You have a ‘heart and soul’ passion for textiles. You long to develop your own visual vocabulary using the stitch techniques you love. You know deep down that you have the potential to express something unique and meaningful through the medium.

And yet you find yourself staring hopelessly at a blank page of a sketchbook. Praying for a glimpse of inspiration. Wishing the muse would appear and make those first few marks.

Or maybe you’ve got the opposite problem? Hundreds of pages of indecipherable notes and drawings. No way of deciding which idea to pursue. No discernible path forward.

Either way, you’re in good company. Most creative people have struggled with exactly the same issues at some point. In this article five celebrated practitioners share their insights into how they conquer those feelings of ‘artistic paralysis’ and get started on a new project.

Textile Artist Julie French’s work focuses on the wild side of nature, dance and motion. Each piece is unique.

Using the sewing machine as a tool for continuous line drawing, Julie’s work explores movement and texture with often unpredictable outcomes, which have been likened to ink illustration. The speed and capricious nature of the sewing machine, when used in this unconventional way reflect characteristics of the subjects.

In this article, part of our From conception to creation series, Julie talks us through the creation of her astonishing piece, ‘Kingfisher’. We learn how this magnificent bird captured her heart and imagination and why on discovering banana fibres at the Knitting and Stitching show she was driven into action.

Name of piece: Kingfisher

Mixed media artist Kelly Kozma, grew up in Bucks County, Pennsylvania and received her BFA from Moore College of Art & Design.

Kelly has participated in several solo and group shows in Philadelphia, New York, Delaware, and Miami, Florida for Art Basel.

Her current work combines drawing, painting and hand embroidery with elements of chance and probablity to create vivid, pattern driven pieces.

In this interview, Kelly walks us along the path of her artistic journey so far and we discover how reconstruction is a key theme of her work. We learn about the techniques and tools that assist her along the way and how her little boy provides constant inspiration.

Fulvia Luciano is an artist residing in South Carolina, USA.

Using her own photographs and illustrations as a starting point for her art, she paints, prints and stitches cloth and paper, layering bold lines, brush strokes, graffiti, and raw edges.

Fulvia’s work has been shown nationally and abroad, in juried exhibitions and galleries, is included in private collections, and is also in print.

In this interview, Fulvia tells us how the natural world influences her evocative designs and why a digital camera is never too far away to capture inspiration. We learn about her simple uncluttered approach and why she’s going bigger and embracing the abstract.

Susie Vickery worked as a theatrical costumier for 20 years in Australia and the UK.

The next 20 years were spent in Nepal and India where she studied embroidery by distance learning and began making her own embroidered artwork.

Susie’s embroideries have been exhibited in the UK, Australia and Norway and featured in numerous magazines and books, including Selvedge and Embroidery and Textiles by Mary Schoeser.

In this article, part of our From conception to creation series, Susie talks us through the history of her puppet creation Citizen Labillardière. We discover what inspired her and her design and making process. We also find out about her puppets’ future globe trotting adventures.