Not exactly the end of an era but I have taught my last class in my studio in Manchester and it was a good one to end on - my 5 day Colour Your Palette - sharing my space with three wonderful colour enthusiasts!

I taught my first class on the 2nd September 2018 so just over six years ago. Despite two heavily disrupted Covid years, 348 students have attended my workshops and the workshops given by 12 incredible guest tutors. Not 348 separate individuals as a lot of students have attended more than one workshop. I have welcomed 221 different people into the studio with one individual attending 9 different workshops, one attending 8 workshops, one attending 6 workshops and a good handful attending 5! My lovely, lovely, ‘repeat offenders’ know who they are and I am grateful for all the friendships I have formed over the last six years. I am particularly grateful to those early students who took a risk on me and went on to spread the word - I couldn’t have done it without them!

Special thanks to my bestie Ruth Brown who twisted my arm and got me started on this path, to Tracy F for beating the drum early doors, to Hilary K and Julie B for the editing / proof reading skills and keeping me sane during lockdown, to my favourite builders (father-in-law Bernard and son Joe) for the Bog Shed, the Bus Shelter and the somewhat more substantial than we initially thought Porch and to Ruth and Joe for being the best show buddies a girl could have xxx

It has been quite the journey ….. along the way I have written three books and developed two extensive online workshops. I’ve lost count of the numbers of talks I’ve given and the number of workshops I’ve taught away from my studio. Surprisingly I have managed to make the odd bit of art but not nearly enough to still the ideas buzzing in my head.

And so I move on to a new phase in my life. One in which the move to Scotland happens quickly and without stress (who am I kidding?). One which I continue to teach but less often, in other studios and community centers here and, occasionally, abroad. One in which I still do one or two shows a year. One in which I still run my online shop. And one in which my focus can be on making art.

Although I might take a few hours off and sip the odd glass of gin before getting started ……..

It is that time of year when I set the studio calendar for the following year and I am very, very excited to announce the four guest tutors who will be teaching here at Urban Studio North in 2024. I love finding great tutors who push the boundaries of textile and stitch, using diverse materials and exploring different techniques and working practices. Please follow the links below to find out more about the tutors and their workshops. All workshops are available to book now.

Adventures in Experimental Coiled Basketry with Polly Pollock, 11th to 14th March 2024, £420 including £120 deposit.

Coiled basketry is one of basketry’s most versatile techniques offering a multitude of possibilities for making formal baskets right through to abstract sculptural forms. Coiling is different from other basketry techniques in that it is a stitched technique (as opposed to woven), and has many references to constructed textiles. 

The workshop uses the theme of “Seed Pods” which have wonderful organic forms, structures and textures, and will provide interesting jumping-off points for this 4-day course. You’ll be shown several ways of starting, which you use will depend on what materials you choose to work with.  You will then be free to choose how to take your work forwards, with plenty of guidance to help you decide how you want to progress be that with a more formal basket, or more experimental abstract form - the choice will be yours.

Metamorphosis with Stewart Kelly, 30th April to 3rd May 2024, £380 including £180 deposit.

A welcome return by Stewart as the workshop he is teaching this September sold out within day! The course encourages participants to develop a personal language through the exploration of combining drawing, colour, paper, fabric, and stitched textiles. This will be an experimental course, focusing on exploration, and the process of discovery through making. Therefore, the workshop must not be seen as a complete experience, where you will complete a ‘project’, rather you will conclude with ideas, potentials and an expanded tool kit for your own development.

Versatility of Felt with Clare Bullock, 20th to 24th May 2024, £475 including £175 deposit.

Felt is a very versatile fabric, you can make almost anything from it. In this 5 day workshop you will study a different technique each day. By the end of the five days you will have firm knowledge in felt making, a selection of samples and written instructions to guide you on your felting journey.

Quietly Composed with Amanda J Clayton, 9th to 12th September 2024, £420 including £120 deposit.

The course ‘Quietly Composed’ is aimed at those artists, embroiderers’ and textile specialists in particular, who wish to explore observational starting points and develop personal ideas through cloth and hand stitch.

Enjoy the calming nature of hand stitch whilst absorbing the serendipity of composition, with a pared down palette of neutrals you will explore the techniques of cutwork, darning, applique, layering and inlay using transparent qualities as well as your favourite cloth qualities. You will work towards developing an individual series of work from your own visual language.  

A big thank you to everybody who stopped by my stand at the Sewing for Pleasure show last week and especially to all those who brought a copy of my new book Simply Screen Printing. I am donating £1 from every book sold before the end of March to the Trussell Trust so if you are thinking about buying it, now would be a good time!

And Hello! to all new subscribers to this post. I waffle on about lots of stuff in my posts, I hope you enjoy them.

