London Embroidery School

Hawthorne & Heaney asks: Have you ever wondered about some of the techniques behind our Embroideries ?

June 6, 2019 by Natasha Searls-Punter

As well as being an embroidery studio, we also have a school which teaches embroidery some evenings and weekends. Our classes are mostly hand embroidery but we have recently added a machine embroidery class to our repetoire. The classes can be found under the London Embroidery School which is also us!

The London Embroidery School website as well as being a place to book classes and purchase embroidery materials is also a great information hub for tips and tricks for embroidery. These can be found under the pro tips series and range from the basics like how to thread a needle (we talk about 4 styles to choose from, not exclusively) to more specialist techniques like prick and pounce:

Or how to use a particular tool, like the curved scissors, a studio favourite;

Hawthorne & Heaney: Internship Opportunity Available

September 18, 2018 by Natasha Searls-Punter

Hawthorne & Heaney is currently looking for an embroidery intern to join us for an immediate start.

We are looking for a current undergraduate fashion/textiles/costume student to join us in the studio for a 3 month internship. Duties will include machine and hand sewing, general administration, maintenance of the social media sites, research, assisting with embroidery preparation for both the staff and for the School and errands. Time is also set aside from duties to develop your own embroidery skills during your internship. Applicants must be hard working, versatile, enthusiastic, professional, responsible and able work well in a small team. Attention to detail is a must along with patience as nothing in embroidery is particularly quick.

Specific Needs

Sewing skills are essential, and a proficiency in both hand and machine sewing would be ideal.
Computer knowledge of both MAC and PC, ideally with an understanding of adobe programs and G drive
Trend aware
Looking to gain experience in a live studio in the embroidery sector
Must be a current undergraduate student of a fashion/textiles related course
Able to travel into London every day

This internship is unpaid and should be taken in addition to a current undergraduate course, we are therefore unable to accept non students for this position. Hours are full time, Monday- friday 9-5pm.

If you would be interested in furthering your studies please fill out the attached form.

Elsie Wong (Former Intern) with her sample work

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 Internship Opportunities

February 16, 2017 by Hasina Akther

Hawthorne & Heaney is currently looking for an embroidery intern to join us in 2017.

We are looking for a current undergraduate fashion/textiles/costume student to join us in the studio for a 3-6 month internship. Duties will include machine and hand sewing, general administration, maintenance of the social media sites, research, assisting with embroidery preparation for both the staff and for the School and errands. Time is also set aside from duties to develop your own embroidery skills during your internship. Applicants must be hard working, versatile, enthusiastic, professional, responsible and able work well in a small team. Attention to detail is a must along with patience as nothing in embroidery is particularly quick.

Specific Needs

Sewing skills are essential, and a proficiency in both hand and machine sewing would be ideal.
Computer knowledge of both MAC and PC, ideally with an understanding of adobe programs and G drive
Trend aware
Looking to gain experience in a live studio in the embroidery sector
Must be a current undergraduate student of a fashion/textiles related course
Able to travel into London every day

This internship is unpaid and should be taken in addition to a current undergraduate course, we are therefore unable to accept non students for this position.

If you would be interested in furthering your studies please fill out the attached form.

Hawthorne & Heaney have a new home!

January 5, 2017 by Hasina Akther

For those that don’t know Hawthorne & Heaney have moved into a fabulous new studio located in 14 Rathbone Place, Fitzrovia. A short walk from Tottenham Court Road station the new studio is spacious, airy and bright with 3 studio spaces.

The studio now has multifunctioning rooms and our sister company London Embroidery School is using one of those rooms to host embroidery classes to learn techniques such as Goldwork and Tambour. Check out the website here to see what they have to offer:

http://www.londonembroideryschool.com

With such ample space we are able to be uber creative and this week our embroiderer Natasha has been working on creating goldwork inspired embroidery with a variation of metallic threads.

Throughout history Fitzrovia has been home to many inspiration creatives such as the English writer Virginia Woolf and Nobel Prize Winner George Bernard Shaw, whose famous playwright ‘Pygmalion’ was later adapted into an American musical called ‘My Fair Lady’ 1964.

