“I always aim for my work to be graphical, with a playful edge,” says Dance. “I always strive to produce a carefully considered design, with a strong concept, using quality materials,” she adds. Her playful designs include textile recreations of objects like shoes and designer bags (there’s even a knitted model of the original Apple Macintosh!)

“I’m often inspired by very ‘normal’ everyday items, items that portray the luxury of choice and comfort in the western world, whilst at the same time hinting at the excess that is often taken for granted in a fast-paced, immediate society,” Dance explained, adding that “the irony being each knitted or embroidered piece that I make has taken hours/days/weeks to create.”

“Knitting and embroidery is typically perceived as a ‘feminine craft’ however I try to take gender out of the equation when coming up with ideas,” she notes. Her work will inspire you to start knitting, if nothing else!

The post Jessica Dance Knits Everyday Items appeared first on TettyBetty.

Using solid color fabrics in bright and saturated hues, Kingswell quilt-like textile art might remind of stained glass, her patchwork very precisely sewn with no embellishments. Starting with a harmonious color-scheme, sometimes inspired by a poem or a special number, she then imposes a mathematical sequence, cut, rearrange according to the sequence.

“I get pleasure from creating things,” she writes, “things that are so much more than the sum of their parts – finding new patterns by exploring the beauty of color, number, sequence, and proportion through the medium of fabric.” Depending on the work, Kingswell might stretch the finished design over a canvas stretcher or leave it flexible.

“I want my work to lift spirits and make people smile!” says Kingswell, “And also intrigue them a little.” The finished result is indeed a recipe for smiles. Something you might want to add to your Instagram feed.

The post Alexandra Kingswell’s Quilts Will Lift Your Spirits appeared first on TettyBetty.

“There’s nothing wrong with loving color,” states her website. “Loving cozy. I don’t know about you, but I get the feeling you hate boring and scratchy as much as I do.” Whether thrown across the bed or folded on a shelf, her blankets provide little window panes of color that add up to make a piece of practical art.

According to her website, Dean discovered a passion for textiles, after being fired from her day job in advertising. That was when she decided to put her art degree to good use. “I started sketching,” she recalled, “spent a ridiculous amount of time tracking down some awesome artisans who can do the softest, happiest things with beautiful fibers, and the rest is, well, it’s not history, because it’s still happening.”

Colorful, textured, and comforting, her blankets proved to be the best canvas. “Even though I didn’t have money, I was looking at throws,” she told the Kansas City Star. “I thought of that as an accessory, but something that still, you open it up and it’s big and it’s pretty and you can put something on it, and it can be art kind of.”

Here are some examples of the ways in which a good blanket can make for a fun addition to your home.

The post Karrie Dean’s Blankets are Colorful, Textured, and Comforting appeared first on TettyBetty.

In a more recent portrait series, titled The Value of Making, she zooms in on various making disciplines, which are displayed through hand-stitched portraits in a collage of silk organza. According to Jo Gibbs, these portraits are an homage for the creative community at large, celebrating the skill, dexterity, and creative problem solving of the people who make things.

“I’m very excited to be working on a series of small portraits and feel this idea will translate well to other communities,” she relayed in an interview with Textile Artist. “I’m very interested in finding new audiences and telling different stories perhaps by working with distinctive groups or museum collections. I’ve found the stories I tell, although extremely personal are also universal.”

Indeed, her hand-stitched narratives seem to resonate with her audience, both online and offline. Her work can also be found in several permanent museum collections including the V&A, London and The Museum of Fine Art, Houston.

But when it comes to her creative process, it’s rather isolated and withdrawn. “I work from home, I like to sit at the kitchen table in front of French windows because the light is so good,” says Jo Gibbs. “I have a metalwork bench in the garage but I do far less metal work at the moment, my flat work has taken over.”

The post The Hand-Stitched Narratives of Emily Jo Gibbs appeared first on TettyBetty.

