Holly Searle – Meet the Artist

Award winning textile artist Holly Searle, also known as The Subverted Stitcher, is a textile artist who uses her needle and thread to spotlight social issues close to her heart. In 2020, she launched her Subverted Vintage Tea Towel Series to provide a platform for these important topics. 

Each artwork consists of hand cut felt letters, a vintage tea towel and a curated collection of words. To date, Holly has hand stitched over 160 artworks in her subverted tea towel series.
Holly Searle: https://www.instagram.com/the_subversive_stitcher

Holly’s passion for embroidery was ignited after seeing a sampler by Mary Frances Heaton, an inmate of a Victorian asylum, at a mental health exhibition. Inspired by Mary’s use of needle and thread to petition Queen Victoria about social injustices, Holly began creating pieces that draw attention to social issues and empower women. Holly’s work has been featured in solo and group exhibitions, resonating with echoes of Mary’s enduring voice and passion.

The Subverted Tea towel collection by Holly Searle
The Subverted Tea towel collection by Holly Searle

Creatively shut down in the Covid Pandemic of 2020, Holly found her voice again by subverting pre-loved vintage tea towels (little domestic works of art), to raise awareness of issues she felt needed soap boxing.  

The Subversive tea Towel exhibition
The Subversive tea Towel exhibition

Prior to the Covid Pandemic of 2020, award winning Textile artist Holly, had established a healthy and progressive career in the art world.  After she began her current textile practice in 2016, she went on to exhibit her work both collectively and independently in art spaces such as the Saatchi Gallery. 

work by Holly
Work by Holly

In 2018, she was diagnosed with breast cancer. Throughout her treatment, her work acted as both an outlet and a distraction from her illness. During this time, she won her first solo show of her early embroidered pieces.  

Filmed at the Knitting and Stitching Show 2024.

Further reading

If you’ve enjoyed watching this video, you might like the work of Batool Showghi featured in a video from the Knitting & Stitching Show 2023.

Janice Gunner  – Meet the Artist

Janice Gunner is a leading textile artist, quilter, author, and quilt judge. A lifelong stitcher for over 50 years, Janice presents a major retrospective of her portfolio – ‘A Lifetime in Textiles’ exhibition.

Her exhibition takes you on a journey celebrating 50 years.

Janice Gunner: https://www.janicegunner.co.uk  

Janice Gunner

Always striving to produce work of a high standard, Janice prefers to experiment with a wide range of styles and techniques.

Part of the Lifetime in Textiles exhibition
Part of the Lifetime in Textiles exhibition

If there is one technique she is most known for, it is probably Shibori, also the title of one of her books.


Shibori Book by Janice : https://amzn.to/471jMlR

Work by Janice
Work by Janice

Janice is an award-winning textile artist, quilter, City & Guilds accredited tutor and author. Aside from creating and teaching, she holds a MA with Merit  in Textiles at the University of the Creative Arts. Her current work using natural dyes, along with screen and digital printing, focuses on memory loss and absence and how they affect personality and relationships. Janice was recently awarded the Quilters’ Guild of the British Isles Education and Travel Bursary.

Further reading

If you’ve enjoyed watching this video, you might like the work of L’Merchie Frazier featured in a video from the Festival of Quilts 2023.

Amy Pabst – Meet the Artist


Author and quilter Amy Pabst grew up in rural West Virginia, where there’s a strong heritage of quilting. Her exhibition ‘Micropiecing: Quarter Million’ presents a series of 27 miniature quilts that focuses on the traditional pineapple block on a very small scale.

Amy Pabst: https://www.instagram.com/amymakesquilt

Foundation pieced pineapple quilt by Amy Pabst - Meet the Artist
Foundation pieced pineapple quilt by Amy Pabst – Meet the Artist

All blocks are less than 2.5cm, and each piece is less than 3mm wide. Each quilt has thousands of pieces, and the series was considered complete when the total number of pieces reached 250,000. The design sources for Amy’s quilts include antique and contemporary quilts, as well as original designs. 

Variation on pineapple foundation patchwork
Variation on pineapple foundation patchwork

Amy Pabst

Amy is a West Virginia native, discovered quilting in 2011 after finding a book at her local library. Since then, she’s created countless quilts and become a prominent figure in the quilting community.  Amy is a teacher, speaker, and judge for the National Association of Certified Quilt Judges, and she actively participates in local and international guilds.  Her first book, Log Cabin: The 100,000 Pieces Project, was published in 2020 by Quiltmania.

Currently, Amy is a full-time fibers student at Marshall University, with minors in creative writing and women’s studies.

Christmas quilt by Amy Pabst
Christmas quilt by Amy Pabst

Filmed at the Festival of Quilts 2024.

For a more inspiration, please browse the ‘Meet the Artist’ collection on my YouTube Channel.

Further reading

If you’ve enjoyed watching this video, you might like the work of Lynne Edwards featured in a video from the Festival of Quilts 2023.