This design was commissioned from illustrator Janine Pope for our annual World Embroidery Day celebration on 30^th July, a date it happens to share with the International Day of Friendship. One of my greatest pleasures has been to make and observe the close friendships that grew from spending time stitching together at workshops, so I have called this kit Friendship through Stitch.

I have always tried to leave scope for stitchers to bring their own ideas to a design, and as I was working on this piece I realised just how many different ways one might approach it. So the kit instructions will tell you how to do what I have done, but I have given stitched alternatives for the elements I have painted. I wanted this piece to be colourful because when I look around on World Embroidery Day at King John’s Nursery, there are flowers on the tables, piles of antique fabrics and displays of thread and the riot of colour in the nursery and romantic garden. It was for this reason that I chose to embroider a meadow in front of the tablecloth drop: we always sit outside under the ancient oak tree, and there is a glorious meadow in the garden. It is always a joyful day and I hope that this kit conveys that.

I used some paint, but you do not have to do this and the kit covers both options. If you choose the ‘with threads’ option there are threads on the cards for the areas I have painted. If you think you may want to use a completely different colour palette, then the ‘without threads’ option would be better for you. You will receive an empty version of the thread card which you can overwrite to with your own colours. As usual, there is a drawn pattern which you can also annotate with any changes.

The price of £55 reflects the size of the embroidery and number of colours, as well as International First Class post to all areas listed.

By the way, if you are interested in attending our World Embroidery Day celebration in 2025, please send an email to sales@carolinezoob.co.uk or sign up for the newsletter on the website.