Yorkshire & Humber Embroidery Group (YHEG) Summer School - July 2026

 

My finished piece from Rebekah Johnston's workshop

Every year the Yorkshire & Humber Embroiderers' Group (YHEG) organise a residential Summer School at Bishop Burton College near Beverley, East Yorkshire. It is a two and a half day stitching extravaganza. This year there were 4 workshop streams to choose from, each led by a different tutor.  This year's tutors were:

Rebekah Johnston - The Fabric of Home

Toni Buckby - Introduction to Historic Blackwork Embroidery 

Rachael Singleton - Re-Imagined

Kate Slaughter - Waxing Lyrical with Colour and Print

I am a member of YHEG but this is the first year I have been to Summer School. I took Rebekah Johnston's workshop.

Examples of Rebekah Johnston's work

Rebekah Johnston - The Fabric of Home
Rebekah is a Nottingham based textile artist working with repurposed domestic fabrics and natural dyes to create quilts and textile pieces rooted in memory, resilience and a sense of home. Her practice combines hand-stitching, needle-turn and raw edged applique, boro inspired mending, darning methods, distressing fabrics, as well as quilt construction and binding methods.

Rebekah's natural dyed fabric & threads & commercial threads for us to use 

Rebekah’s workshop was inspired by her quilt project “The Fabric of Home”, which explored the meaning of home through cloth, memory, and repair. Images of the quilt and examples of her work were at the summer school to introduce the theme and activities of the weekend.

My piece (see top photo) was based on a repeating theme of a window in my house. Other participants'work from Rebekah's workshop can be seen below...

 Some of the participants' work from Rebecca Johnston's workshop

At the end of the weekend everyone lays their work out and we get a chance to go round and see what everyone has done in the different workshops. As a bit of background here's a little about the other tutors and what each workshop offered, taken from the Summer School info...

Toni Buckby - Introduction to Historic Blackwork Embroidery 
Toni Buckby is a Sheffield based artist working with traditional textile techniques, experimental digital/electronics, and acts of collective making. Her work explores ideas of skilled practice, the value of labour, the visibility of authorship, and the creation and accessibility of practical knowledge. Specialising in fine hand embroidery, Toni is currently undertaking a PhD with Sheffield Hallam University and the Victoria & Albert Museum, investigating how fine art practice can be used to reconstruct, interpret, and present fragile and inaccessible Blackwork embroideries.

The summer school project consisted of one of Toni's Historic Blackwork Kits with pre-printed fabric, embroidery threads and needles.

Some of the participants' work from Toni Buckby's workshop

Rachael Singleton - Re-Imagined
Rachael Singleton is an experimental textile and mixed media artist living in South Yorkshire. Her work brings together creative thought and practical engagement with a variety of materials. Layering forms her signature process through the use of varied materials in order to make her ideas come to life.  She is inspired by the natural world. 

Working with a well known favourite painting, students ‘mined’ their images of it for various visual elements, collecting a bank of patterns to translate onto cloth. The aim was to create a range of samples that could be reconstructed into abstracted designs by either hand or machine stitching.

Some of the participants' work from Rachael Singleton's workshop

Kate Slaughter - Waxing Lyrical with Colour and Print
Kate Slaughter is a textile artist, dyer, and tutor who takes inspiration from the beautiful flowers and landscapes of Northumberland and Cumbria. She creates hand painted yarns and threads in a range of colours, adding unique texture and character to her designs.

Kate's workshop taught students how to transform plain fabrics with surface decorative techniques including wax crayons, bondaweb, inktense ink blocks, transfer paints and wooden printing blocks. Participants were also encouraged to add additional surface decoration using simple hand embroidery with a range of different threads and yarns. 

Some of the participants' work from Kate Slaughter's workshop

Kate also had some very colourful threads and kits for sale...

Kate Slaughter's Kits & Threads 

Apart from the luxury of two and a half days stitching with like-minded souls there was good food (Yorkshire portions), a superb walled garden and pleasant accommodation.  Thank you to the fab tutors and to Pauline and the other YHEG organisers - it was a great weekend!  

