Stitch-School

20/09/2026

WORKSHOP - BRIXTON
Sunday 4th October 3.30pm - 5.30
Stitch a patch with Melanie & Janelle White weft

12/09/2026

Day 12

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FRIENDSHIP
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IRock & Esther became stitch friends around the stitch table in Brixton library. One of our first and favourite projects with The Brixton Project

09/09/2026

07/09/2026

Day 6

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EXPERIMENT
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Our stitch tables are a playground to experiment with colour, texture, technique, thread, knotting, stitching, collaging and exploring!

06/09/2026

Day 5

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CARING
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Meet Ernest Thesiger 1879-1961 Dr Pretorius in Bernard Shaws ‘Bride of Frankenstein’ 1935 and an avid embroider!

Ernest who took up embroidery after a war injury in WW1 and established the Disabled Soldiers Embroidery Industry 1918 - 1955 for injured servicemen of the WW1 to supplement their pensions VE Day 🇬🇧 Embroidery went on to be a medium in Occupational Therapy in the NHS. Soldiers and Sailors always had a repair kit handy for repairs in uniforms, tents or sails. If you have any other knowledge please share!

Ernest was an expert in petit point and also wrote the book ‘Adventures in Embroidery’ in 1941 The chair he sits in was embroidered and upholstered by himself!

06/09/2026

Day 5

CARING

A special project with Marie Curie Hospice in Hampstead July 2019 bringing the hospice community together, carers, Dr’s, nurses, patients and families to stitch the Hampstead Hospice cloth. Placed it in the informal setting of the common room for the community to gather around the table and be in the moment, forget everyday roles, enjoy the act of stitching and community making. The cloth was resident at the hospice for three months, beautifully stitched and now on display within the hospice.

05/09/2026

Day 4 STORYTELLING

Embroidery is a well known medium for telling stories.

Couching Liberties was a project with University of Portsmouth and D-Day museum Portsmouth
May 2024. A public engagement project to bring awareness and conversation with the Overload embroidery based at the D-Day museum Portsmouth.

We told the story of D-Day in our D-Day Cloth commemorating the 80th anniversary of D-Day the battle of Normandy. Inviting an intergenerational audience to contribute to stitching the cloth and join in conversations around war, peace, battle, bravery, history.
Stitching history and making new histories within the museum environment.

04/09/2026

Day 3
COLOUR

Our kits use five colours and it’s such fun playing with combinations and the restrictions of this palette. But it somehow seems to work for an educational kit to learn stitches! This is our A-Z foundation kit exploring 26 stitches in 26 letters!

03/09/2026

Hey Hoy 2 days late! seam collective

- I’m Melanie - the founder of Stitch-School to share my passion, benefits and importance of hand embroidery through kits, workshops and community events.
#. I studied embroidery at Manchester Polytechnic, working commercially and finally in education ( Senior Lecturer at Chelsea College of Arts) - I have specialised in designing educational publications ( author of Digital Textile Design and Print/Make/Wear ) My practice focuses at embedding textiles into communities through embroidery to create intergenerational and intercultural experience for all to enjoy!

Our publications and graphics are beautifully designed by myself .studio and our large stitch tables made by Dolman-Bowles . Stitch-School kits and publications take a long time to design but are proving to also have a long life! Our foundation kit the A-Z of embroidery covers 26 stitches with each letter representing a stitch. We sell online and at our favourite shops & galleries Ray Stitch Loop | London Lisburn Museum Beyond Measure Whitworth Shop

We are a tiny company based in Central Brixton doing our best to promote and keep the life long skills of stitching for repair, pleasure and creativity. The quiet medium of hand stitching can have a powerful impact!

Stitch-School has had lots of amazing collaborations including: The Brixton Project McQueen V&A Dundee Marie Curie UK the Whitworth National Festival of Making Summer Camp by The Good Life Society TRImarchi DG UAL (University of the Arts London) The D-Day Story, Portsmouth Knit + Stitch Aurifil Thread Barbican Centre London Craft Week Alice Billing House UCL Arts and Humanities studio Dolman-Bowles

communitystitching
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