Fitzrovia is also famous for the local ‘Fitzroy Tavern’ located in Charlotte Street. In the 1920’s it became the hub for artists, tradesmen and intellectuals.

The latest big project in Fitzrovia has been the Great Portland Estates redevelopment of the former Royal Mail site between Rathbone Place and Newman Street. The site comprises 2.3 acres of land which will be created into a new public square with high quality offices, retail spaces and 162 residential apartments. Facebooks new UK headquarters will be located here.

It seems that we are in the perfect location for our craft!

References:
Great Portland Estates: http://www.gpe.co.uk/property/our-portfolio/north-of-oxford-street/rathbone-square.aspx

Hidden London: http://hidden-london.com/gazetteer/fitzrovia/

Fitzrovia Trust: http://www.fitzroviatrust.org/joomla16/index.php/ct-menu-item-3

Hawthorne & Heaney Internship Opportunities

October 4, 2016 by Natasha Searls-Punter

Hawthorne & Heaney is looking for an embroidery intern to join us in 2017.

Specific Needs

Sewing skills are essential, and a proficiency in both hand and machine sewing would be ideal.
Computer knowledge of both MAC and PC, ideally with an understanding of adobe programs and G drive
Trend aware
Looking to gain experience in a live studio in the embroidery sector
Must be a current undergraduate student of a fashion/textiles related course
Able to travel into London every day

This internship is unpaid and should be taken in addition to a current undergraduate course, we are therefore unable to accept non students for this position.

If you would be interested in furthering your studies please fill out the attached form.

London Embroidery School does DIY Runway: Chiffon Roses Class

April 1, 2016 by Claire Sarah Barrett

Big, eye catching floral fabric manipulations were seen all over fashion week last month and Hawthorne & Heaney‘s partners the LONDON EMBROIDERY SCHOOL are delighted to present the latest in their Couture Course Series with their DIY Runway: Chiffon Roses Class. This trend can be seen all over the runway this season at Holly Fulton, Christopher Kane and Rodarte, but we think that Dolce & Gabbana took the crown with their oversized 3D roses in brilliant scarlets, pillerbox red and burgundy.

You can learn to make your very own floral embellishment and bring a touch of Dolce & Gabbana Style to something of your own at their DIY runway class.

These Vintage inspired roses are super soft to the touch and can be easily applied to anything that needs a bit of a lift. The London Embroidery School will teach you how to make these gorgeous florals and then help you to apply them to anything item of clothing that you have deemed needs a bit of a spruce.

With the knowledge you will learn at the class you will be able to make these roses in any size and for any purpose. They could easily be applied to a pin or headband or even scaled up for a cushion or another custom interior embellishment.

Dolce & Gabbana AW2016/17 Look 95

Hawthorne & Heaney loves the London Embroidery School’s Christmas Stars Goldwork Workshop

December 15, 2015 by Natasha Searls-Punter

This weekend, Hawthorne & Heaney’s sister company, The London Embroidery School hosted a special Christmas Goldwork Stars Workshop. The students were eager to learn more about goldwork techniques so the opportunity to combine new skills and festivities was too much to miss!

Here are a few photos from their progress through the day:

They start by preparing the fabric, transfering the design and padding some areas with felt.

Some of the students edge their stars with pearle purl, covering the padded areas with cutwork in a combination of rough and smooth purl and filling the flat area with bright check chips.

Others used a combination of purl and check for the padded area and crystals for the flat.

The lovely Pearl teaching (and posing)

Some of the tools used during the day including wax, tweezers, scissors, size 12 needles, purl, check, pricker and bright check chips on the bullion board

Deep concentration is necessary for work like this

A table full of stars (and slight creative chaos)

Some of the students feeling a little bit pleased with their progress

At Hawthorne & Heaney we are always delighted to see people taking an interest and learning about these specialist embroidery techniques. We feel that it is important to preserve the knowledge of how to create these effect so that the crafts do not get lost in generations to come so if you would like to learn more about some of these specialist embroidery skills, why not join the London Embroidery School ladies for a course and see what you can learn!