Charleston Farmhouse, the country home of the Bloomsbury Group and its wealth of artwork decorating every surface, is the inspiration behind this new class from Caroline. Many of you will know her as a pioneer of exploring the possibilities of painting on linen as a ground for hand embroidery. 

Caroline also has a rather personal Bloomsbury connection as she lived with her husband, Jonathan, at Monk’s House for over a decade as tenants of the National Trust. Monk’s House in Sussex is the former home of Leonard and Virginia Woolf. (Caroline’s book Virginia Woolf’s Garden: The Story of the Garden at Monk’s House comes highly recommended with embroidered maps of the garden prefacing each chapter.)

Inspired by the paintings of Vanessa Bell, you will work with paint and stitch to create your own images of Bloomsbury flowers. You do not need to have any painting skills, although it would be best if you have confident hand-embroidery skills. 

It is expected that only the first morning of the workshop will use paint, and after that we will be exploring ways in which too add stitch, using exciting new decorative stitches to create stylised flowers and decorative details such as those Vanessa Bell used to decorate the surfaces of Charleston Farmhouse. All materials will be included.