Commissioned by Alexander McQueen, Marc Jacobs, The King of Qatar, and even the Pope himself—Nicol has clearly made a name for herself. Based in London, her career has spun for more than twenty-five years, with her techniques including Irish, Cornelly, Multihead, beading, and hand embroidery.

For her work in fashion, she collaborates with fashion designers and creates samples of embroidery designs, often inspired by a given theme. “I work in a completely ‘what if’ scenario, trying out things that may look new and fresh,” she described the process in an interview with Upcyclist. “We then develop these samples to work on garments and I do the first pieces for the shows.”

She explains that in interiors, it’s quite similar but with different scales and practicalities. But with her art pieces, the process is more leisurely. It begins with sketching (her favorite theme being animals) and then enlarging the sketch to the correct size. “I then sample and experiment and start to embroider the piece,” explains Nicol. “Each one is so different. So, in all cases whatever I do it’s a process of rough drawing, sampling and developing in general.”

As you might have guessed, the finished results are quite remarkable.

The post From the Pope to the Runway: Karen Nicol is the Textile Master appeared first on TettyBetty.

With a background in fine arts and a love of well designed functional objects, Pearlman took to rug hooking as a way of being a staying creative while being a stay at home mother. While painting involved a separate studio space with long stretches of solitude, rug hooking proved the ideal medium for her, taking little space and making little mess.

Now a celebrated artist and textile designer, she also teaches others her craft, through monthly rug hooking workshops in and around her home in NYC.

“Finding a way to do what I love and make an income, and not burn out is still a struggle to balance,” she relayed in a candid interview with Making. “While making a business of rug hooking removes you from the actual process, teaching workshops feeds my creativity and passion. I am able to share my love of rug hooking, create work at a comfortable pace and stay true to my vision.”

Situated at a crossroads between art and craft, her work has been featured in fiber magazines, galleries, and numerous online design sites. “The medium can easily be controlled and designed,” explains Pearlman, adding that hooked rugs can be used for a variety of home accessories and objects.

Take a look for yourself.

The post Introduce Softness to Your Life With Rose Pearlman’s Rugs appeared first on TettyBetty.

“With my weavings I try to seek the pleasure between the relationship of a tactile versus a visual synesthesia, touching colors, listening to textures, tasting shapes, perceiving colors represented by certain shapes, and vice versa,” she explained in an interview with Sarah K. Benning. “But especially, my purpose is to share this experience with everyone else and give them some colorful goosebumps.”

Born and raised in Barcelona, Spain, and currently based in Asheville, North Carolina, Just knows a thing or two about “colorful goosebumps,” having grown up surrounded by textiles. Her love of textile was inherited from her mother, herself a prolific weaver. Having studied later fashion design, sculpture, and textile art, Just mastered the craft of weaving and embroidery.

“As I’m weaving, I usually go crazy jumping on many diverse ideas at the same time like a distracted butterfly,” she describes her somewhat spontaneous process. “I try to make fast sketches and secure some of the color combinations that suddenly pop on my mind, as fast as possible.”

Follow her Instagram page for a pop of color.

The post Judit Just’s Tapestries Give Us Colorful Goosebumps appeared first on TettyBetty.

Much like her chosen subjects, her materials of choice are unique, if knotty. Combining painting, paper making, graphics, and textiles, she creates delicate art pieces that explore the borderlines of physical and immaterial feelings. Hard to pinpoint exactly, her art is located somewhere between painting, graphic art, and textile.

“I like to break intangible things into pieces and, in a way, rename or reorganize them by using the material structure,” explains Jokinen. “I am looking for analogies to the material and immaterial structures and the closest features appear in own our bodies. Very often in these cases, the question arises about what is really tangible and what is not and where is the borderline between physical things and emotions.”

Using fiber instead of paint, her stitches remind us of illustrated lines. But though they may look fragile, much like the human body, her artwork proves to be resilient. Scroll down to see some of her work.

The post These Art Pieces Explore the Borderlines of Physical and Immaterial Feelings appeared first on TettyBetty.

