Kate grew up in North Wales and originally studied costume at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama in Cardiff before graduating in 2001 with a BA Hons in Theatre Design. Following this she worked as a freelance costume maker at Glyndebourne Festival Opera and then as part of the Touring Wardrobe department at the Welsh National Opera. Kate has always loved hand embroidery, and got the stitching bug from her Nan at an early age, so in 2013 she decided to take the plunge and re-train as an embroidery tutor at the Royal School of Needlework at Hampton Court Palace.
Kate graduated from the Future Tutors Programme at the RSN with distinction in 2016. During the course she studied many traditional hand embroidery techniques including goldwork, jacobean crewel work, blackwork, stumpwork and silk shading. In 2015 Kates Advanced Silk Shaded budgie “Smuggler” was accepted by the Royal Academy of Arts for their annual Summer Exhibition. The piece was also made into a greetings card.
Kate loves to design her own embroidery kits, using traditional techniques in a contemporary way. She also likes to combine her embroidery with her love of historical dress, creating kits based on original pieces. Her classes can cover all levels of ability, from absolute beginners to more advanced stitchers.When she's not involved in freelance projects Kate works as a stitcher for the RSN in their commercial studio, working on conservation, restoration and private commissions.
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Kate has taught for the Royal School of Needlework at Hampton Court Palace,RSN Bristol,Bath Fashion Museum, at the Williamsburg School of Needlework in the U.S and the RSN 2018 Summer School in Lexington Kentucky.She also teaches for The Craft Sanctuary, Needlework Tours and Cruises, The Alpine Experience and the Crewelwork Company. She has worked on historical costume reconstructions for St Fagans National Museum of History and The School of Historical Dress.
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In 2018 Kate filmed the RSN online learning course in silk shading and was runner up in The National Needlecraft Awards 2019 Embroidery Designer of the Year category.
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