hand embroidery

Hawthorne & Heaney visits the Sunbury Embroidery Gallery

February 7, 2019 by Natasha Searls-Punter

It is safe to say that there are not that many places around that can say that they are a gallery dedicated to embroidery, but The Sunbury Embroidery Gallery is one of those few. Located in the very quaint Lower Sunbury in Middlesex, this collection of traditional embroidery makes for a highlight in an already lovely bit of the world. Only 3 miles down the river from Hampton Court (where the Royal School of Needle Work is) makes this area a bit of the stitching hotspot.

The gallery is situtated within a historic walled Garden, displaying a collection of work celebrating the local area and commemorating the Millennium. All the work was completed in the year 2000 by 140 local embroiderers taking around 100,000 hours, all overseen by Pam Judd.

In the body of the village panel, a great variety of thread and stitches have been used to build up the effect. Silk shading and french knots are widely used, with some parts stitched separately and applied on later in a stumpwork style giving the piece more depth.

On either side of the village panel are 120 tent stitched community logos showing the supporting organisations such as Spelthorne council. Along side the permenant embroidery exhibit, they have temporary exhibits from other artists such as the current exhibit Jason Hart: A Passion for Wood and Carol Naylor: A Stitched Timeline which goes on display from 26th Feb 2019.

Though the gallery may be small, it is a lovely example of community spirit in the form of traditional embroidery.

Open Tuesday- Sunday 10am-4pm, admission is free though donations are welcome as it is run by volunteers.

The Sunbury Gallery, Walled Garden, Thames Street, Sunbury on Thames, Middx, TW16 6AB

Hawthorne & Heaney does Quantity Orders

November 15, 2018 by Claire Sarah Barrett

Looking through our website, you would be right in thinking that a fair amount of our work revolves around one off gifts, unique pieces and protypes; however we are able to produce quantity orders, should that be what you and your brand requires.

Hand Embroidered Monograms onto Hankerchiefs

Raised Machine Embroidery onto Napkins

Freestanding Branded Patches

Personalised Towels

Hot Water Bottle and Blanket Sets

We can offer express turn arounds subject to availability also as our studio is conveniently located in Central London. Get in touch if you have a project in mind that we can help with.

Hawthorne & Heaney for Kalms

September 20, 2018 by Natasha Searls-Punter

Hawthorne and Heaney are very fortunate have a a great variety of work that comes through our door which means that you may have unknowing seen our work.

Earlier this year, we worked on a piece for the advertising campaign for ‘Kalms’. They wanted to create an embroidery of their slogan onto the duvet with the real life packet.

The colour of the stitching was very important that it would photograph true against the colours of the packaging so we spent some time testing a few threads before settling on this one as the strongest option. The texture of the stitching was also very important to them as they wanted it to have a very hand embroidered feel, but the stitching is done by machine. Therefore we chose a cotton thread which is also used for hand embroidering and paid special attention to the direction of the stitched to make them look like they flow naturally, like ink from a pen.

We were very please with the end result, and feel that we achieved what we were trying to achieve with this project. Have you seen it about?

Hawthorne & Heaney: Intern Projects

August 30, 2018 by Natasha Searls-Punter

Hawthorne & Heaney has been very fortunate to have a series of wonderful students who come to the studio as interns to learn about the industry and experience a working studio. But what do they actually do while they are with us I hear you ask?

What they work on day to day is very changeable but for our longer term interns we like them to have a project of their own ongoing whilst they are with us. The gorgeous images you see here are from our most recent intern, Elsie Wong who was working on some floral motifs for us along side her other duties.

She draws on her Singaporean heritage and Central Saint Martins experience to bring her clean yet delicate style to these pieces.

She then went on to translate one of the pieces into embroidery using one of the techniques learnt in her classes at the London Embroidery School, specifically Limerick Lace.

Here is is presenting her final piece to us demonstrating the design process from design, to draft, to embroidery. I’m sure you will agree, great job Elsie! What do you think?

