Threads of Connection with Emma Broughton

Beneath our feet lies a hidden world of networks and connections: the fine fungal filaments that help forests grow and communicate. In this class, you will explore this invisible ecosystem through experimental stitch, creating a design that celebrates both fragility and resilience.

You will begin with coffee painting on calico to create an earthy backing fabric with soft, organic tones. You will then work on 25-count even weave linen to develop branching ‘root’ systems using drawn thread, pulled work and couching. Pulled thread patterns will open the fabric to suggest delicate, web-like mycelium, while thicker roots will be formed by couching removed drawn threads or threads taken from the fabric’s extended edge.

The finished piece will combine texture, transparency and layering, highlighting the unseen connections that sustain life beneath the soil. The class focuses on experimentation and mark-making rather than perfection, encouraging you to explore how stitch can reveal what is usually hidden.

By the end of the course, you will have developed an understanding of drawn thread, pulled work and couching techniques and how these can be applied to your own embroidery projects.

You can follow the set design or use the techniques you learn to create your own organically inspired root formations.