With a respected textile artist by your side every step of the way
Since rediscovering her passion for textiles after a 30-year break, Sue Stone (Former Chair of the renowned 62 Group of Textile Artists) has spent the past 17 years building and refining how she develops texture and pattern in her art.
Art that has been exhibited all over the world (including a solo show at the UK’s biggest textile event The Knitting & Stitching Show) and featured in international publications (like Fiber Art Now and Embroidery Magazine).
And she's regularly invited to share her methods for creating texture and pattern in workshops with groups like The Embroiderers’ Guild and Selvedge. Workshops that often sell out within days of going on sale.
Not bad considering that she once spent the evening hiding behind corners at her first ever exhibition!
Stitch Your Story with Sue Stone offers you a chance to...
- Push the boundaries of a few simple hand-stitch, mixed media and appliqué techniques
- Build your confidence to create work that is truly personal and meaningful to you
- Discover the keys to textile art portraits in a pressure-free way that focuses on your journey of development, not on picture-perfect results
- Immerse yourself in regular and manageable exercises so you establish a creative habit that fits your own schedule
- Discover how to add life into your portraits through details in the eyes, mouth and expression on the face before developing finished textile art portrait pieces
- And be part of a community of like-minded creative people and get honest, constructive feedback from one of the UK’s most celebrated textile artists
But this course is not about creating portraits that are Sue Stone 'lookalikes'
What's included in the course?
18 video classes spread over 4 modules Over 30 videos and 35 supporting PDFs
Creative challenges
Every video class has a creative challenge. You'll be experimenting with looking at images in different ways to help you feel comfortable with getting started with hand-stitched portraits and enjoy the process of experimenting to develop your unique artistic voice.
There’s no need for any fancy materials: just a selection of threads and some fabrics and you’re ready to go!
Goals and guidelines
Each challenge has a goal and some guidelines. These give you some limitations to work within, a clear starting point and a focused path forward so there are no endless debates with yourself about the best course of action.
But you'll have plenty of flexibility too – what you create in response to the challenges will be entirely personal and unique.
Inspiration
To inspire you, Sue will share possible approaches and outcomes for each challenge. Plus there are plenty of examples from her own practice, but all the while she'll be encouraging you to originate not imitate.
The inspiration is there to give you the creative confidence to make brave choices for yourself.
Moving forward
When you complete a challenge, you’ll be given a series of prompts to take what you discover forward in your textile art.
And by the end of the course you’ll have at least 10 stitched portraits and as many samples as you choose to make, to develop ideas along the way. We say 'at least' because there is potential to create far more hand-stitched portraits.
Supporting materials
Class workbooks
Every video class has an accompanying printable guide that breaks down everything that’s covered in the video. These are designed to empower you to do the work.
Inspirational PDFs
Four inspirational PDFs (one for each module) take the techniques and ideas you're exploring and show how they've been applied by some amazing contemporary textile artists in their work.
Plus much more...
Suggested schedules to keep you moving forward, examples of past student work to help stimulate you, encouraging emails to spur you on, stitch demo videos to remind you of the basics and recommended resources if you want to delve even deeper with anything covered in the course.
The course modules
Module One: From photo to fabric
This module is all about helping you to lay strong foundations for creating textile art portraits with hand-stitch.
You’ll go from picking out your first images to stitching your first portraits of the course.
And you’ll discover more about your own artistic voice through some fun exercises in experimentation as well as practical techniques for your creative toolbox including how to look for layers and how to transfer images to the fabric.
Four classes
Module Two: A focus on faces
You’ll experiment with creating the facial features of your subjects with stitch.
You'll also discover that conquering these sometimes tricky features is about so much more than just practical tools and techniques.
And you'll explore how to identify expressive lines and create movement in hair, eyes and smiles in a way that conveys emotion and personality.
Four classes
Module 3: Building the image
Here you'll be experimenting with how to start to put the flesh on the bones of your textile portraits with different techniques, stitches and textures.
You'll discover how to bring your portraits to life using the techniques and styles that resonate with you and feel like the way you want to stitch your story.
