Like many who pick up a needle and thread, Flox den Hartog Jager was introduced to the practical side of stitch from quite a young age. However, she insists it was her mother’s intellectual pursuit of studying symbols, religion and mythology that has had the greatest influence on her work.

Flox is above all a storyteller. And to that end, she uses fabric manipulation and stitch to create metaphorical interpretations of angels, demons, and Apocalyptic motifs. She preps her fabrics with a variety of techniques, especially monoprinting and resist. And she uses stencils and hand embroidery to create mythical visual tales.

In this article, you will discover how her journey has gone from a gift of fabric patches to becoming a world-renowned textile artist. You’ll also discover specific tips on how to create texture in your fabrics by using monoprinting in an unusual way, as well as using wax and flour resists.

Flox is a member of the Dutch textile group StiQS and the 62Group. She is also the organizer of textile art exhibitions and Masterclasses every three or four years in an old cloister in Biezenmortel. Flox has written 30 articles for the Dutch Quilter Guild Magazine, some of which were published in Germany and Denmark.

Bernie Leahy’s artworks combine techniques from all areas of art, bonded together with a love of life drawing. She makes use of a wide range of materials and processes including stitch, paint, bronze, plaster, gold leaf, diamonds, glass, text, silver, video and sound.

Bernie explores themes of connectivity, passion and protection. She layers fragments of the human figure, creating an emotional response from the viewer.

Her work is held in private and public collections in the UK, USA and Ireland. Bernie has exhibited widely at home in Ireland and internationally, including SOFA Chicago and SOFA New York (Sculpture Objects Functional Art and Design). She has represented Ireland twice in the International Fiber Art Biennales, In Philadelphia and in Venezuela.

In 2007, she was presented to Irish President McAleese for her contribution to Irish Craftsmanship. Bernie is a Member of the Design and Crafts Council Ireland (DCCoI) Portfolio for Fine Craft. Her Mid-career solo exhibition ‘Why Are We’ opened on 10th September 2018 at the Irish Arts Center, Manhattan, New York.

American textile artist Melissa Zexter combines her love of the technical aspects of photography with the more meditative process of embroidery. The results are unique, hand-crafted photographic objects that examine issues of identity, memory, personal experience and technology.

Melissa began adding embroidery to her photographs after attending an artist’s residency in New York. With no access to printed photographs there, she began sewing simple images onto hand-made paper and, later, continued to do this onto her own photographs. She revels in the contrast between the two media – and also their synergy – with the embroidery adding a three-dimensional quality to the content of the photographs.

Growing up with antique dealer parents in Rhode Island, surrounded by art, furniture, embroideries and rugs, Melissa values these influences on her appreciation of the handmade, the historic and all that is beautiful.

She now lives in Brooklyn, New York and has exhibited throughout the United States, and in Italy. She has been published in such publications as The New York Times, After Image and BUST and her red stitching majored in H&M clothing’s 2017 advertising campaign.

Following her urge to create realistic portraits, Stacey Chapman creates images of people and animals using freehand machine embroidery and collage.

Along with a running theme of portraits and fashion, she likes to collect and include found scraps of materials, each of which hold their own piece of history.

After gaining a degree in Illustration Stacey Chapman worked as an interior designer for events and corporate launches. She left this job following illness and began experimenting with freehand machine embroidery after seeing Kirstie Allsop’s Handmade Britain programme on the television.

Stacey realised she could combine this technique with her passion for portrait drawing to produce detailed thread paintings. She started by producing commissioned pet portraits and has evolved her techniques and inspirations from there.

Until she went to college to study Fine Art, Ailish Henderson had never picked up a needle. No amount of encouragement from her mother who sewed quite a bit could persuade her to do so. Ailish preferred fine art techniques, especially related to drawing and painting.

But after entering college, she felt something was missing. And that something was textiles. Ailish enrolled in a textile course where she ultimately discovered ways to use her sketches to inform textile art that combined drawing, painting, collage and stitch. She never looked back.

After a decade of developing her practice, Ailish hosted her first solo exhibition in 2016. Currently, she teaches lectures and serves as Editor-In-Chief for the Mr X Stitch embroidery and needlecraft website. She has also launched her own line of printed textiles available for purchase.

This article showcases both the techniques and inspiration that led Ailish to adopt her “sketch-to-stitch” process to create thought-provoking images. You will also be introduced to Ailish’s process for transferring her hand-designed art to digital fabric designs.