10am-4pm on Saturday, 11th April 2026
@The Pavilion, Penn Street HP7 0PX
£85 per person
Suitable for absolute beginners and stitchers with previous experience
Some materials will be provided, so please do check the list below before booking
We are so excited to introduce you to a brand-new teacher for us here at Where Inspiration Blooms. Kate Findlay is a wonderful textile artist and highly experienced workshop teacher who we have hoped to bring to you for several years now. This Spring we are delighted to be able to invite you to join us for not one, but two, of her classes -both deeply rooted in the beauty of the British countryside.
In this one-day workshop you will learn how to make a small landscape inspired by beautiful beechwoods and bluebells (which the Chilterns, especially near Penn Street have in abundance!).
We’ll begin the day choosing a beautifully unique fabric background on which to create our fabric pictures (which Kate will provide). We will then go on to add all the details…tree trunks, branches, leaves and bluebells.
In this class we will explore how adding layers of carefully chosen fabric and individual stitches can create really effective compositions. We will also learn how to add detail through a confetti technique – cutting tiny pieces of fabric with rotary cutters, sprinkling them onto ‘mistyfuse’ before adding tulle and then ironing and stitching.
Your final piece can be finished with hand stitching or using a sewing machine – whichever you prefer. Your completed masterpiece will measure approximately 45cm long by 30cm high max.
You will spend your day immersed in the beauty of nature, fabrics and stitching…and please don’t worry if ‘art’ isn’t your area of expertise.. we will have plenty of images for inspiration or you can pop into the woods by The Pavilion and take your own photo before you arrive!!
What to bring:
- Sewing kit containing pins & fabric scissors
- A fabric marker
- A rotary cutter and small or medium cutting mat (if you have them – if not don’t worry we will have some spare)
- A quilters ruler
- Your sewing machine, ideally with a free motion quilting foot (we can provide one if necessary to share)
- A variety of threads in woodland colours
- A mixture of extra fabrics that you might want to use in your composition – the cotton fabrics that work best are ideally textured, mottled, batiks, or randomly dyed, or with small patterns. Colours that will work well include light blue, greys, browns, greens, yellows & mauves
- Where Inspiration Blooms will provide irons and ironing boards, baking parchment, spare sewing machines if you don’t have one and would like to use one, some pieces of fabric you are welcome to use, 3 spare rotary cutters and mats and extra pins, needles & threads
- Kate will provide the felt backing fabric, bondaweb & MistyFuse/wondaweb
Please note that it is possible to complete this as a hand sewing project if preferred, so a sewing machine isn’t essential.
Kate Findlay is a wonderful textile fine artist. To learn more about her work you can visit her website here. https://artsfindlay.co.uk/
At Where Inspiration Blooms, we’re big fans of delicious cake! In this class, you can enjoy a choice of traditional and herbal teas from Chesham-based tea connoisseurs, Two Spoons, as well as both caffeinated and decaf coffee, with dairy and non-dairy milks to suit every preference. Our homemade cakes are always sourced from local bakers, and we make sure those who need gluten-free options aren’t left out, with carefully selected treats safe from cross-contamination.
For our one-day classes, we’d recommend that you bring a packed lunch, whilst we will have teas, coffees, and sweet treats available throughout the day, we will be pausing for a lunch break and you may be hungry by then!
If you have any allergies, do let us know when you book so we can ensure everyone has a worry-free and enjoyable experience.
Please note that we will only be able to run this class/course if we have a minimum of 5 guests. All of our teachers are highly skilled in their fields, but being an artist isn't always a well paid profession so we hope you understand why it's important that we ensure that our teachers can afford to run each of their classes. Should the class not be able to go ahead we will contact you no less than 2 weeks before it is due to start and we will of course, offer you a full refund.
If you have any questions at all, please don’t hesitate to contact us via our email julesandcaroline@whereinspirationblooms.co.uk
Thank you so much for booking onto one of our workshops — we’re really looking forward to welcoming you and hope you find your class to be a space where your inspiration can really bloom 😉
