As seen in The Observer's "10 of the Best Creative Breaks" 20/10/19

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Blog
7/2/19: Hand embroidered needle case

I keep telling myself I’m going to plan some hand embroidery workshops/ projects, and it’s really good to finally be doing just that! I did the…

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4/2/19: Boro/Sashiko basket…

I’ve spent the weekend making a quilted fabric basket – 4 sides, each showing a different variation of Boro/Sashiko… Two sides are decorated by hand, two…

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28/1/19: Goldwork, at last!

I’ve planned to do some Goldwork embroidery for months and months, but never seemed to find the time. Then I found the time, prepared a little…

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27/1/19: Garden Maze cushions…

I’ve just been sentries photo of two “Garden Maze” cushion covers, made by one of my regular sewing ladies… She started them in a workshop, and…

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19/1/19: More cushion covers…

These stunning cushion covers were made by one of my very talented regulars, out of Moda’s “La Vie en Rouge” fabrics. The middle one is the…

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17/1/19: My own new hobby…

I’ve always wanted to learn to paint with watercolours, so I’ve signed up for some watercolour painting workshops! My first lesson was last week – on…

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13/1/19: “Today’s Quilter”

Thanks to one of my regular “Sewing Ladies” and her context Cinnamon Publishing, I appear in an article in this month’s “Today’s Quilter”, which is quite…

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12/1/19: Voysey cushion covers…

So, I’ve finished my cushion covers made from Moda’s “Voysey” fabrics – a fabric range inspired by the Arts and Craft movement designer Charles Voysey. They’ve…

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11/1/19: French Star cushion…

Inspired by a beautiful cushion made in one of my workshops – see below – I turned a “French Star” wallhanging into a cushion, using Moda’s…

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8/1/19: Charm Pack Patchwork

I decided that finally I’d make a set of cushion covers for our sitting room I’d got a Voysey charm pack – I love Arts and…

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Discover a new hobby while on holiday in Italy...

Hello... I'm Bronwen Shepherd and I run sewing holidays and workshops in my lovely studio in the beautiful countryside of Umbria, close to Lake Trasimeno. The front of the house looks out into Tuscany - Monte Cetona and Lake Chiusi, and the back of the house - beyond the olive grove - looks out over the rolling countryside of Umbria. I've got a Textiles degree and a PGCE (post graduate teaching qualification) in Textiles, for teaching age 11 to 18 years - I've got 13 years teaching experience in UK schools, as a teacher and latterly as Head of Department, teaching mainly A level Textiles. I've also got 4 years experience of running textile classes and residential holidays/retreats in France. I gave up my teaching career especially to do that - we moved to France, renovated the house, built a textile studio, and started the business there. In 2020, we moved to Umbria, to the Trasimeno area, where I had bought a holiday home in 2007, and I'm re-establishing my creative business here. Apart from teaching, I have 12 years experience as a designer/maker of Christening wear, something which I intend to start doing again, but I also have a few other creative ideas...