3D Stitch-By-Stitch at Pratt — Starts Tuesday!!

Join me!

5 consecutive Tuesdays.

Embroidery basics leading to 3D explorations. Lots of individual attention and group demos. Collegial environment. Fun!

Sampler survey or remnants of my years of teaching at 3rd Ward

I taught embroidery at 3rd Ward starting in 2009. Over the years, I connected with hundreds of talented and creative adults from all over New York City and surrounding areas, some of whom have since taken workshops with me elsewhere, remaining important members of my artistic and teaching network. I am grateful for everything I learned from my students, and for our inspiring group conversations, critiques, and skill shares. I still have yarns an anonymous student left at the reception desk for me one day, many years after the initial donation.

Below are a few of the in-class samplers I created. Their quirkiness and inconsistencies reflect the varying requests, needs and interests of class members. Perhaps befitting historical precedents, these samplers tell their own stories...

Embroidered Tweets and Love Notes, Saturday at 3rd Ward

Dear blog readers,

Some fun things are brewing. I recently added a whole bunch of new classes to my 3rd Ward embroidery workshops roster.

This Saturday is Embroidered Tweets and Love Notes - perfect for beginners! Sign up now via 3rd Ward's web site. The deadline to enroll is Thursday, so don't miss out!

As I mentioned, the class is this Saturday, 12/1, from 1:30-5:30 at 3rd Ward in Bushwick, Brooklyn.

Thank you, embroidery thread fairy

I had a wonderful surprise today. 


I teach embroidery at 3rd Ward in Bushwick, Brooklyn. I was pleased and surprised to find a huge bag of threads of all different colors and twists and finishes left behind by an anonymous donor for my classes. 


Maybe the embroidery thread fairy reads my blog? If so, thank you so much for the thread. It is being put to good use by my students.

Intro to Embroidery at Muriel Guepin Gallery

If you are in the NY area, why not spend Wednesdays in July with me at Muriel Guepin Gallery?

Starting July 6th, I'm teaching an Intro to Embroidery class where you will learn basic stitches, and methods for using embroidery as a drawing tool.

The class is four weeks - July 6, 13, 20 and 27, and is from 7-9pm on each of those evenings.

The gallery is located at 47 Bergen Street near Smith Street, convenient to the F/G train to Bergen Street.

Basic supplies included. $200 for the class.

To register, call or email the gallery:

718-858-4535 or contact@murielguepingallery.com.

What's missing

This week marked class two of my four-week Embroidered Portraits class at the new and wonderful Textile Arts Center in Gowanus, Brooklyn. I have one male student, a knitter, and four women. All of them are doing interesting work, and I am excited to watch their processes and progressions. 

As often happens in craft-based classes, we have been sharing personal histories. Today we talked about coming of age experiences. Last week, we talked about the difficulties of meeting people in New York. I commented that people come to New York for all kinds of reasons, one of which is to start over, and even create a new persona. I feel as though many of the men I've met are looking to fill something that's missing in them. Instead of looking internally, they're looking externally, setting up a situation where I become a caregiver for someone I hardly know. New York, with its large number of people, can be a safe place to hide and to avoid confronting personal issues. Instead of looking inward, we can always find another person, a stranger even, to help fill our time and give us the sense that we are changing and experiencing new things, when we actually remain static and inert internally.

Here's to personal growth of all kinds...