Sila Gur is a Turkish embroidery designer living in Scotland with her husband and daughter.

How did you get into embroidery? 

I have always loved to be productive and creative. I studied Fine Arts in high school, then Fashion Design in university, both in Turkey. After graduation I also studied Fashion Styling in New York.  Hand embroidery gives me the opportunity to use all my skills in one. It is like turning thread into art, or fashion drawing with lots of textures by threads. And I am so satisfied of putting these skills together. I discovered embroidery actually not so long ago (October 2018) but fell in love right away, and couldn’t stop myself to try new things. It makes me so happy. I also find it super relaxing after a long and overwhelming day. And yes, I’m a self-taught artist, I just watched a few YouTube videos for basic stitches in the very beginning. 

What are some of your favourite stitches?

I just love French knots. Even my embroidery style is thread painting, I love adding French knots in somewhere in my work, usually using it as texture of a fabric. I wonder how the tambour hook needle works. I’ve always wanted to try that technique… one day.

Where do you get your materials and threads from?

I use only Nurge brand hoops, I buy them whenever I go to Turkey to visit family and friends as prices are lower there. And the rest like fabric, DMC threads, needles etc. from a local craft store where I live.

How do you start a new piece of work, what’s your design process?

I have so many ideas and projects in my mind. I wish I had more time to embroider. A beautiful image or just a sweater that I see on somebody, or only a hairstyle of a girl can give me the inspiration I need. Then I create an image in my mind and start drawing it. Stitching usually takes 5-6 days for me to finish.  I work on commissions a little longer.

Are you overwhelmed with designs and ideas or does it take time to find new embroideries to stitch?

That’s a good question. Yeah! Sometimes I feel so overwhelmed with too many ideas. I’m not a multi-tasking person I have to say, I can focus on one thing at a time and can not think or work on some other thing before I finish it.

Do you embroider for fun or is it a full time job?

I currently don’t have a full time day job. I still take care of my little one during the day and be able to stitch when she is asleep. I love embroidery, it makes me happy and relaxed, but I can’t say I do it just for fun. It’s more like part time job for me now.

How do you find using Instagram? Do you ever worry your work will be copied?

I think Instagram is a social platform where you can show what you do, doing or did. I think it is a necessary in these days. People follow you, like your posts, keep leaving comments but it doesn’t mean you make lots of money as an artist, or it doesn’t mean you are bad artist if you don’t have 30k followers. It means you share good content, your pictures are good, you know how to involve people into your posts. It basically means you know how to use it and you are up to date. That’s it. I have never been worried about copying issues. Because it’s really hard to copy thread painting. If they (who copy you) are that much good at art, they would make their own art already.

Do you ever feel pressured to post images that you know will get lots of likes instead of simply posting what you like?

What I have experienced so far is; if you really like it, people like it too.

What do you love about embroidery?

I love being able to touch the textures you create on the hoop. There is no distance between you and your art. That’s amazing!

Follow Sila here.