The new Starry Night Wall Hanging workshops have grown from my love of looking up...
Living in rural North Yorkshire, under big open skies, venturing into the garden on a quiet dark night is a special treat, and just a little bit magical. Standing outside in the stillness, usually wrapped up in a big coat or blanket, it's so calming it is to simply look up (ideally I’d just like to lie in the garden staring at the sky!) With very little light pollution in our garden on a clear night you can see millions of stars! We’ve been lucky enough to even see the northern lights dance across the sky. These moments of stillness watching the heavens shift slowly overhead—have become a source of inspiration for my latest pieces of work.
That sense of wonder has been deepened through our family's campervan travels. Some of our most memorable nights have been spent far from civilisation, where the sky feels endless. A special family memory is when we were camping at the base of a glacier and waking in the middle of the night, drawn outside by the light and stillness, to gaze at the stars. They were impossibly clear and bright, sharp against the cold air.
This big sky watching is, for me, a form of mindful practice. It slows the breath and invites a sense of stillness that can sometimes be hard to find elsewhere. That restorative quality is what I aim to bring into every Create and Flo workshop. When I began planning themes for this summer’s festival sessions, those star-filled skies returned to mind—especially after spending time in the Alps earlier in the year; where the night skies felt vast and luminous against the snow. Inspired, I began stitching mini night-sky scenes.
These sample pieces have become the foundation of the Starry Night Wall Hanging Workshop. Each scene is created using small, mindful stitches to form stars and constellations. I’ve really enjoyed using gold thread too, as it catches the eye like the twikling starlight and I’ll be incorporating metallic threads into the materials people will be using in the session. Preloved denim, velvet and wool were all used in the samples and I’ll be carrying on the use of richly coloured fabrics; all chosen for impact and sustainability. Initially I gathered twigs from the natural landscape that are used as hanging bars, and we’ll be using these foraged materials in the workshop to reinforce our connection to the natural world.
With Create and Flo workshops I’m very much encouraging people to think about slow sewing being more about mindful making rather than learning a technique. It’s about enjoying the rhythm of hand stitching, focusing on one small step at a time, and allowing creativity to become a gentle, meditative practice. Each of the sessions begin with a gentle grounding practice and end with a guided meditation, so you leave feeling rested, reconnected, and restored.
So if, before summer stretches the light late into the evening, you would like to be inspired by the quiet magic of a starry night why not stitch with us? No experience is needed—each workshop is designed to be supportive, accessible, and unhurried.
Come slow down, catch your breath, and rediscover your creative flow.