So. The book is published. The two shows are history. I’ve had two afternoon naps and I’m raring to go. What next? That would be my upcoming trip to Australia to teach a five day workshop in Ballarat and a three workshop in Hobart, Tasmania. I fly out on Saturday 8th April and can’t wait! The flights, accommodation, visa etc are all organised but I still have my workshop preparation to do. The dyes we will be using are, unsurprisingly, slightly different colours to the ones I use in my studio so I’m going to be recreating some of my colour references over the next few days. I also need to pull together notes for the students - the workshops combine elements from three of the workshops I teach in my studio so I have some copy and pasting to do!

And then there are the none studio things that need doing before I travel. Yes, I’m going to have to do some housework. I should probably also do some gardening (but I’m hoping it rains lots over the next couple of weeks). I need to sort out food / supermarket deliveries so that husband doesn’t starve (or order pizza every single evening). I need to buy some new knickers (OK so nobody would ever know but packing a collection of knackered knickers is just tempting fate). And decide which handbag to take - currently thinking a small cross over my body type one for passport, tickets etc and a rather large one as my carry on. It’s a big decision ……….

Printed using an open screen first in different values of turquoise and brown. With additional line and pattern added using a breakdown printing screen.

It’s nearly here! My new book is called Simply Screen Printing and it is a detailed step-by-step guide to screen printing textiles at home or in a studio. Suitable for absolute beginners but, hopefully, useful to those of you who are already printing. More details to follow but for now here is some eye candy!

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Flour paste mask stamped onto fabric, printed using an open screen, adding acid lemon and scarlet thickened dyes directly to the screen to give bands of yummy colour. A little sunshine on a winters day!

I hope not. I’d like to wish you all a Happy and Creative 2023!

The days and weeks are flying by in a bit of a blur as I work my do-da’s off on THE BOOK. I am on track (just) for publication at the end of February and will post lots more photos and details over the next few weeks. In amongst the book writing we’ve had a massive leak in the bogshed (mostly fixed, but I’m still having palpitations!) and Christmas (two Christmas’s actually which was lovely). But mostly I’ve been working and to hit my deadline some things have had to give.

I’ve lowered my already low levels of housekeeping. Dear husband commented that the kitchen flour could do with a clean at one point. I perfected the HARD STARE nearly forty years ago and we have been happily married ever since.

Food needs to be filling and healthy. And cooked in 10 minutes. Or toast, if the day hasn’t gone as expected.

And the studio …. just a teeny tiny bit messier than I’m comfortable with. But I thought I’d share some images. Firstly, there is my sampling and photography area. Yes, this bit is tidy.

But the rest of the studio? Stuff on every surface. Piles of fabric that have been printed but need washing. Piles of fabric that have been washed. Tubs of dyes and a bench full of ‘stuff’ that I need to print samples. A pile of dressmaking patterns and fabric that I dyed about forever ago. Piles of old towels and drop cloths in case the bogshed has another ‘moment’. Curtains that need shortening and thermal liners adding before winter. Didn’t specify which winter. And a sewing machine that could do with a dust.

Ho hum. Nearly there. Honest.

Printed using a loose paper resists in different values of a lovely teal colour.

I’ve been elbow deep working on my next book over the last few weeks but have put my head above the parapet occasionally. And noticed that Christmas is nearly here.

So, a couple of things - if you are planning to order anything from my online shop please do so ASAP. In theory the last postage date within the UK is the 21st but postal strikes are taking their toll and I’m seeing that it is taking far longer than it should for things to arrive. I use Royal Mail for anything that weighs under 2kg and DPD for heavier boxes. Royal Mail seems to be badly affected in some areas and DPD have temporarily withdrawn their next day service and their collection service in my area.

And, if you’ve looked at my online shop recently you will have noticed that I have reduced the price of my Colour Your Palette from £25 to £20. With a new book imminent I need to clear some space!

The book ….. the words are (mostly) out of my head and on paper, or more accurately on One Drive. The bottle neck is sampling and photography which I can only do in my studio. My electricity smart meter is happily doing somersaults as I heat the studio during the current cold snap. Wearing thermals, sweaters, fleece-lined trousers, a woolly hat and fingerless gloves I find that I can work at 12 - 14C provided I don’t sit still for too long. My heart goes out to all those who can’t afford to heat their homes. It’s going to be a long winter for so many.

Hoping that you are lovely and toasty as you read this, Leah x

Printed using loose plastic resists in acid lemon and scarlet. Makes me feel warmer just looking at this one!

