COUNTY NEWS AND PICTURE POST

Louise with her display at Hoopers

LOUISE TURNS SEWING INTO ART

Artist Louise Gardiner has become a celebrity through nimble finger work on the sewing machine.

Louise, who has a studio at the family dairy farm in Cheshire, took up embroidered art after studying at Manchester Metropolitan University and graduating from the prestigious Goldsmiths College with a degree in textiles.

Now Louise, whose family is the fifth generation to farm on the National Trust estate at Styal, teamed up with TV celebrity Kirstie Allsopp in a new hand-craft series this month at Hampton Court Palace.

She was invited to take part after previously collaborating with Kirstie in her Channel Four television series Homemade Home. Her work was also selected for exhibition at the Saatchi Gallery and Liberty in London.

Louise uses a sewing machine as her tool to produce flamboyant and highly colourful intricate pieces of embroidered artwork. More recently she has used the original embroidered designs for top end silk scarves printed in limited editions at Bollington, near Macclesfield.

Her work has been described by a connoisseur as making “antiques of the future” and Kirstie Allsopp believes the tricks and self-taught techniques she employs with the sewing machine have made it an addictive form of craft.

Louise and her sewing machine

Examples of her work have been on display in two windows at Hoopers of Wilmslow as part of the town’s first ever art trail showcasing the work of 30 local artists in 17 locations this month.

In November she returns to the store to set up a month-long pop up shop.

Louise’s output and her series of workshops, more recently at Quarry Bank Mill, Styal, are contributing towards a nationwide surge and revival of interest in embroidery and sewing.

The creative art is centuries-old and famous examples of the craft like the Bayeux tapestry depicting the Norman invasion of England continue to attract thousands of visitors.

“People have a cosy image of embroidery as some sedate pastime making seat covers and samplers, but in my world that couldn’t be further from the truth,” said Louise.

“The sewing machine is a dynamic medium to work with, and I can often feel more a spontaneous chef than an artist.”

She returned to her roots in Cheshire to set up the studio after a spell of working in Bristol. “Farming has been very much part of my life and is in my blood,” she says. “If something wants doing on the farm I still occasionally get involved.”