Sewing Machine Embroidery

Fashionable crafts: Works of art that are 'sew' different

Putting the normally genteel art of embroidery and lively contemporary artist Louise Gardiner in the same sentence doesn’t make much sense – until you see her quirky work.

Louise is a pioneer of her unique free machine embroidery style which involves letting your imagination and sewing machine run away with wonderful visual ideas, often involving large pieces of material.

And her work has certainly captured the public’s imagination, as her current successful exhibition at Quarry Bank Mill in Styal, Cheshire, and resulting wealth of commissions demonstrates.

“People do find it unusual that what they’re seeing and, hopefully, appreciating is actually embroidery,” she says with her usual burst of energy. “But it’s funny when you see the wonder in people’s faces when they realise it’s stitch!”

Working in this rather different area of art is an equal surprise to Louise who, although  always keen on drawing as a youngster, never considered working on a sewing machine  as an artistic outlet.

She grew up on a dairy farm in Styal where five generations of her family had lived, playing in the grounds of the same historic venue where her work is now on show. She took an art foundation at Manchester Goldsmith’s College.

On a fine arts-based course involving many different techniques, she was introduced to a freestyle sewing machine for the first time. This is an adapted machine which can be used as an artistic tool, as much as paint and brushes, to draw and create.

In Louise’s case, she discovered that the spontaneity involved suited her own dynamic style. She graduated with a textiles BA (Hons) and later completed an MA in illustration back at Manchester Met.

Embroidery, however, had still not claimed her immediate ambitions. After her graduation in 1994, she decided to have a show, hired a gallery space in Cheshire and put together a collection of work including some of her embroidery pieces. “It got great feedback, sold most of my exhibition and so it really took off from there,” she recalls.

To accommodate the work that started coming her way and allow her to create larger scale pieces, she rented a studio in Bristol. She won the Embroiderers’ Guild Scholarship in 2005 and a variety of high-profile public commissions ensued.

This included a 23-piece artwork at Gloucester Royal Hospital and, more recently, a two-metre tall embroidered appliqué quilt for Liberty’s in Regent Street, London, which quickly sold. Her fans are now numerous and her sought-after work is in many public areas as well as private residences. They sell on average from £300 to £5,000, each piece unique and some involving hundreds of hours of work.

Singer Futura CE-250 Sewing and Embroidery Machine | @Home Best ...

The Singer Futura CE-250 is a fully electronic sewing machine and computer-linked embroidery unit. Ideal for both sewing and embroidery, this easy-to-use machine provides an array of convenient features, including six automatic buttonhole styles and software to convert images into embroidery designs.

Automatic Needle Threader

The automatic needle threader is sewing’s biggest time saver. This feature makes threading the eye of the needle quick and painless.

Easy Top Drop-In Bobbin System with Clear Cover

This easy to use, top-loading bobbin system simplifies preparing the machine for sewing. Simply drop the bobbin, loop the guide, pick up the bobbin thread and you’re ready to sew. The clear view cover makes it easy to monitor the thread supply.

100 Built-In Stitches

One hundred built-in stitches offer a large variety of stitches for construction, fashion sewing, quilting, heirloom, crafts, home decorating and decorative sewing, and always ensure the perfect stitch for every project.

Six Fully Automatic One-Step Buttonholes

Six fully automatic one-step buttonholes provide professional results at the touch of a button. Each side of the buttonhole is sewn in the same direction creating beautifully balanced buttonholes like the pros. The buttonholes are created using the buttonhole foot with exclusive underplate. The underplate makes creating buttonholes possible in places that conventional buttonhole devices cannot easily reach.

Adjustable Stitch Length and Width

Keep your seams strong and prevent bunching on any type of fabric with adjustable stitch length and width. Optimal stitch settings are automatically set. However, you can easily reset them to personalize your stitches.

Electronic Twin Needle Control

With the electronic twin needle control, stitches are automatically adjusted for twin needle sewing in a snap. Twin needle sewing creates two parallel rows of stitching, adding a decorative touch to any project. Full instructions are included in the manual.

Programmable Needle Up/Down

Select to have the needle stop in the down position when appliquéing, quilting or pivoting fabric. When removing the fabric from the machine, it is easier if the needle is raised to the highest position.

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