Escape to the captivating French Alps and join me and the Creative Experiences team for a week-long retreat learning all my tips and unique style of turning surface embroidery into bespoke lampshades and pictures. Unwind in the breathtaking mountains while immersing yourself in the art of embroidery. Whether you’re a novice eager to learn or a seasoned stitcher looking to enhance your skills, this all-inclusive holiday is designed to spark your creativity.
Spend your days in Samoëns mastering new embroidery techniques, honing your stitching proficiency, and crafting your very own hand embroidered lampshade. In between workshops, take leisurely strolls through the picturesque Alpine meadows, revel in the majestic mountain views, and savour delectable meals crafted by a skilled in-house chef using locally sourced ingredients.
Retreat to cozy chalet accommodations featuring an outdoor pool, where you can connect with fellow embroidery enthusiasts who share your passion for this timeless craft. Indulge in a unique opportunity to embrace your love of stitching amidst one of the world’s most stunning settings.
The Fairies’ Pet
In this whimsical design, there are stories unfolding throughout the embroidered garden. With its meandering path, fairies tend their diminutive dragon, haul carts full of berries, swing on magical threads, and ride dragonflies through the sky, while other creatures go about their daily tasks. Stitched to a lampshade, so the scene changes as you turn it, or framed, there are plenty of creatures to discover in the fairies’ garden.
You will learn how to create an embroidered garden, make and dress fairies, create various creatures and floral elements using silk organza, and use my unique method of applying them to the background. We will cover stumpwork, couching, and other surface embroidery techniques, including how to make dragon scales from thick silk. You will also learn my technique for making plump berries (a dragon’s favourite snack), and how to make leaves, toadstools and foliage using a variety of different materials. You will also learn how to make a lampshade, and how to attach a finished embroidery to a lampshade.
Dream A Little
Dream A Little sets the scene for the frog band to entertain the audience, jitter bugs do their thing on the dance floor, and Miss Mousey, with her sparkling red shoes, dances into the wee hours with her beau.
Peer through a toadstool window to see what’s been baking, as Ladybug goes for her evening stroll. With its host of adorable characters, and the well-known love song scattered amongst the sparkling stars, every time you gaze at it, there’s something new to be seen.
Stitched to a lampshade, or framed as a picture, this happy scene is fun to stitch, and is sure to delight everyone who sees it.
In this class, you will learn how to stitch writing, how to bring animals to life with silk thread, make a toadstool with a window, needle-turn applique, needle-weaving, various surface embroidery techniques, how to use feathers, and to embroider flowers and sequins to create a whimsical and charming scene. You will also learn how to make a lampshade, and how to attach a finished embroidery to a lampshade.
Meadow
Reminiscent of a meadow at sunrise, this lamp has that shabby chic feminine charm that would look gorgeous in a pretty bedroom or hall. An array of delicate blooms, seedpods and grasses swaying in the morning breeze, and visited by the prettiest of butterflies, this design is stitched with nineteen luscious silks, of different textures, but all hand-dyed with the same soft hues that whisper of a quiet morning in the meadow. Again, turn the lampshade every day to glimpse the changing scene. With stitches that are easy to master, this project is for all levels of stitching ability.
Please note that prices of kits listed here are for attendees only. All kits include the design transferred to the main fabric, so that you are ready to start stitching on the day.
Kit preparation requires a lot of labour, and investment in materials by me. Where a supply used in my original design is no longer available, I have taken great care to find as similar a replacement as possible.
Kits are keenly priced, at cost or below-cost, to encourage your attendance at the workshop. If you wish to buy a kit and not attend the workshop, please note that kit prices will reflect the time and effort that I have invested into putting them together.
- The Fairies’ Pet: AUD$260
- Meadow: AUD$140
- Dream A Little: AUD$215