It was the heatwave weekend so it was very hot.  Afterwards I took myself off to Bridlington for a swim and an ice cream which was the perfect end to a very enjoyable Summer School...

Bridlington South Beach

Refreshment after a swim

ARCHITEXTURE Exhibition - York Embroiderers & Stitchers

The Wall - A collaborative YES project

 

Recently the York Embroiderers and Stitchers (YES) held their triennial exhibition at the Tithe Barn in Nether Poppleton, York.  The ARCHITEXTURE Exhibition ran from the 27 to 29 June 2025 and was a great success.  Work on the theme of architecture was exhibited alongside other 2D and 3D work.  As a member of YES, I was also exhibiting.

There were a number of collaborative projects including "The Wall" - see top image. YES members decorated a brick such that each "brick" represented whatever gives that member strength and stability. The bricks were presented as a wall at the exhibition, put together by Michele Webster, expressing the group's values of friendship, diversity and support. 

Dala Horse Carousels

Two charming (and rotating!) carousels were constructed by Moira Wood featuring embroidered Dala Horses that been made by YES members (inspired by a workshop led by Helen Young).

Fairytale Competition

A "Guess the Fairytale" competition was held too, where entrants had to guess which fairytale was being represented in stitch.  This was the fairytale I stitched.  Can you guess which fairytale it is?

"The House by the Woods" - Sally Stone

My exhibits included "The House by the Woods", "Our House, in the Middle of Our Street", "Stitched Trees" and a "Vase of Flowers".  You can click on the exhibit names to read about those that I have blogged about.

"Our House, in the Middle of Our Street" & some "Stitched Trees" - Sally Stone

 

Stitched Trees - Sally Stone
San Francisco Mansions (behind) - Lynne Harris

Vase of Flowers - Sally Stone

There were some great Architexture exhibits...

Architexture Exhibits - various YES artists

and lots of 2D and 3D work on other themes...

Exhibits - various YES artists

As well as a great exhibition there were bargains to be had on the sales table, tea and cake and cafe tables decorated with fresh flowers...

Sales Table

Lots of cake 

Fresh flowers on the cafe tables

Judging by the comments in the Visitor's Book the exhibition was awash with inspiration.  I hope if you missed it that this post gives you a flavour of what was on display. 

The Red Dress at Oakwell Hall, Birstall, West Yorkshire

The Red Dress

I have just been to see "The Red Dress" which is currently on display at Oakwell Hall in Birstall, West Yorkshire as part of the Woven in Kirklees festival.  It is truly magnificent! 

The Red Dress - Detail

The Red Dress - Detail

The dress was created between 2009 and 2023 by 380 embroiderers from 51 countries and is made from 87 panels of silk.  The project was instigated by artist Kirsty Macleod as a platform for people around the world, mostly women, to say something about their lives and their identities.  

The Red Dress - Detail

The Red Dress - Detail

Some of the participants have experienced war, extreme poverty, being refugees or asylum seekers.  As a result the dress has become a focal point allowing these stories to be heard and to encourage dialogue on such important but difficult topics.

The Red Dress - Detail

The Red Dress - Detail

Many of the embroiderers who worked on the dress are textile professionals and were paid for their work and continue to receive some income from project sales. They may have used techniques reflecting their culture and traditions or simple stitches to portray their personal experiences.

The Red Dress - Detail

The Red Dress - Detail

It is estimated that the dress contains 1-1.5 billion stitches, and weighs 6.8 kg.  It is made of burgundy silk dupion.  The project has many funders, including institutions, charities, social enterprises, self help projects, crowd funding campaigns and private donations.  

Views of the Red Dress

If you want to hear Kirsty talk about the Red Dress project, she is giving an online talk as part of the Embroiderers' Guild Thread Talks series on Tuesday 16 September 2025.  You can book here.

