Textile Art Card - Taster in Mark Making on Calico & Hand Embroidery

It may seem cruel but Mairi limits her colour choices to just three to create many of her hand- and machine-stitched cards. You will have an opportunity to try your hand at mark making with paints on calico then use basic embroidery stitches to create a small panel that can be mounted to make one greeting card.

For this workshop you will be upcycling some of the donated fabrics, floss, yarns, paint and cards that we have at Birkhill House.

• Price: £37/person for six participants

• Who it’s for: Ages 16+

• Length: 4 hours

Mairi Flood

Hello, I’m Mairi the stitching creative behind @Meandering Yarns which is a documentation of my explorations into textile art and sewing. From a very early age, my mum instilled in me a love of making with yarns, textiles and much more. My parents took us on holidays to the Cairngorms and west coast of Scotland where we walked, camped or hostelled so not surprisingly that fascination with the natural world resulted in me studying Forestry at Aberdeen University. Later, when I had my children, I retrained as Primary teacher specialising in early years. All through my career, I continued to craft, sew and be creative.  After early retirement, I bought a new sewing machine and decided to see if I could sell what I made as Bosie Hug Tweed Baby Booties and, latterly, as Meandering Yarns. I developed a love of Tweed and wool. In 2024, after ten happy years of this, I decided to change track to give me more time for my personal exploration of sewing and textile art. I was keen to find opportunities to sew with others and share skills. So, I started volunteering at Birkhill. I now run workshops and, when needed, help plan and deliver longer projects at Birkhill, such as the Multiply 10 Cats Numeracy Bags, Saturday Slow Stitchers and making tote bags with the Wednesday Makers Group.