Last week I taught my last workshop for 2022 and it was a good one. Three great students, beautiful work, lots of laughter …. even when the handle fell off the studio door and we were locked in! (Big thanks to son Joe for letting us out and to my lovely father-in-law Bernard for fixing the problem - don’t know what I would do without them).

I have a five month gap until I start teaching again. Last year I spent my ‘off’ season making art. This year I will be spending it writing my next book and developing my next online workshop.

Over the next couple of weeks I’ll be working my way through a series of tasks that help me re-focus away from teaching mode. I have already moved the benches around a bit and taken down the big plastic screens that separate some of the benches. I’ve cleaned the six student trolleys and re-stocked them ready for next spring. I’ve started the process of inspecting, scouring and, if needed, repairing all my screens. I will be bleaching all my drop clothes to strip out some of the colour that has built up on them during the year. Those that remain very coloured will go through a ‘redemption’ bucket of thiox which is a powerful but very smelly discharge agent. Those that are still too coloured will be re-purposed as quilt bags. I will be organising all my teaching samples, giving some of them a wash before packing them away. I have diligently worked my way through the left over studio chocolate bars and will not restock until spring (who am I kidding!). And I have written a big list of the other stuff that needs doing before next spring.

Yes, some of these things could have waited but they really do help me ‘transition’.

This week I will also be getting ready for the Great Northern Textile Show on Sunday 23rd October. I will be exhibiting and will have a stand and hope to see some of you there. Lots of things to do to get ready, including preparing some more Wonky Print Inspiration Packs!

So, realistically I won’t be working on the book for another week or so but I’m itchin’ to get going!

After the euphoria of Festival of Quilts and the fabulous news that my workshop in Australia next April has sold out I am back down to earth with a bump.

It may not surprise you to know that I love a spreadsheet. I keep a tight rein on the studio accounts, analyzing patterns of spend so that I can look forward to see what my potential earnings might be. Whilst Festival of Quilts will pay my bills for the next few months the outlook for next year is not great. And I’m not surprised. The news that fuel bills in the UK will go up by 80% from the beginning of October and are expected to go up another 50% in January is frankly terrifying. Sorry to get political here but without significant intervention many families, including those who have always felt reasonably well off, will suffer and worse.

I make my living from my customers and students discretionary spend and I would be very naive not to acknowledge that the cost of a workshop even without travel and accommodation, is going to be more than many people can afford. Or want to commit too when there is so much uncertainty.

So time to focus on more affordable ‘stuff’. I’ve started work on my next book and have set myself a goal of getting it finished in time for Christmas. I will be making an online workshop to go with the book although I don’t think it will be ready for Christmas unless I give up on sleeping. I also have ideas for some shorter online workshops to be available from next spring. And I will be printing and dyeing fabric off and on over the coming months so that I can offer fabric packs on my website.

I have a couple of five day workshops this autumn which are definitely going ahead but still have spaces available. I’ve decided to offer them at a 20% discount bringing the cost down from £400 to £320. The students already signed up will also get the discount as I’m not comfortable with students paying different amounts on the same workshop. The workshops are Print, Stitch, Go! (26 to 30 Sept) and Print Your Palette (10 to 14 October). Short notice but would love to have more ‘bums on seats’ as the saying goes.

It is four years, and one pandemic, since I made the decision to leave industry in order to start teaching. As a family we always knew that it might be ‘challenging’ financially but it is still the best decision I ever made and I’m grateful for all your support. Leah x

Terry drawing with needle nosed bottles and thickened dyes

The Creative Textile Studio (previously known as the Virtual Studio) has been an integral part of each summers Festival of Quilts from the very first show. It is a space where visitors can watch and interact with a bunch of talented people demonstrating a wide range of textile techniques. Up until now it has been organised by Leslie Morgan and the students of her Committed to Cloth studio. Leslie has now decided that it is time to retire and focus on making her own art.

And I am very proud to tell you that I am part of a new studio collective taking over the reins. The collective is Christine Chester (Studio Eleven), Hazel Ryder and Terry Donaldson (InStitches) and myself here at Urban Studio North. This is a new venture for us and we have big plans! We want to stretch the boundaries of textile art and share with you the widest range of textile and mixed media based techniques. We want to inspire you!

We will all be demonstrating at various times in studio and will be joined by some wonderful artists and textile tutors including Clare Bullock, Elisabeth Viguie Culshaw, Jennifer Collier, Kate Findlay, Ruth Brown and more. As we get closer to the show I will share the studio rota so you can plan a visit. And our logo. Yes we are going to have a logo! But for now you might want to look at our Instagram page foqcreativetextiles

And maybe start following us? Or spreading the word to your friends? Any support is very much appreciated. We’re barely an acorn right now but we want to grow to be a great big creative, colourful, inclusive and inspiring tree!