“Embroidery also comes with a lot of baggage,” remarked Kingdom in an interview with Textile Artist. “It has often been dismissed and overlooked; perceived as decorative, a school-girl craft, fussily old-fashioned, small. And that is precisely what attracted me to it.”

Having studied fine art, she began using thread as a sketching tool to pursue both of her greatest passions: embroidery and drawing. “It’s deceptively pretty, unapologetically female, traditional and naive,” says Kingdom, describing the qualities of embroidery. “My work tries to capture murky ideas brewing around in my head, and the evocative nature of figures in stitch better conveys those ideas than other mediums can.”

Using a thread as a sketching tool also allows her to simultaneously honor and undermine the tradition of needlework that came before her. “Embroidery became my own private refuge,” she explains. “The effects of embroidery seemed otherworldly and captured my imagination as the perfect way to explore secret thoughts.”

Take a closer look.

The post Michelle Kingdom’s Embroideries Pull at Our Heartstrings appeared first on TettyBetty.

Her approach to textile is very much experimental, allowing the threads to guide her through her work. “Very rarely do I use a sketchbook, although I often wish it was part of my routine,” she shared in an interview with Textile Artist.

“For prep work, I’ll often start with a simple image in my mind or a photograph which then leads me to a palette. I’ll also do some random shape collages if I’m feeling very stuck for inspiration, basically just shuffling roughly cut scraps of colored paper around on a black background until I come up with a sequence that ‘works’. I also collect different textures, rug and fabric samples, photographs of bark and moss, different yarns… all which inspire and inform a piece.”

Having studied within the Interdisciplinary Program of the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design University and the New York Studio Program, she focused on several disciplines: weaving, art history, printmaking, and installation art – all of which can be found in her work today.

“I’m always inspired by my surrounding landscapes,” she said. “I feel very fortunate to have lived all across this huge country, literally from coast to coast and in between, and I still draw inspiration from my memories of these places.”

Follow her progress on Instagram.

The post Lucy Poskitt’s Textile Art is Inspired by Memories and Landscapes appeared first on TettyBetty.

“I always aim for my work to be graphical, with a playful edge,” says Dance. “I always strive to produce a carefully considered design, with a strong concept, using quality materials,” she adds. Her playful designs include textile recreations of objects like shoes and designer bags (there’s even a knitted model of the original Apple Macintosh!)

“I’m often inspired by very ‘normal’ everyday items, items that portray the luxury of choice and comfort in the western world, whilst at the same time hinting at the excess that is often taken for granted in a fast-paced, immediate society,” Dance explained, adding that “the irony being each knitted or embroidered piece that I make has taken hours/days/weeks to create.”

“Knitting and embroidery is typically perceived as a ‘feminine craft’ however I try to take gender out of the equation when coming up with ideas,” she notes. Her work will inspire you to start knitting, if nothing else!

The post Jessica Dance Knits Everyday Items appeared first on TettyBetty.

Using solid color fabrics in bright and saturated hues, Kingswell quilt-like textile art might remind of stained glass, her patchwork very precisely sewn with no embellishments. Starting with a harmonious color-scheme, sometimes inspired by a poem or a special number, she then imposes a mathematical sequence, cut, rearrange according to the sequence.

“I get pleasure from creating things,” she writes, “things that are so much more than the sum of their parts – finding new patterns by exploring the beauty of color, number, sequence, and proportion through the medium of fabric.” Depending on the work, Kingswell might stretch the finished design over a canvas stretcher or leave it flexible.

“I want my work to lift spirits and make people smile!” says Kingswell, “And also intrigue them a little.” The finished result is indeed a recipe for smiles. Something you might want to add to your Instagram feed.

The post Alexandra Kingswell’s Quilts Will Lift Your Spirits appeared first on TettyBetty.

“There’s nothing wrong with loving color,” states her website. “Loving cozy. I don’t know about you, but I get the feeling you hate boring and scratchy as much as I do.” Whether thrown across the bed or folded on a shelf, her blankets provide little window panes of color that add up to make a piece of practical art.

