Louise Kidd’s journey with hand embroidery is a testament to the power of creativity in personal and professional transformation. Having recently graduated from our Intermediate Hand Embroidery course (Skill Stage 3), Louise shares how the program reignited a passion rooted in childhood memories and helped her turn a cherished pastime into a new career path.
Louise reflects on her experience—from rediscovering embroidery during a challenging period in her life to embracing new techniques, experimenting with bold colours, and learning to design with purpose. She also offers valuable advice for future students and shares how the course prepared her to launch her own business.
Read on to find out how Louise’s love for stitching evolved into a newfound confidence, professional skills, and plans to inspire others through her craft.
Louise Kidd
“I knew that to truly succeed, I needed to step up my game. I struggled with self-confidence and knew I had to push myself beyond my comfort zone by experimenting with different threads, techniques, and even colour schemes. The course’s built-in flexibility enabled me to challenge myself from the very beginning.”
I enrolled on the Skill Stage 3 Hand Embroidery course in February 2021 and graduated in June 2024.
When I was about ten years old in the late 1980s, my grandmother taught me the basics of hand embroidery. Under her patient guidance, I completed several kits, a hobby I continued into my early teens. I even took textiles as a GCSE, but, as is often the case, life led me away from those simpler pleasures for a more traditionally academic route of education, travel, grand adventures and then a demanding career. For years, I didn’t give the needle and thread much thought. However, in 2011, a back injury left me with plenty of time on my hands and nowhere to go. During this period of recovery, I found myself reminiscing about those quiet hours spent sewing with my grandmother, and I was drawn back to the comforting familiarity.
I began my embroidery journey again with a few kits, but it wasn’t long before I grew tired of following others’ patterns. I soon found myself freestyling my own designs, allowing my creativity and intuition to take the lead. As my passion for hand embroidery reignited, I started to envision it as more than just a hobby—it became a potential pathway back to work. I began dreaming of creating and selling my own embroidery kits, sharing my love for stitching with others who might also find comfort and mindfulness in the practice of hand embroidery.
Motivation for studying
I knew that to truly succeed, I needed to step up my game. I struggled with self-confidence and knew I had to push myself beyond my comfort zone by experimenting with different threads, techniques, and even colour schemes. The course’s built-in flexibility enabled me to challenge myself from the very beginning – in the first module I sampled over 20 new stitches, and I even completed it using reds and oranges, my least favourite colours!
The Hand Embroidery course at the School of Stitched Textiles was exactly what I was looking for. The flexibility of distance learning meant I could study on my own schedule, without worrying about missing classes due to ongoing health challenges. The accreditation was also a key factor for me—I wanted to earn a nationally recognised qualification that would validate my skills and give me the confidence to potentially teach and share my passion with others, and something tangible to show for my efforts.
Personal achievements
Learning to design original pieces from conception all the way through to completion has been an important new discipline for me, as my previous style had very much been to ‘wing it’! Learning the benefits of proper research, planning and thoughtful design has been invaluable.
I would thoroughly recommend the course to anyone considering it. It has deepened my passion for hand embroidery and expanded my skills beyond what I anticipated. The course covers a wide range of techniques and offers plenty of flexibility and opportunities for personal choice within the required framework. The final two modules which focus on business planning have given me the confidence to take the next step – I’ll hopefully have some designs up in my Etsy shop and will be teaching small groups by the end of 2024.
Advice to new students
My best advice to new students would be to spend the time on planning and researching each project before you dive in – this will mean that you can make informed decisions along the way and ultimately better design choices. And don’t forget to double then triple-check the instructions for each task to avoid making silly and costly mistakes.
