Big Make: Embroidery with Richard McVetis

Member Events

A new event for members, our 'Big Make' sessions are open to all members and teach skills from our specialist masterclasses in a more casual drop-in setting during Makespace opening hours. In this Big Make session artist and embroiderer Richard McVetis will explore texture and pattern through a combination of traditional hand stitching techniques.

Using hand outs and practical demonstration by Richard as and when required, members are invited to join the Big Make table and stitch for along as they would like using materials provided and selected by Richard. The session will provide examples of different stitches and embroidery to bring inspiration for and understanding of different traditional hand embroidery techniques, as well as looking at textures and patterns found in the Institute of Making's Materials Library. Participants will explore the slowness and rhythms of hand stitching; the versatility and strengths of embroidery for drawing and mark making; and the pleasure in having time to make.

Exploring texture and pattern is all about focusing in and pushing the potential of just a few basic textile techniques to feel empowered to develop a visual vocabulary, for example, by working a stitch in different threads or changing its scale in order to mark make and draw. Richard will be giving practical help and demonstrating the many ways in which this can be achieved.

Richard McVetis is a British artist, known for his meticulously embroidered drawings and sculptures. His artistic practice centres on his training as an embroiderer through the use of traditional hand stitch techniques and mark making. Using laboured and meticulously worked wools and multiples of embroidered dots and crosses, he explores the similarities between pen on paper and thread on fabric, employing a limited vocabulary of mark making and deliberately subdued colour to create a binary simplicity.

Pictures courtesy of Richard McVetis.