According to her website, Dean discovered a passion for textiles, after being fired from her day job in advertising. That was when she decided to put her art degree to good use. “I started sketching,” she recalled, “spent a ridiculous amount of time tracking down some awesome artisans who can do the softest, happiest things with beautiful fibers, and the rest is, well, it’s not history, because it’s still happening.”

Colorful, textured, and comforting, her blankets proved to be the best canvas. “Even though I didn’t have money, I was looking at throws,” she told the Kansas City Star. “I thought of that as an accessory, but something that still, you open it up and it’s big and it’s pretty and you can put something on it, and it can be art kind of.”

Here are some examples of the ways in which a good blanket can make for a fun addition to your home.

The post Karrie Dean’s Blankets are Colorful, Textured, and Comforting appeared first on TettyBetty.

In a more recent portrait series, titled The Value of Making, she zooms in on various making disciplines, which are displayed through hand-stitched portraits in a collage of silk organza. According to Jo Gibbs, these portraits are an homage for the creative community at large, celebrating the skill, dexterity, and creative problem solving of the people who make things.

“I’m very excited to be working on a series of small portraits and feel this idea will translate well to other communities,” she relayed in an interview with Textile Artist. “I’m very interested in finding new audiences and telling different stories perhaps by working with distinctive groups or museum collections. I’ve found the stories I tell, although extremely personal are also universal.”

Indeed, her hand-stitched narratives seem to resonate with her audience, both online and offline. Her work can also be found in several permanent museum collections including the V&A, London and The Museum of Fine Art, Houston.

But when it comes to her creative process, it’s rather isolated and withdrawn. “I work from home, I like to sit at the kitchen table in front of French windows because the light is so good,” says Jo Gibbs. “I have a metalwork bench in the garage but I do far less metal work at the moment, my flat work has taken over.”

The post The Hand-Stitched Narratives of Emily Jo Gibbs appeared first on TettyBetty.

Commissioned by Alexander McQueen, Marc Jacobs, The King of Qatar, and even the Pope himself—Nicol has clearly made a name for herself. Based in London, her career has spun for more than twenty-five years, with her techniques including Irish, Cornelly, Multihead, beading, and hand embroidery.

For her work in fashion, she collaborates with fashion designers and creates samples of embroidery designs, often inspired by a given theme. “I work in a completely ‘what if’ scenario, trying out things that may look new and fresh,” she described the process in an interview with Upcyclist. “We then develop these samples to work on garments and I do the first pieces for the shows.”

She explains that in interiors, it’s quite similar but with different scales and practicalities. But with her art pieces, the process is more leisurely. It begins with sketching (her favorite theme being animals) and then enlarging the sketch to the correct size. “I then sample and experiment and start to embroider the piece,” explains Nicol. “Each one is so different. So, in all cases whatever I do it’s a process of rough drawing, sampling and developing in general.”

As you might have guessed, the finished results are quite remarkable.

The post From the Pope to the Runway: Karen Nicol is the Textile Master appeared first on TettyBetty.

With a background in fine arts and a love of well designed functional objects, Pearlman took to rug hooking as a way of being a staying creative while being a stay at home mother. While painting involved a separate studio space with long stretches of solitude, rug hooking proved the ideal medium for her, taking little space and making little mess.

Now a celebrated artist and textile designer, she also teaches others her craft, through monthly rug hooking workshops in and around her home in NYC.

“Finding a way to do what I love and make an income, and not burn out is still a struggle to balance,” she relayed in a candid interview with Making. “While making a business of rug hooking removes you from the actual process, teaching workshops feeds my creativity and passion. I am able to share my love of rug hooking, create work at a comfortable pace and stay true to my vision.”

Situated at a crossroads between art and craft, her work has been featured in fiber magazines, galleries, and numerous online design sites. “The medium can easily be controlled and designed,” explains Pearlman, adding that hooked rugs can be used for a variety of home accessories and objects.

Take a look for yourself.

The post Introduce Softness to Your Life With Rose Pearlman’s Rugs appeared first on TettyBetty.

