CETG Online Talk on Monday 13th September 2021
Emillie Ferris – Painting with Threads
We were greeted by a bright, young, cheerful and enthusiastic Emillie Ferris who wanted to talk to us about Painting with Threads.
Her embroidery journey started nine years ago when she started experimenting with various crafts including knitting and crochet but she was drawn towards embroidery. While at University she found it all rather fast paced and having come from a small village with peace and quiet she needed to slow down by doing something creative. She taught herself long and short stitch predominantly but added split stitch and French knots. Emillie started stitching butterflies as she was drawn to the natural world with an interest in animals and plants. She showed us pictures of insects, squirrels etc. that she just enjoyed doing.
Emillie used social media to her advantage and posted pictures of her work on Instagram. She embroidered a picture of cat, posted it and gained many followers. She now has 189,000 followers. She then had many requests to embroider pets and she showed us some pictures of her dogs and cats which were amazing, totally lifelike and with incredible detail. She uses a single strand of DMC thread and explained her use of colours and how she stitched following the movement of the animal.
However, the animals were labour intensive and in order to become a full-time embroiderer she needed to think in a more commercial way. By using her graphic design and photographic skills she created digital downloads and digital tutorials. Her first mushroom embroidery kit was a huge success and she has followed this up with designs and kits for each season which explain everything in detail including photographs and instructions.
She has also been asked to contribute articles etc. to magazines so is certainly spreading her net. Recently she has been working on a book which she hopes will be published in Spring 2022.
Emillie has a pure love of embroidery and we thoroughly enjoyed hearing about her journey which has evolved over the years and will inspire us all.
More of Emillie’s amazing work can be seen at:
Website: https://www.emillie-ferris.co.uk/
Instagram: @emillieferris
Etsy: https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/EmillieFerris
Photos © Emillie Ferris
