Emery Smith Studio

colour, pattern, pigment, texture, textiles

recent posts

  • Nålbinding Snood

    Just finished making this simple snood- type scarf using nålbinding. I wanted a simple hand craft I could do while watching Christmas films with my family and this was perfect. I find the simple repetition of stitches in my hands so soothing and really helps quiet my mind.

    Nålbinding is an ancient form of textile creation that is made using yarn looped around your thumb and knotted using a single large needle. You use strips of yarn you join together rather than a continuous thread as the thread passes completely through each knot. It’s older than knitting and crochet – and has the perk of not unravelling when my resident four year old inevitably pulls at it.

    I used the tutorial from @kaupeyrir to learn the process.

    Hoping your Sunday is peaceful and calm. X

    #nålbinding #nalbinding #wintercrafts

  • Seasons greetings friends

    There has been a few changes for us over the last six months. We bought a house in Andover and moved in over the summer. It’s smaller than our old place, and needs lots of work, but it is all ours (we were renting previously).  Everywhere is a mess but this corner is looking quite cosy.

    Then in September, my youngest child started primary school and my eldest child started senior school. There’s been lots of big feelings to deal with all round.

    My art supplies, fabric, sewing machines etc are all packed up in a storage container. I don’t have space for them here until we build a cabin in the garden next year 😕. So the most creative thing I’ve done for a while is sew hundreds of name labels into new school uniform.

    All this change with no creative outlet to ground me has left me feeling quite unsettled I’ll be honest. New routines, new demands, new places, new routes, new people. I’m still suffering from orofacial pain as well so I’ve been trying to prioritise my health (lots of walking, nourishing teas, bed by 10pm and no alcohol).

    But now the fast changes are over, the slow changes can begin. What was once new, will become familiar and more comfortable with the passage of time. I can feel myself settling, and maybe it’s time to find a small craft project to keep my mind still and my hands busy.

    Much love to you all x

  • Hello friends

    I feel it’s been a while?! Here is my newly finished, quilted rainbow patchwork jacket I have been working on for months and months. I love it so much I’ve been tempted back to the internet to show it off.

    The patchwork outer is made from various cotton and linen from my scraps pile. I used a clean cotton dustsheet as the wadding layer which gives it a reassuring weight. I hand-quilted using sashiko thread and lined the whole thing in cotton poplin.
    The pattern is the #allwellcardigancoat from allwellworkshop (size S with a few inches added in length).

    (In other news, I know I’ve been hiding away a bit recently, both online and in real life. Last autumn I had a tooth infection and even after getting it sorted, I’ve still been in constant pain. I’ve had various scans and they can’t find anything else wrong so they believe it may be nerve damage. Hopefully it will settle by itself but may take some time and I’ve been prescribed some pain relief now which is helping. I’ve been a bit down in the dumps about it and not felt up for much. I’m trying to stay positive, look after myself and distract myself with family and work and ambitious sewing projects.)

  • New mends over old mends

    I’ve had these socks about 4 years and the holes keep getting bigger so the mends do too.

    Mending these took a couple of hours and I do wonder why I do it – they only cost a couple of pounds, I could buy a new pair every year.

    But its not about saving money. Maybe it’s because I want to counter the idea that I need to buy new things and everything must be thrown away once it’s broken. Maybe it’s because I find creating things with my hands therapeutic and stress-relieving. Maybe it’s because that’s what people throughout history would have done and I feel a connection to my ancestors by doing it too. Or maybe, it’s because I’ll just take any excuse to add more rainbows and colours to my life!