May Meeting – An Inspiring Evening with Textile Artist Harriet Riddell

Our May meeting featured a fascinating talk by textile artist Harriet Riddell, who shared her remarkable journey into the world of free-motion machine embroidery and demonstrated how she uses thread to create stunning works of art.

Harriet's love of stitching began at the age of five, and by the time she was ten she had learnt free-motion stitching from her grandmother. After later completing a degree in Mixed Media Art, she developed her distinctive style, describing thread as her “pencil” for line drawing and her sewing machine as her paintbrush.

One of the most inspiring aspects of Harriet's work is that she doesn’t believe stitching should be confined to a studio. She enjoys taking her sewing machine outdoors to capture scenes and experiences wherever she happens to be—even stitching on a train! Her work illustrates places, moments and memories, creating unique textile artworks that tell a story.

Her passion for travel has also influenced her work. Harriet spent six months living with a Punjabi family, immersing herself in Indian culture, and has since returned to India on six occasions. She has also completed an artist residency in Kenya, where she had both a studio and exhibition space.

Always keen to explore new ideas, Harriet even introduced a bicycle-powered sewing machine at the Glastonbury Festival, creating her popular “Pedal Power Stitch Portraits”. During the pandemic she adapted once again, developing a way to create portraits over Zoom, allowing her to continue working with clients remotely.

One particularly significant commission saw Harriet documenting the COVID-19 vaccination rollout at the John Radcliffe Hospital, using her unique textile artistry to record an important moment in history.

To conclude the evening, Harriet demonstrated her extraordinary talent by creating a stitched portrait of our own Anne Scott in just 15 minutes. Watching the portrait emerge from what seemed like a few lines of thread was truly remarkable. Most of us would struggle to produce a pencil sketch in that time, let alone create such an expressive stitched likeness!

Thank you, Harriet, for an inspiring, entertaining and memorable evening. We all came away with a new appreciation of what can be achieved with a sewing machine, thread and a great deal of imagination.