Musicians do it; mindfulness practitioners do it; we all do it in so many aspects of our lives (our morning routine, walking the dog, taking the kids to school) – so a daily art or stitch practice is not such an odd concept.
Many people find that at times of high stress or extremely busy periods their creative juices dry up – usually just at the time when we need them most! Daily practice is a simple, non-threatening way of getting back into creativity again.
Picture

Read More
0 Comments

#institchescreative2020 - how is it for you?

3/4/2020

0 Comments

 
I don't know about you, but this last week I haven't been able to focus my mind or concentrate on any task for more than a few minutes at a time.  So I'm resorting to lists; many, many lists!   Breaking tasks down into small, achievable steps is how I cope.  It's SO satisfying to tick them off:

​Job done. 

One more step towards a normal life again.

It won't come as a  surprise to you then, that I've created a list for this stitch blog!  So now at least I know where we are going;  all you need to do is show up each week and we can go together.  For 10 or 20 minutes, maybe longer,  but at least we can do it together and we'll even be socially distant compliant!

Before I show you the stitches for this week, did you see our Monday Instagram post/story?  It was all about using an uneven running stitch to create fantastic ripples on a quilted surface.
​

Read More
0 Comments

#institchescreative2020 - On your marks...

31/3/2020

0 Comments

 
Last week Hazel was concentrating on one stitch and pushing the possibilities of it. So here in the paper blog this week we are going to do the same thing – but with a mark. This is one of the creative warmups we use with students on our year-long courses; these are a great kick-start if you want to do something creative but don’t know where to start or are out of ideas. Once you get doing something, anything, you’ll find the ideas start to flow. You might even decide to start a daily practice… (more on this next week).

Read More
0 Comments

#institchescreative2020 - first, thread your needle

27/3/2020

0 Comments

 
Whether you are an experienced stitcher or  picking up a needle for the very first time, welcome to the beginning of our Cloth Project blog.  
​​
Go put the kettle on and brew your favourite drink (or if it's after 6pm, mine's a G&T please!), gather your supplies and join us as we embrace a slower pace of life, discover the joy of creating,  and hopefully in these troubled times, find some inner peace and fulfilment as well as a creative voice.  
Picture

Read More
0 Comments

#institchescreative2020 - Simple pamphlet-bound books

23/3/2020

2 Comments

 
Welcome to the first #institchescreative2020 - it's great to have you along!

Those of you who know us at InStitches will know that we love everything about hand-made books, so when we were planning this series this was an obvious place to start! These simple little books are easy to make and very versatile. You can make them any size, and if you make several the same size they can be linked together (more later) to form a much bigger volume. They are a great place to keep all your paper-based explorations and a useful small book to take with you on a (solitary) walk to record what you see in words and scribbles. They also make great little gifts to include with a card.
Picture

Read More
2 Comments

#institchescreative2020

20/3/2020

4 Comments

 
We are all having to come to terms with the devastating impact of Coronavirus.  Compared to all those key workers in the NHS, vaccine research,  the emergency services, the food supply chain, and the many more unsung heroes who are working around the clock to make sure we stay safe and well, what we do does seem a luxury.  But we'd like to play our part too, so we've spent the last few days thinking how we can help. 
Picture
We set up InStitches because we wanted to share our passion and to inspire as many people as possible to get stitching and creating.  We know that for many of you it isn't just 'messing about' with paper, paint, cloth and thread.  It's about friendship, community, inner peace, fulfilment, the joy of creating, developing a creative voice and so, so much more.  We know, we get it; we are with you on that.  

Our gift to you over these next days, weeks and even months to come is a spark of creative joy.  Take this moment to stop, slow down and make time to appreciate the smaller pleasures in life.  
Picture

Read More
4 Comments
Forward>>

    Welcome to our blog! Here you'll find out what's been going on, plus plenty of ideas and inspiration and the odd cake recipe!

    Check back often to see what we're up to - it's great to have you along

    Hazel & Terry
    Picture

    Enter your email address:

    Delivered by FeedBurner

    RSS Feed

    Categories

    All
    #10minutedrawingproject
    And There Was Cake!
    Artists To Inspire You
    Blog Changeover
    Bringing Colour To Life
    Colour
    Craft Ptoject
    Creative Play
    Creative Warm Ups
    Creative Warm-ups
    Festival Of Quilts
    Finding Inspiration
    How To...
    Inspired By Cloth
    #institchescreative2020
    Line
    Places To Inspire You
    Quilt Shows
    Text
    Texture
    The Story Behind The Quilt
    Tools Of The Trade

    InStitches travelblog
    InStitches textiles travel blog
    Picture
    Picture

    Archives

    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    April 2016
    March 2016
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    January 2014
    November 2013
    October 2013

    Visit InStitches's profile on Pinterest.
InStitches: exciting courses for people who love textiles, quilting, design, stitching and sketchbooks

Connect with us

follow us on Facebook
read our blog
Instagram inspiration
Pinterest pinnings
newsletter signup
follow us on Facebook
read our blog
Instagram inspiration
Pinterest pinnings
newsletter signup

Courses and workshops

Courses and workshops at a glance
Short courses and workshops
Longer courses
Guest tutors 2021
​Online workshops
​Studio days

InStitches

About
How to find us

Support

Contact
​
The small print
Privacy policy

Our address

Sunfield Studio,
Unit 12, Sunfield Business Park
New Mill Road
Finchampstead
Wokingham
RG40 4QT
We support
Just a Card logo
Copyright © InStitches 2010-2021
All rights reserved.