Duration:
1 day
Level:
Open to all
Subjects:
Drawing and Sketching
Crafts

Join Textile Artist Vinny Stapley for Flatford sketch and stitch, exploring the flora and landscape of Flatford Mill Pond through drawing and textiles.

Using expressive drawing techniques and a range of drawing media, we will observe the flora on the water margins of the mill pond area, returning to the studio to develop your own exciting textile artwork inspired by your observations.
During Flatford sketch and stitch, we will colour our fabric ground and transfer your design before adding appliqué and stitch, using either machine embroidery, hand embroidery, or both, depending on your preference.

About the tutor

Vinny Stapley

After studying printed textiles at Middlesex University, Vinny went on to work as a textile designer for the fashion industry and then as a teacher.
As an artist she has worked on Community Arts, Public Art commissions and exhibited in London and East Anglia, including the V&A.
She combines screen-print, machine embroidery, photoshop and digital print with other techniques experimentally to produce mixed-media pieces in a variety of formats.
Much of her work is inspired by the delicately-balanced eco-system and Flora of the intertidal zone on Mersea Island where she lives.
She leads popular workshops (which she calls her ‘Saltmarsh Safaris’) to sketch the landscape and Flora and then re-interpret it in a selected sketch as a unique mixed-media textile work.
She has been a featured artist/tutor twice on TextileArtist.org’s Stitch Club and was also featured by Fibre Arts Take Two and the Stitchers Journal.
In 2025 she was selected for the Broderers Guild exhibition ‘The Art of the Stitch’ in London and the ‘Stitch by Stitch’ Exhibition at the Willow Gallery Oswestry.
She is a member of the ‘EAST’ textile group.

Explore our range of craft courses and drawing and sketching courses hosted by our engaging tutors and learn from their expertise and skills. Our art courses are a chance to meet like-minded people and a chance to unwind from everyday life. They are a great opportunity to experience the UK’s glorious countryside surrounding our field centres.

This course is open to participants aged 18 and over only. For under-18s, please contact the centre directly or see our young people courses and activities for families.

  • A photo of an embroidery of blue and silver threads - Flatford sketch and stitch,
  • An image of a photograph of purple flowers and then the drawing of those flowers alongside the stitch - Flatford sketch and stitch,

What's Included
  • Expert Tuition
  • Free Wi-Fi
  • Hot and Cold Drinks

Refreshments are included, but please bring a packed lunch with you.

Before You Attend

What to bring

  • I will provide a fold-out sketchbook but you can bring your own personal sketchbook to work in if you wish.
  • Some sketching materials - pencils / charcoal / rubber, colour (such as coloured pencils or oil pastels or Inktense)
  • Posca pens or fineliners
  • I will provide an A4 piece of calico , but if you wish to work on another ground please bring it yourself.
  • A basic sewing kit with threads, needles, pins scissors, thimbles if required.
  • A sewing machine if you wish to use machine embroidery techniques.
  • To personalise your work with your own fabric scraps/oddments, just a small bag, sheer transparent fabrics such as silk, organdie,lace, chiffon or scrim work well.
  • Inks or watercolours to use on fabric - I will also bring some dyes for you to try.

Opportunities to attend this course

This course is not currently available to book. Dates will follow soon.

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