This week, designer, maker, educator and weaver Agnis Smallwood speaks to me about her craft, her creative journey and how she found inspiration for her work this year among the carrots and radishes she grew in her small veg patch during lockdown. Agnis, who is based in Yorkshire, works on solo weaving projects as well as collaborations with organisations like museums. She also teaches weaving and other crafts like rag rug making and felting.

Just a few generations ago looms were a familiar sight in domestic settings giving artisans the chance to work from home. Just like the generations of weavers who have gone before her, Agnis is currently working on her loom from home which is where she spoke to me from.

You can see Agnis' work and find out about her workshops on her website.

This episode is dedicated to the memory of Anu Dent, a crocheter and a much valued supporter of Making Stitches who very sadly passed away in November 2020. My condolences go out to her family and friends.

For full show notes for this episode, please visit the Making Stitches website.
The music featured in this episode is Make You Smile by RGMusic from Melody Loops.

Making Stitches Podcast is recorded and edited by Lindsay from Postcard from Gibraltar.

Creativity whether it's music, craft or art has long been seen as having a positive impact on mental health, and after the year we have all experienced, it's something many of us have had to focus on. This week on Making Stitches, Emma Jones from Vintage Sewing Box speaks about the benefits of focusing the mind on stitching and how that simple repetitive activity can calm the mind. Emma also discusses her love of English Paper Piecing and hand embroidery and has a truly lovely tale about a quilt dedicated to the memory of her Gran.

Also this week, as our thoughts turn towards Christmas, we hear from The Apex Singers about a special Christmas Concert they are hosting online. The young vocalist group, which is based in Manchester, launched its first album back in March just as the UK went into lockdown and is now looking forward to performing together for the first time since that launch. The singers want to share the experience with as many people as they can online.

To find out more  about Emma Jones' work please check out her website: Vintage Sewing Box
You can find out about The Apex Singers here and you can buy tickets for their Christmas Concert 'Snowed in at Home' here.

For full show notes for this episode, please visit the Making Stitches website.

The music featured in this episode is Make You Smile by RGMusic from Melody Loops.

Making Stitches Podcast is recorded and edited by Lindsay from Postcard from Gibraltar.

Kerry Lord took up crochet for the first time when she went on maternity leave from her family's yarn business less than ten years ago. She watched some YouTube tutorials and created a cuddly elephant for her baby, who was still yet to be born. Little did she know back then that Bridget the Elephant would eventually go on to be made thousands of times by crocheters around the world and the book of crochet animal patterns she would go on to write would be translated into 22 different languages.

This week on Making Stitches, I have a chat with Kerry Lord, the founder of Toft and creator of more than 200 crochet patterns. Kerry has gone on to write 11 books, the most recent of which, A Partridge in a Pear Tree, has been released in time for Christmas. She told me how the business first got started and how after shaky beginnings it's become the flourishing creative hub it now is.

We chatted last week on the first day of our most recent national lockdown in the UK and just before Kerry launched the brand new Toft Christmas campaign which you can find all about on the company's website.

For full show notes for this episode, please visit the Making Stitches website.
The music featured in this episode is Make You Smile by RGMusic from Melody Loops.

Making Stitches Podcast is recorded and edited by Lindsay from Postcard from Gibraltar.

Many of us choose to seek a different career path after starting a family, and Cathy Emmott is no different. She took the time she spent on maternity leave with her young family to look at ways of developing her creative side rather than returning to a job in finance. After a lifetime of being creative, she dusted off her sewing machine and began creating fabric pictures inspired by her surroundings in the Yorkshire Dales. Her business 'Dear Emma Designs' was born and after initially selling her work at local craft fairs, she branched into online sales and leading workshops to pass on the skills she has learned through her craft.

I had great fun speaking to her about her craft, her inspiration, how her business has developed over the past 15 years and about her wonderful workshop in her garden where all the magic happens.

You can find Cathy on social media as 'Dear Emma Designs' and here: dear-emma.com

For full show notes for this episode, please visit the Making Stitches website.
The music featured in this episode is Make You Smile by RGMusic from Melody Loops.

Making Stitches Podcast is recorded and edited by Lindsay from Postcard from Gibraltar.

When Jill, a former nurse living on the eastern coast of Australia, joined Instagram to share her crochet makes three years ago, little did she know she would create a 14,000 strong community of like-minded people. In this episode of Making Stitches, Jill of Gum Leaf Crochet tells me all about how crochet and this online community has helped her in her 'second life' after injury and serious illness forced her to make big life changes.

You can find Jill on Instagram, Facebook and Ravelry as Gum Leaf Crochet.

For full show notes for this episode, please visit the Making Stitches website.
The music featured in this episode is Make You Smile by RGMusic from Melody Loops.

Making Stitches Podcast is recorded and edited by Lindsay from Postcard from Gibraltar.