“With my weavings I try to seek the pleasure between the relationship of a tactile versus a visual synesthesia, touching colors, listening to textures, tasting shapes, perceiving colors represented by certain shapes, and vice versa,” she explained in an interview with Sarah K. Benning. “But especially, my purpose is to share this experience with everyone else and give them some colorful goosebumps.”

Born and raised in Barcelona, Spain, and currently based in Asheville, North Carolina, Just knows a thing or two about “colorful goosebumps,” having grown up surrounded by textiles. Her love of textile was inherited from her mother, herself a prolific weaver. Having studied later fashion design, sculpture, and textile art, Just mastered the craft of weaving and embroidery.

“As I’m weaving, I usually go crazy jumping on many diverse ideas at the same time like a distracted butterfly,” she describes her somewhat spontaneous process. “I try to make fast sketches and secure some of the color combinations that suddenly pop on my mind, as fast as possible.”

Follow her Instagram page for a pop of color.

The post Judit Just’s Tapestries Give Us Colorful Goosebumps appeared first on TettyBetty.

Much like her chosen subjects, her materials of choice are unique, if knotty. Combining painting, paper making, graphics, and textiles, she creates delicate art pieces that explore the borderlines of physical and immaterial feelings. Hard to pinpoint exactly, her art is located somewhere between painting, graphic art, and textile.

“I like to break intangible things into pieces and, in a way, rename or reorganize them by using the material structure,” explains Jokinen. “I am looking for analogies to the material and immaterial structures and the closest features appear in own our bodies. Very often in these cases, the question arises about what is really tangible and what is not and where is the borderline between physical things and emotions.”

Using fiber instead of paint, her stitches remind us of illustrated lines. But though they may look fragile, much like the human body, her artwork proves to be resilient. Scroll down to see some of her work.

The post These Art Pieces Explore the Borderlines of Physical and Immaterial Feelings appeared first on TettyBetty.

“Embroidery also comes with a lot of baggage,” remarked Kingdom in an interview with Textile Artist. “It has often been dismissed and overlooked; perceived as decorative, a school-girl craft, fussily old-fashioned, small. And that is precisely what attracted me to it.”

Having studied fine art, she began using thread as a sketching tool to pursue both of her greatest passions: embroidery and drawing. “It’s deceptively pretty, unapologetically female, traditional and naive,” says Kingdom, describing the qualities of embroidery. “My work tries to capture murky ideas brewing around in my head, and the evocative nature of figures in stitch better conveys those ideas than other mediums can.”

Using a thread as a sketching tool also allows her to simultaneously honor and undermine the tradition of needlework that came before her. “Embroidery became my own private refuge,” she explains. “The effects of embroidery seemed otherworldly and captured my imagination as the perfect way to explore secret thoughts.”

Take a closer look.

The post Michelle Kingdom’s Embroideries Pull at Our Heartstrings appeared first on TettyBetty.

Her approach to textile is very much experimental, allowing the threads to guide her through her work. “Very rarely do I use a sketchbook, although I often wish it was part of my routine,” she shared in an interview with Textile Artist.

“For prep work, I’ll often start with a simple image in my mind or a photograph which then leads me to a palette. I’ll also do some random shape collages if I’m feeling very stuck for inspiration, basically just shuffling roughly cut scraps of colored paper around on a black background until I come up with a sequence that ‘works’. I also collect different textures, rug and fabric samples, photographs of bark and moss, different yarns… all which inspire and inform a piece.”

Having studied within the Interdisciplinary Program of the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design University and the New York Studio Program, she focused on several disciplines: weaving, art history, printmaking, and installation art – all of which can be found in her work today.

“I’m always inspired by my surrounding landscapes,” she said. “I feel very fortunate to have lived all across this huge country, literally from coast to coast and in between, and I still draw inspiration from my memories of these places.”

Follow her progress on Instagram.

The post Lucy Poskitt’s Textile Art is Inspired by Memories and Landscapes appeared first on TettyBetty.