Five classes
Module 4: Same image, different ways
You’ll experiment with creating three versions or variations of the same basic image using different prompts as your starting point.
It’s an exploration that many students have found fulfilling for developing their unique artistic voice and style.
This last module is about taking your understanding of marrying various techniques to the next level.
Four classes
And that's not all...
You'll also get this amazing package of Bonuses
Bonus 1: Access to the private Stitch Your Story Facebook community
Being part of this exclusive group offers a brilliant opportunity to connect with other students so you feel supported and motivated. Plus, your tutor Sue will be in the group on a regular basis to offer her advice and feedback on the work you post.
Bonus 2: 2 x Private 'live' group webinars with Sue Stone
The webinars are a chance to interact with Sue in real time, hash out ideas and follow up on anything you're finding challenging about the course. A rare opportunity to get insights from a world-renowned textile artist.
Bonus 3: Masterclass – Transferring the image
In this masterclass you’ll learn an effective alternative technique for creating your portrait outlines. Adding more useful methods to your creative toolkit will allow you to feel comfortable tackling any kind of textile art portrait.
Bonus 4: Masterclass – 'No fear' drawing
If you think you need some help to overcome your fear of sketching, this masterclass is for you. You’ll discover ways you can embrace your own personal artistic style without feeling like you’re not “good enough”.
Bonus 5: Masterclass – Framing your stitched portraits
In this fun masterclass you’ll discover how to frame some of the textile art portrait’s you’ve created on the course. If one of your goals is to give a hand stitched portrait as a gift to someone close to you, then these practical tips will be invaluable.
What past students of Sue Stone's online courses say...
"I’ve never felt so creatively stimulated. I could feel my artistic confidence growing with each new challenge I completed.
The webinars with Sue provided a wonderful opportunity to go deeper with what I was discovering in the classes themselves and the interaction with fellow students (as well as seeing the quality of the work being produced) was really inspiring."
Jane Parten
"Sue, Joe & Sam. Thank you for this wonderful textile adventure! It’s not an understatement to say I’m a completely different person because of what I learned in terms of confidence and inventiveness.
Every possible consideration has been made for students of all levels of experience – seeing the progression of the other course members within the Private community was awe-inspiring.
The communication is second-to-none, the course materials are exceptional and best of all your courses represent huge value for money. I cannot recommend it highly enough."
Marianne Crosslé
"The course is excellent. Well presented and very easy to navigate. It has challenged me to discover new and inventive ways to express myself with hand-stitch.
I progressed immeasurably and now have an abundance of ideas for how to take what I’ve learned forward. Thank you!"
Ann Divine
"I cannot thank you enough. I’ve been praying for the opportunity to take a class with Sue and this online course exceeded my expectations; so beautifully designed and delivered.
Your course has literally launched me into a life (and career) as a maker".
Mary Carson
"I loved that each class had very clear guidelines and yet the emphasis was always on the development of my own approach. The examples included were inspiring, the challenges thought-provoking and creatively stimulating.
The interaction with Sue via the webinars made the experience feel ‘real’ and ‘personal’ – her tips and explanations were always pertinent and enlightening."
Fabienne Herbert
"I have to share my happiness with you. A piece I did using techniques and concepts I learned on the course has been chosen for a national exhibition in textile art.
The course changed and strengthened the way I approach textile art and embroidery in ways I couldn’t have imagined. Thank you so much Sue!"
Ditte Winqvist
30-day money back guarantee
TextileArtist.org’s reason for making this course with Sue Stone is to help you reach your aspirations as a textile artist. We want students to finish Stitch Your Story feeling empowered to use simple techniques in more inventive ways.
But if you’re on the fence… or you’ve been disappointed with online textile art courses in the past… we want you to go forward with confidence. And that's why we’re offering a 30-day money back guarantee.
If you complete the first two modules within 30 days and decide the course isn’t for you, we’ll give you a full refund.
There are a couple of conditions which you can read about in the Terms and Conditions (including the full refund policy) here.
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