Module 5 of my City & Guild course brings together three very different styles of embroidery.

The first of these, hand quilting, brought back memories from childhood creations. It’s a beautifully simple technique with a rustic appeal. This piece I stitched when I was about 11 (I’ve always loved a bead embellishment) compared to the piece I stitched for this module.

The second technique broke down two of the elements of stump work embroidery, lines and needlelace. The design was based on the same inspiration used for module 1, I used a brown colour palette for the stumpwork piece as the shapes seemed forest/twig like. In contrast I used greens for the needlelace sample.

The final technique was smocking, which also brought back childhood memories of cute little gingham dresses. There are two elements to any piece of smocking - firstly creating the pleats and secondly adding the smocking stitches.