Great News! After a great start to the year and classes in Godalming running successfully I will be teaching two further classes this year and hope to be able to welcome new and continuing students.
Classes planned to satisfy embroidery appetites(cake and kit included) are as follows;
Introduction to Jacobean Embroidery – Saturday 22nd of October -£75
Silverwork Embroidery – Saturday the 12th of November and Sunday the 13th of November – £135
To book onto the listed classes please email me on kate@bespokeembroidery.net or phone me on; 07958 189349

Detail of Silverwork Embroidery on a cushion – Saturday the 12th of November and Sunday the 13th of November – £135
“One of the most creative and relaxing days I’ve had learning a new and beautiful art. Kate Cross was patient and relaxed in her teaching style and made me feel very welcome. The group was fun and dynamic and the learning environment perfect. And the free cake was pretty darn good too!”
“I thoroughly enjoyed your embroidery class and have continued at home – we must have been taught well in order that I can remember how to do it! You gave us lots of time with you and with a small class.”
To book onto the listed classes please email me on kate@bespokeembroidery.net or phone me on; 07958 189349
I offer private tuition on a one-to-one basis on all embroidery techniques at a cost of £35 per hour so please do phone/email me and let me know if there is an additional technique that you would like to learn. Anne Mc Donald came to a silkshading class and has used these skills to progress onto the Certificate class at the RSN. Anne will be having further private tuition with me later this year in the Art of Applique. Anne’s reflection on her embroidery is as below;
I’ve not stitched since I was a child, many, many years ago when I my Grandmother showed me how to do lazy-daisy stitch. I have always loved the concept of silk shading, and this was really the reason why I decided to undertake the RSN certificate course.
I initially thought about stitching a garlic bulb, but couldn’t get the colours right. Then a magic moment happened, when I attended a two day course at Hampton course, run by Kate, on design for silk shading. Kate was inspiring, sharing her knowledge with the group on so many things including how to choose background colours and threads and planning order of work, and most importantly how to work long and short stitch. One of my biggest problem had been how to ‘create’ the ‘Cadbury’s chocolate’ colour of the petals, and despite both DMC and Anchor producing many purple threads, none matched. Kate however had the answer…using a mixture of purple and navy… something I would never have thought of.
So here is my finished crocus. I’m amazed at what I’ve achieved… But non of this would probably happened without Kate Cross’ most generous advice and support.
Thank you Kate!” Anne Mc Donald
After a couple of years of hard work on one major project on the go the Applique book has finally gone to print! There has been a bit of a delay in the publish date for the appliqué book and its now looking that it will be on the book shelves towards the middle of July so I will be looking to invite you to raise a well earned glass at a book launch in August (date to and venue to be finalised).
By Elisabet Knytt March 27, 2016 - 12:02 pm
Congratulations on completing your book! This recent reproduction of a Swedish medieval coverlet might be interesting for you to see (the blog post is written in both English and Swedish): https://historicaltextiles.org/2016/03/26/att-aterskapa-tva-guldskinnstacken-to-recreate-two-inlaid-woolen-coverlets/
By Kate March 31, 2016 - 6:02 pm
Thanks for sending the article through on coverlets it was really interesting to me as I did an awful lot of research on coverlets for my Applique Book. The technique they used called “Intarsia patchwork” piecing technique as the fabric sits side by side so is falls into patchwork rather than applique. Very interesting and beautiful technique though. Have you seen some of the later English intarcia pieces? They are thought to be worked by tailors as they are so precise and mind blowing in detail. Here is a really interesting article for you to read on the later English versions; https://www.vam.ac.uk/content/journals/research-journal/issue-03/a-patchwork-panel-shown-at-the-great-exhibition/
By Rose Cooper March 29, 2016 - 9:52 pm
Lovely to see your passion and progress. Best wishes
Rose