This week on Making Stitches I have two guests for you; Bag Maker Extraordinaire Samantha Hussey (otherwise known as Mrs H) and Carole Rennison from Yarndale. Last weekend saw the first ever Yarndale@home as the yarn festival was forced to go online because of the current Covid restrictions. I caught up with Carole earlier this week to find out how the new-look festival had gone.

Before that though, you will hear from Samantha Hussey of Patterns by Mrs H. A bag maker who is on a mission to share the love of her craft with anyone who wants to have a go. Her book The Complete Bag Making Masterclass is packed with tips and ideas for creating your own beautiful bags. It comes with several patterns with detailed instructions on how to make your own. In addition to that, Samantha runs bag making retreats and supports an online bag making community. She tells me all about how her bag making journey developed and why she believes she has a very special super power which helps with her designs.

You can find Samantha here: mrs-h.com
You can find Yarndale here: yarndale.co.uk

For full show notes for this episode, please visit the Making Stitches website
The music featured in this episode is Make You Smile by RGMusic from Melody Loops

Making Stitches Podcast is recorded and edited by Lindsay from Postcard from Gibraltar.

Hello there! Making Stitches is back for a new series after a long summer break. In this series, as with the first one, I hope to be sharing the stories of interesting creative projects as well as hearing from creators themselves about their own creative journeys.

In this first episode of series 2 I recap on what's been happening over the summer for myself, as well as some of my guests from series 1. Since I last spoke to you, a new crochet podcast has been born, a lockdown quilt has been completed and is now on tour raising funds for charity and just like many other events this summer, a yarn festival is going online, so you can enjoy it from the comfort of your own home.

For more information on the subjects covered in this episode, please check out:

The Crochet Sanctuary Website or find the new Crochet Sanctuary Podcast on your favourite podcast app.

Search for 'The Quilt. Spring2020 Creativity in Captivity' on Facebook.

For full details of Yarndale@home please visit the Yarndale website and follow Yarndale on social media for all the details.

For full show notes for this episode, please visit the Making Stitches Podcast website.
Music featured in this episode is Make You Smile by RGMusic from Melody Loops

Hello and welcome to the tenth and final episode in the first series of Making Stitches. This week I'm sharing a story which is very special to me, that of my sewing teacher Dorcas Hammond.

With a career spanning more than 30 years, Dorcas Hammond is a well-known name in Gibraltar. Her dressmaking workshop has created gowns for many brides and beauty queens ahead of their big events - none more so than when Kaiane Aldorino was crowned Miss World in 2009. 

Dorcas has held fashion shows in London, Marbella, Madrid and Portugal, and has won several designers competitions, including the Agulha de Ouro (Golden Needle) in Portugal back in 2004. Dorcas not only creates beautiful clothes, she also teaches students to create their own at her fashion academy. This week we hear how she began sewing as a young child and how she turned her passion into her profession (Dorcas also shares a trick of the trade which involves coffee!).

You can find Dorcas here: 

https://dorcasfashiondesigns.com/
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCu5dkQ52RvguLxlf58AyDGA

For full show notes for this episode, please visit https://makingstitchespodcast.com/
The music featured in this episode is Make You Smile by RGMusic from https://melodyloops.com/

Making Stitches Podcast is recorded and edited by Lindsay from Postcard from Gibraltar

Making Stitches this week, features its first international guest, crochet designer, Esther from Essie Birdies who lives in the Netherlands. Ether's interest in crochet was sparked when her daughter was given an amigurumi kit 10 years ago. She taught herself crochet so she could make it for her, that set her off on a path to designing small toys, shawls, bags and home furnishings.

Esther's story just goes to prove that you don't have to start early to make an impact in the world of crochet. She now works in collaboration with yarn brands and has a website filled with her own designs.

You can find Esther on Instagram as @esiebirdies and her website is : https://essiebirdies.wordpress.com/

For full show notes for this episode, please visit : https://makingstitchespodcast.com/

The music featured in this episode is Make You Smile by RGMusic from https://melodyloops.com/

This week, Phil from The Twisted Yarn shared her story on Making Stitches. A knitter and crocheter in her spare time, Phil works as a clinical psychologist in her day job and is a mother of twin boys.

Known as 'The Modern Knitter' in her quarterly column in Simply Knitting magazine, Phil has also appeared on BBC TV with her imaginatively reupholstered chair which was reborn as a yarny country cottage complete with a front garden, pond and vegetable patch!

Phil's real love though is her own take on modern stranded knitting rather than the more tradition Fair Isle style. She says she's inspired by nature and is hoping to have her first book on the technique published next year. 

You can find Phil at The Twisted Yarn, as well as on social media and Ravelry.

For full show notes for this episode, please visit https://makingstitchespodcast.com

The music featured in this episode is Make You Smile by RGMusic from https://melodyloops.com/