Louise Gardiner Worshops in 1784 Quarry Bank Cotton Mills, Styal, Cheshire * 22-24 October 2012

The feedback on this courses is simply amazing! I am hoping to get up to Styal this year which is the loveliest and best preserved of all 18th century cotton mills set in a fabulous area of Cheshire, more famous now for footballers' homes and the shops that go with the footballers' wives! Louise has taught at Museums, Guilds and Universities across the UK and in 2010 was invited overseas to teach at the New Zealand Embroider's Guild Conference.She demonstrated drawing with a sewing machine for Jenny Murray on 'Women's Hour' and Julia Pearson writer for the Time Out Blog recommended Louise's workshops as one of the five top things to do outside London.

The workshops take place at a fantastic water powered cotton mill built by Samuel Greg in 1784 called Quarry Bank in the village of Styal, Cheshire, which has a rich textile heritage and is a mile from Louise's studio. Louise was invited here to launch a new gallery space in summer 2011. In parallel to this successful solo show 'Losing the Thread' Louise began the series of SUPERSTITCHERS workshops which challenge anyone's traditional ideas of an embroidery class and break as many rules as possible. Drawing and design are a large part of the workshop and all students are encouraged to let their hair down and not force creativity. Music, movement, coffee, biscuits and ALWAYS sherry are employed as aids to help get the creativity flowing and every student leaves feeling inspired if not a little more bonkers. The fee for the course is £240 - accommodation is not included - and 14 places are available.