Publications

Recent Publications

Making:50

Limited Edition Exhibition Catalogue & Book. Published in 2023.

Introduction by Michael Brennand-Wood.

Available to buy from our online shop (£25).

Making:50 was commissioned to celebrate the Textile Study Group's 50th anniversary. It offers an intimate look into each maker's inspiration and practice.

Insights - A Reflection on Creative Practice in Textile Art

Exhibition Catalogue & Book. Published in 2021.

Edited by June Hill & Dr Melanie Miller, and curated by June Hill.

Available to buy from our online shop (£30).

A reflection on creative practice in textile art. Insights celebrates diverse approaches across hand and machine stitch, quilting, lace-making, mixed media, and 3D constructed textiles. Contributors include: Jane McKeating, Polly Binns, Kay Greenlees, and Lois Blackburn.

DIS/rupt

Exhibition Catalogue. Published in 2017.

Available to buy from our online shop (£1).

Curated by Dr. Melanie Miller, DIS/rupt was developed through collaborative workshops with artists, curator Professor Lesley Millar, and Caroline Bartlett. This catalogue documents the group's response to an uncertain world. Exploring core themes of global conflict, climate change, domestic relationships, and disruptions to traditional fabric-making, members created individual textile responses using both traditional and unconventional materials.

Catalogues Archive

Individual and Collective

Exhibition Catalogue. Published in 2011.

Created for the Knitting & Stitching Shows, this catalogue presents new artwork by 24 group members alongside a postcard chosen from each artist's personal collection. The publication explores how personal collections influence creative practice, celebrating both individual artistic identities and collective group strength.

Visual Thinking – Unpicked

Exhibition Catalogue. Published in 2010.

Accompanying the seminal TSG exhibition, this catalogue explores the creative sparks, research methods, and inspirations behind 14 Textile Study Group artists. It offers a fascinating window into visual thinking, inviting both makers and audiences to reflect on their own creative practice.

Creative Dialogues

Exhibition Catalogue. Published in 2008.

Exploring the transformative power of artistic collaboration, Creative Dialogues visually captures the exchanges between members and external creative partners. From cross-disciplinary projects with non-textile artists to cross-cultural friendships, this catalogue illustrates how shared dialogue breaks boundaries and inspires new techniques.

Not What it Seams

Exhibition Catalogue. Published in 2005.

This publication documents the two-year partnership between the Textile Study Group and Halifax’s Bankfield Museum. Members researched the museum's world-class collection of historical costume and accessories to create innovative contemporary responses, bridging historical clothing heritage with modern textile art.

Books Archive

Embroidery Studio

Published by David & Charles in 1993.

ISBN: 9780715399057

Out of print (Available via second-hand booksellers).

A foundational resource created by members of the group, offering creative project guidance, design exercises, and technical inspiration for embroidered and stitched textiles.

Needlework School

Published by Windward / Chartwell Books in 1984.

ISBN: 9780711203877

Out of print (Available via second-hand booksellers).

This book describes a huge range of embroidery techniques from stitchery, appliqué, drawn thread work, machine embroidery as well as making tassels and cords and many other techniques. It suggests methods of drawing, designing, preparation of materials as well as describing different fabrics and methods of printing and colouring them. There are illustrations of historical textiles as well as 20th century interpretations, mainly in black and white but with a number of good colourful pictures. Although printed in 1984 there is plenty to stimulate and inform a novice stitcher, so well worth looking out for in a second hand book shop.

A Selection of Members' Publications

Bobby Britnell

Stitched Textiles: Flowers
Published by Search Press, 2013 and reprinted in 2020.
ISBN 9781844497318

Jean Draper

Stitch and Pattern
Published by Batsford, 2018.
ISBN: 9781849944731

Stitch and Structure
Published by Batsford, 2013.
ISBN: 9781849941211

Janet Edmonds

The Textile Artist: From Art to Stitch
Published by Search Press, 2015.
ISBN: 9781782210870

From Print to Stitch
Published by Search Press, 2011.
ISBN: 9781844485581

Three-Dimensional Embroidery
Published by Search Press, 2006.
ISBN: 9781844480586

Beginner's Guide to Embroidered Boxes
Published by Search Press, 2002.
ISBN: 9780855329419

Alice Fox

Wild Weave
Published by Batsford, 2025.
ISBN: 9781849949453

Wild Textiles: Grown, Foraged, Found
Published by Batsford, 2022.
ISBN: 9781849947879

Natural Processes in Textile Art
Published by Batsford, 2015.
ISBN: 9781849942980

Kay Greenlees

Creating Sketchbooks for Embroiderers and Textile Artists
Published by Batsford 2005
ISBN: 978-1434319975

Gwen Hedley

Drawn to Stitch
Published by Batsford, 2012.
ISBN: 9781849940023

Surfaces for Stitch
Published by Batsford, 2000.
ISBN: 9780713486667

Ruth Issett

A Passion for Colour
Published by Search Press, 2013.
ISBN: 9781844487455

Paintstiks
Published by Art Van Go, 2009.
ISBN: 9780956272300

Print Pattern and Colour
Published by Batsford, 2007.
ISBN: 9780713490405

Colour on Cloth
Published by Batsford, 2004.
ISBN: 9780713488821

Glorious Papers
Published by Batsford, 2001.
ISBN: 9780713727937

Colour on Paper & Fabric
Published by Batsford, 1998.
ISBN: 9780713483208

Jane McKeating

Hand Stitch Perspectives
Co-author: Alice Kettle. Published by Bloomsbury, 2012.
ISBN: 9781408123416

Machine Stitch Perspectives
Co-author: Alice Kettle. Published by A&C Black, 2010.
ISBN: 9780713688689

Mandy Pattullo

Textiles Transformed
Published by Batsford, 2020.
ISBN: 9781849945769

Textile Collage
Published by Batsford, 2016.
ISBN: 9781849943741

Shelley Rhodes

Fragmentation and Repair
Published by Batsford, 2021.
ISBN: 9781849946100

Sketchbook Explorations
Published by Batsford, 2018.
ISBN: 9781849944809