Oakwell Hall
Panelling painted to look like walnut, Westmorland bed adorned with modern crewelwork by Oakwell Broiderers, roof revealed to show oak timbers and stone tiles

Oakwell Hall, which is not far from Ikea on the M62 - if that helps you locate it, is an Elizabethan Manor in extensive grounds with a nice cafe and a car park. It was built in 1583 by John Batte and "Fieldhead", in Charlotte Brontë's novel Shirley, was based on Oakwell Hall. It's worth a visit on its own but a must while the Red Dress is on display. During this exhibition, which ends on 30 June 2025, the Hall is open Saturday to Wednesday, 12 noon - 4pm. Entry is free and although priority tickets have gone, you are still able to visit but may have to queue.

York Embroiderers and Stitchers - A Celebration of Stitch

A Celebration of Stitch

York Embroiderers and Stitchers (YES) are a friendly group of stitch and textile enthusiasts of all levels of ability and experience who meet on the first Saturday of every month at Haxby Memorial Hall in Haxby, York. Recently (last weekend) they had an exhibition "A Celebration of Stitch" at the Tithe Barn in Nether Poppleton, York. There was a vast array of traditional and contemporary embroidery featuring work on a theme of hedgerows. In fact as well as a beautiful hedgerow banner and lots of lovely hedgerow related work, there was also a hedgerow! 

Details from the Hedgerow Banner and YES logo

Details of the Hedgerow

And work based (loosely) on a theme of hedgerows...

Jeanette Davies - Garrowby hill

Chris Small - Hedgerow

Barbara Cox - Shooting

Jose Gledhill - A June Hedgerow

Liz Farmery - Ouch!

Moira Wood - Lie Long Fields of Barley and of Rape

Gina Smith -The Hedgerow & Jill Slijper - Come for a Walk

Sue Giles - Box

There was lots of the other work on show too...

Carol Coleman - Slice of the Past 1V

Marina McCleave - Pumpkin Pie

Judith Johnson - Book in a Tin

Nicky Brunger - Under the Greenwood Tree

Janet Caldwell - Circles

Shirley Smith - Page 18

Eileen Gibson - Cityscape

Heather Cawte - Four Elements: Water

Maggie Smales - Shakespeare

Jane Murray - Map

Colleen Nicholl - Ideas Board 2

Shenagh Linton -
Miss Doris Shepherd

YES had also been working on a stitched postcard project on the theme of landscape, instigated by Chris Beavers.  Here are some detail shots of each postcard and you can see more of these and who made each one on the YES Facebook page here or on their Instagram account here.

Details of the Landscape Postcard Exhibit

For those who like a challenge, there was a "Guess the Musicals" Competition. Stitched representations of 12 musicals were on display for you to identify.  The prize was a £25 M&S voucher.  Some were easy and others really hard. Now the competition has passed I can show you all the stitched musicals and the answers...

Guess the Musicals Competition & Answers

The Travelling Book was also on show.  This is where a book is passed between members and each member includes a different technique...

Travelling Book - pages by Josie Storey, Jose Gledhill and Sandra Atkin

If you want a quick reminder of what I was exhibiting, you can see them below.  You can read more about the making of the 3D hare here, the embroidered tree here and I hope you guessed my entry in the musicals competition.  My other two pieces - a stitched robin and a stitched hare - were from workshops with Mandy Patullo.

Hippystitch Exhibits
Thanks to Alyson Cowen for the 3D Hare Today Gone Tomorrow image 

As well as all the work on display there was a sales table, and yes, reader, I couldn't resist a few treasures for myself!  And , importantly, all through the exhibition there was tea, coffee and scrummy cake available to keep you going (no pics, sorry - too busy enjoying it!)

Sales Table - Kits, Books, Threads & Fabric

Nicky from Nicky Brunger Crafts was also there with her lovely cross stitch kits, notebooks and haberdashery. 

Altogether, it was a great exhibition with some amazing work on display.  I've tried to give a flavour of the variety of work but there was much more than I have featured. YES are a friendly bunch - I admit a bias as I'm also a member of YES.  Why not come and join us at one of the monthly YES meetings and see for yourself!