intro to couching embroidery
Thursday 1/8 and 1/15
6-8pm
Beat back the winter blues and start your year with meditative hand stitching. Learn how to transform any piece of fabric into a work of art with couching (pronounced COO-ching) embroidery, a simple style of stitching with roots all over the globe. From Ancient Egypt to Medieval Europe and beyond, couching has been used to embellish fabric by using a plain thread to tack down an ornate, precious, or hard-to-sew thread onto fabric. If you’ve ever wanted to give hand embroidery a try, this is a great place to start!
Tuition: $75 per participant
Materials Fee: $20 to be paid to instructor
Optional Tools to Bring: None needed
Age: 14+, or 10+ if accompanied by an adult
Ability Level: Beginner and beyond. Stitching requires some hand dexterity. We will be seated during the majority of the class.
What to Expect: We’ll start class with an overview of the technique of couching (and its cousin, laid work), then launch into stitching a framed piece of wall art of your own design. We’ll have room to get experimental with materials beyond embroidery floss too: try out stitching with telephone wires, cats’ whiskers, beaded jewelry, twist ties, or whatever else strikes your fancy. If it’s roughly linear and somewhat flexible, it can probably be couched.
All required materials will be provided. If you have a favorite piece of fabric, thread, or yarn you would like to use, feel free to bring them to class.
Riley Kleve is a nonbinary textile artist and educator creating collaborative work in community-led settings. Their work in weaving, hand spinning, and embroidery draws from history to create a queerer vision for the future of textiles. Some recent highlights include weaving felted pins and inviting viewers to name them based on gender feelings they evoke, creating a co-woven tapestry with over 110 attendees at Northern Spark, and facilitating drop-in LGBT craft nights
Accessibility: CENTER FOR PEOPLE AND CRAFT is committed to building a diverse, inclusive learning community where people of all backgrounds feel welcome and able to participate. As we launch our first workshop series, we are dedicating space in each class for reduced-tuition scholarships to support anyone facing financial barriers. As we build a more robust scholarship program, we hope this initial launch will remove barriers and expand access to hands-on learning for all.
Anyone with financial need is encouraged to apply for a half-tuition scholarship. To be considered, please submit a brief online application. Please note that CENTER FOR PEOPLE AND CRAFT is operating with limited financial resources and an entirely volunteer staff. Therefore, we cannot guarantee a spot for every applicant. Each class has one scholarship slot available. Applicants who are not selected in this current round are welcome to reapply. Apply here
Cancellation Policy: CPC is able to provide refunds up to two weeks before the start date of the class for which the registration was submitted, though we do retain a $20 fee for return payment processing. If you need to cancel your class within the two week window, a refund is not guaranteed, but will be considered based on several factors.
If CPC needs to cancel a class due to low enrollment, teacher illness, or other factors, you will receive a full refund.