Elizabeth Ashdown is one of only 4 hand Passementerie artists working in the UK today. She combines traditional and endangered craft skills with a contemporary aesthetic to create innovative passementerie.

In this episode of Stitchery Stories textile art podcast, Susan Weeks chats with Elizabeth Ashdown, for a glimpse into the world of hand woven passementerie. She makes and weaves bespoke trimmings, braids, tassels, fringes, and more. Her work spans interior design, fashion, and fine art, and she is passionate about reviving and sustaining this traditional craft. Elizabeth shares her journey, current projects, and insights into her creative process, making Passementerie both accessible and exciting for modern life!

Elizabeth & Susan chat about:

What is Passementerie? Elizabeth explains this fascinating craft of creating small-scale textiles like tassels, braids, and fringes.

Her unique journey: How she transitioned from traditional weaving into self-taught Passementerie and worked with master craftspeople to hone her skills.

Reviving an endangered craft: Elizabeth highlights the challenges and joys of being one of only four remaining hand Passementerie artists in the UK.

Custom creations: Her collaborations with interior and fashion designers to create bespoke trims, from bold artworks to intricate pieces for coats and furnishings.

Modernising Passementerie: Her use of vibrant colors and contemporary designs to dispel the notion of Passementerie as “old-fashioned.”

Historical inspiration: Insights into the craft’s heritage, from its origins in global simple pratical items, thru its opulent French period and into modern use.

Key milestones:Winning the prestigious Queen Elizabeth Scholarship Trust scholarship and training with master craftsperson Brian Turner.

Future plans: Launching a collaboration with Samuel & Sons in January and her ongoing mission to teach and inspire others to explore Passementerie.

Listen to learn more about this fascinating craft and how Elizabeth is determined to keep it alive, relevant and in-demand for 21st Century fashion and interiors.

Some Links & Further Info

Links For Elizabeth Ashdown

Listen to Elizabeth's episode & View her artwork here: https://stitcherystories.com/elizabethashdown

Visit: https://elizabethashdown.co.uk/

Look: https://www.instagram.com/ashdowntextiles/

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Ailish Henderson is a fine art textile artist, particularly known for her fine art stitched collage works, which focus on capturing a fleeting moment, telling the story with mixed media, paint, stitch and fabric snippets. She is also the author of 'Narrative Textiles', published by Batsford in October 2024.

In this episode, of Stitchery Stories textile art podcast, host Susan Weeks chats with Ailish Henderson, a narrative textile artist, author, and teacher.

Ailish's work weaves together memory, storytelling, and fine art textiles, often using unique materials to create pieces that evoke personal and collective histories. She shares her excitement about her upcoming book launch, Narrative Textiles, and accompanying solo exhibition in London, where her artworks will bring her book to life.

Ailish also reflects on her journey from a fine art background to embracing textiles and mixed media.

Ailish & Susan chat about:

Upcoming book and exhibition: Ailish is preparing for the launch of her book Narrative Textiles alongside a solo exhibition in October 2024.

Storytelling through textiles: Her work often captures personal stories, memories, and moments, using materials that hold sentimental value.

Inspired by heritage and family: Growing up in Northern Ireland during the Troubles and spending a lot of time with her grandmother who loved knitting greatly influenced her artistic path.

Using vintage and reclaimed materials: Ailish shares how she embraces the imperfections in old fabrics, turning them into meaningful art.

The tension between teaching and creating: Balancing a teaching career with artistic creation, she finds inspiration in the ideas sparked by her students.

Multifaceted art career: From exhibiting internationally to writing, Ailish reflects on the challenges of sustaining an artistic career while also managing other commitments.

The importance of community: She emphasizes the value of artist communities and how sharing ideas with others can spark new creative directions.

Transition from fine art to textiles: Ailish explains how her fine art training influenced her mixed media approach and experimentation with different materials.

Using poetry and writing: She uses her quickly captured words and poetry, along with doodles on whatever is to hand, often capturing thoughts and moments that later inspire her textile work.

For this episode...

View Links, information & Examples of Ailish's work at

https://stitcherystories.com/ailishhenderson

Visit: https://www.ailishhenderson.com/

Look: https://www.instagram.com/alish_h_

Other Episodes You Might Like:

Julia Triston: Celebrating Marks & Memories In Old Clothing & Cloth

https://stitcherystories.com/juliatriston/

Tracy Franklin : Specialist Freelance Embroiderer & Durham Cathedral Head Broderer

https://stitcherystories.com/tracyafranklin/

Cas Holmes : Textile Artist & Tutor: Found-Stitch-Paint

https://stitcherystories.com/casholmes/

Caroline Hyde-Brown is a textile artist with a long-established career.

Inspired by botanical research, she combines foraged plant material with a variety of textile art techniques to create fascinating weaves and vessels with fragile beauty. Combined with her purposeful art practice experience, Caroline shares plenty of wisdom on Stitchery Stories textile art podcast.

With so many inspiring aspects to Caroline's textile art career, in this episode of Stitchery Stories we chose to focus on some unique plant-based research projects that Caroline has been involved with over the last couple of years. Firstly, on a project focused on the Grass Pea plant. And secondly on a project based around extracting natural dyes from food waste. These were truly fascinating and highlight the innovative use of plant-based materials within Caroline's textile art.

Susan Weeks chats with Caroline Hyde-Brown about:

• Overwintering in her practice, her garden and her art.
• Combining foraged plant materials with textile art techniques
• Purposeful development of an art practice
• The importance of outreach and connections
• Her love of nature and plants and research
• Making paper with grass pea fibres
• Extracting natural dyes from food waste from UK & Malaysia
• Contrasting writing styles for academic writing & art book
• Writing her first book 'Forage & Stitch'
• A hard lesson in understanding a design brief & clear communication
• And plenty more besides!

For this episode... View Links, information & Examples of Caroline's work at https://stitcherystories.com/carolinehydebrown

Visit: https://www.theartofembroidery.co.uk/

Like: https://www.facebook.com/www.theartofembroidery.co.uk

Look: https://www.instagram.com/artistcaz/

VISIT Stitchery Courses a brilliant new place to find expert teachers, helpful info & fun courses to learn stitching, making & crafting with thread, fabric & yarn

https://www.stitcherycourses.com

GET LISTED on Stitchery Courses if you teach you art, craft, skills with thread, fabric & yarn

DON'T MISS OUT! https://www.stitcherycourses.com/join

Other Episodes You Might Like:

Jennie-maree Tempest : Beautiful Botanical Sculptures

https://stitcherystories.com/jenniemareetempest/

Meredith Woolnough: Machine Embroidered Natural Specimens

https://stitcherystories.com/meredithwoolnough/

Laura Edgar: Atmospheric Coastal Scenes in Textile Art

https://stitcherystories.com/lauraedgar/