Kate Gwilliam is an embroidery and embellishment designer. She shares how she got into textiles and her favourite designers on Instagram.
How did you get into machine embroidery?
I first got introduced to Irish machine embroidery at university. I was terrified of this giant machine that at the time I seemed to have no way of controlling or ever understanding it! Once I graduated I decided to buy my own machine even though I hadn’t really mastered it and Suzy the Singer was born… well she was rebirthed shall we say. It sat in my parents’ house for a few years while I became increasingly more terrified of using her, until I was lucky enough to get a training placement at Jenny King Embroidery and from that I was able to work harder and harder to increase my confidence and my skills at using Suzy!
What are your favourite stitches and why?
Most of the stitches on an Irish are variations of a running and satin stitch. For me actually it is more about understanding how I can utilise the angles of stitching to create shading and interest. I find it quite interesting that my favourite stitch in hand embroidery is also the satin stitch and silk shading.
What stitches would you like to learn?
For machine embroidery, I want to refine my shading and blending techniques to create more in-depth pieces that are really intricate. I also want to try out using thicker threads in the bobbin often referred to as cable stitching. It’s fun because you have to work upside down.
For hand embroidery SO MANY!! I really want to learn gold work; I want to just generally get better at stitching as well- more monogramming. I learnt tambour a few years ago and I need to get back into that! Honestly I just want to learn it all. Hand embroidery is where I started and I still use a lot in all my work; it’s what got me interested in textiles in the first place. I especially love beading and using sequins; it’s probably what I do most of when I do freelance and commercial sampling. I also create super sparkly ornaments, including my favourite Larry the Lobster! This Christmas (yes I am already thinking about Christmas and have even started sampling!!) I will be adding so many more ornaments to the collection. With a lot of my Irish embroidery I have to hand appliqué on to vintage garments so I have to keep all my hand sewing up to scratch!
What do you listen to while you’re working?
I am a bit naughty really as I’m a complete telly addict! I will watch series after series, but mainly of things I have seen a million times before. I’ve probably watched Grey’s Anatomy (or rather listened to it) from the beginning about 15 times. I also listen to podcasts; mainly true crime ones like Small Town Murder (the guys crack me up and the murders are crazy) and recently the Breakdown, which follows cases all the way through. I get a bit frustrated with music if I don’t like it I have to change it and it becomes more of a distraction.
What other textiles would you like to explore?
While I was at university, I was able to try out lots of textile practices, but I was so torn between weaving and embroidery that ultimately embroidery won. I’m still so drawn to weaving. I would love to get back onto a floor loom and start weaving my own cloth and then embroider it. I still have a lot of my samples from my university work where I was using dyed warps and clear lurex to create pieces that had a light transparent feel.
What kinds of images or drawings do you like stitching and why?
I love stitching flowers and love all the meanings behind them. Victorian Floriology is fascinating. I have amassed quite a collection of books now thanks to a pretty fantastic Oxfam Bookshop in my town Welwyn Garden City. My current favourite I scoured online is an Ikebana book from the 1960s called The Art of Arranging Flowers by Sato. It has a beautiful green fabric cover and the photographs are so gorgeous. I love stitching them because you can make something so beautifully illustrated with thread, the shine and how you shade it with the angles of stitching – it really comes alive!
Where do you buy your materials, thread and equipment from?
All sorts of places; machine threads from Barnyarns and floss from DMC. I love buying antiques silks I just bought antique kimono silk that really should be for weaving but I can’t wait to stitch something with it; it would be lovely for a bride as it would be something old and new. I buy my sequins and beads from New Trimmings, Simply Sequins, Sequin World, Josy Rose, GJ Beads, Creative Beadcraft and The Bead Shop. I get my fabrics from The Cloth House, John Lewis or any fabric store I happen to pass. I buy and re-embroider a lot of vintage clothes too, so I am often scouring charity shops and vintage fairs for garments.
How do feel about sharing your work on Instagram?
It’s so hard with balancing my feelings about sharing on Instagram. Many other creatives have expressed the joy of finding a community that is supportive and welcoming but at the same time the feeling of anxiety and wariness of putting work out there is really hard. Pretty much every day someone will be talking about stolen work and that is such a heavy blow especially for small businesses and individuals. I am lucky in that I am not aware of anyone copying me and I don’t know how I would feel about it if they did. At the same time, some brilliant friendships, commissions, collaborations and freelance work has come from people getting in touch with me on Instagram. My main concern is not getting too worried about all the analytics. Some days I get a lot of likes some days I don’t and I have to remember that it’s ok. It doesn’t necessarily mean people don’t like what you’re doing they might not have even seen it but if they don’t like it that’s ok too.
What other ways do you promote your work?
I have started to do more markets it’s fun to talk face to face with people and explain your craft and see what people really are attracted to. It’s a great way to meet new makers and designers and forge great working relationships.
Do you ever get worried about people copying your designs?
I do, especially my ornaments but as I have said I am not aware of it. I would be so devastated if they were copied. I spend a long time coming up with the idea and planning. It would be a bitter pill to swallow if someone did copy them especially a large corporation who can make them in the fraction of the time and cost.
Who are your favourite embroidery artists to follow on Instagram?
Well you! @elizabethpawle, her colours and textures are gorgeous . @dominowhisker has heart breaking subjects with so much poignancy. @fleurwoodsart makes so many beautifully painted and embroidered pieces of art and @jazmoodie of Mude Threads has inspiring body positivity for all with great stitching.
Lastly what do you love about embroidery?
I love that I can create something even when I can’t draw it properly- I see things in stitches rather than as drawings. The textures and variations, the fact that you can stitch on pretty much anything. I love that it’s accessible but also a skill that you have to hone over time. It is so embedded in my life both as work and as what inspires me that I couldn’t imagine life without it.
You can follow Kate on Instagram and shop her work here.