If this has taken your fancy and you would like to join us as an intern, please see the internships blog or jobs section of the website for application as we are currently looking for someone to join us for an immediate start.

Hawthorne & Heaney Adds a Little Something Special

August 3, 2018 by Eleanor Rowlands

Who doesn’t love a bit of good tailoring?

Monogram to motif, embroidery can add a little something extra to your tailoring. We do it all, from a timeless monogram to a bespoke design. Here are just a few example of the little touches we can add.

A personal reminder

A special date placed under the collar of a jacket

A small simple addition

Or a personal message

If you have something in mind, get in touch and we can let you know what we might be able to add to that special outfit for you.

Hawthorne & Heaney, Mother Eagle and The London Embroidery School

July 27, 2018 by Natasha Searls-Punter

As some of our regular readers may know, Hawthorne & Heaney has a sister company that teaches embroidery called the London Emroidery School. As the London Embroidery School we run classes at a range of time in specialised embroidery classes such as Tambour beading, goldwork and lace making.

Whenever the opportunity arises to get in a guest tutor, we love to an exciting textile artist in to teach one of their own designs, or a piece in their signature style. This October we have instagram sensation Mother Eagle, a.k.a. Katie Tume coming to teach a piece she has designed especially for us!

Katie’s work is influenced by folklore, mythology, burial customs and the old Gods. She is currently working on projects around our disappearing natural world, and lost species which have become her signature style. ‘The Surreal Stitches with Mother Eagle Course’ combines Katie’s style and techniques. She has created this new artwork for the course, and refers to the artwork as ‘the Divine Mushroom’.

Booking is now available for this class where you will be learn this original artwork from the artist herself. Follow the link here for more details and to secure your place.

All images are courtesy of @mother_eagle_embroidery

Hawthorne & Heaney for Lack of Colour at Selfridges

July 6, 2018 by Natasha Searls-Punter

During last weekend, Hawthorne & Heaney set up camp in London’s Selfridges store for a monogramming event for Australian Hat brand ‘Lack of Color’.

‘Lack Of Color is the popular Australian label that produces a range of men’s and women’s hats available in seasonal colours and styles. Created by Tess Corvaia and Robert Tilbury, a creative couple from Queensland, Australia who aim to bring their loyal customers a range of innovative and wearable pieces each season.’ (Lack of colour About page)

Thanks to the lovely hot weather we have being having here, we were offering these hand embroidered monograms onto the hat ribbons or bands, usually of their strawhats as shown.

With a choice of 16 colour for the embroidery, the combinations on offer are numerous.

It’s always great fun working with such different and interesting brands in some of the best known shops in the world!

If you missed out on the opportunity to have your hat personalised in store and would like to get it done, this is something that we can do for you in the studio, get in contact with us by phone or email and we can advise you futher.

Or if you would like to put on your own hand embroidery event with us… get in touch!

We look forward to hearing from you.

Hawthorne & Heaney teams up with John Smedley

May 29, 2018 by Eleanor Rowlands

Here at Hawthorne & Heaney, we were very busy during London Craft Week. While having an explore around some exhibitions we also teamed up with John Smedley to personalise some of their lovely knitwear.

Founded in 1784 they are one of the longest-running knitwear manufacturers in the world. Specialising in beautifully designed garments that are made to last. Crafted in Britain and distributed all over the world.

In 1825 they moved on to producing garments using one of the first ever fully fashioned knitting machines, creating the original “Long Johns”.

Moving into the 1950s and 1960 the brand became very popular with many famous faces, from Audrey Hepburn to the Beatles. By the 1980s many British fashion houses saught the work of John Smedley, such as Paul Smith and Vivienne Westwood.

In 2013 they were granted the Royal Warrant of Appointment.

Two of our wonderfully talented hand embroiderers spent the day in their Mayfair store, offering a little something extra to their knitwear.