We were delighted to sit down with EGA teacher and innovator Laura Smith to discuss the fascinating world of mixed media embroidery. Laura is a prolific embroidery teacher and artist. She holds the Master Craftsman in Color from EGA and won the National Gold Thread Award for service in 2021. She served as chair for the Master Craftsman in Color Program from 2006-2018, was Chairman of Fiber Forum from 2011-2015, served seven terms as president of her chapter, and has held every chapter office. In addition, she holds an undergraduate degree in Chemistry, which as you’ll learn below, has been very useful when working with paint and mixed media materials!
How were you introduced to mixed media embroidery work?
I was first introduced to mixed media embroidery work by Patty Schmid, a personal friend and fellow EGA chapter member. Patty taught me how to use soluble fabric, also known as soluble stabilizer. It was the first material covered in the GCC Embroidery with Mixed Media. This material is a plastic-like sheet that dissolves in water after stitching. Patty showed me how to use it to stabilize machine embroidery. I could see great possibilities for use with hand embroidery. Here are some examples of my classes that employ soluble fabric:
What drew you to incorporating mixed media techniques with embroidery?
During the years that I have created and led classes for EGA, I often hear this question from members who have recently joined or who are taking my class for the first time. The question they ask is: What is meant by “Mixed Media?” I explain that mixed media is a type of visual art that combines more than one medium or material. Incorporating mixed media elements that are archivally compatible with textiles creates new possibilities for interesting textures, adds varieties of levels of shine, creates firm edges, and speeds up the creative process. For example, one of my students was able to incorporate mixed media in a way that enabled her to continue hand stitching despite having to deal with macular degeneration!
After learning about soluble fabric, another friend introduced me to Tyvek®—often known as “house wrap.” It can also be utilized in mailing envelopes. When Tyvek is painted and distorted with heat, it resembles good stony surfaces for landscapes.
Later, when I was working as Executive Director of a local art center, I noticed that some of the painters incorporated clear acrylic media to create unusual textures in their work. There are many kinds of acrylic liquids, gels, and solids that are normally clear or white. So, I started to think about whether these could work with textiles. Through my chemistry background, I realized that these are actually liquid fabrics. With additional research, I found that they are archivally compatible with textiles.
Archival compatibility means that the mixed media will not decay in some way that harms the textile materials over time. Although this knowledge opened up a whole new world of possibilities, it presented the potential for confusion with the many different acrylic media available. The GCC Embroidery with Mixed Media focuses on a few acrylic media that are most useful for embroiderers.
I have also found that acrylic media are well suited for creating sturdy edges needed for small jewelry designs. Because jewelry is often diminutive, it doesn’t allow room for wide, time-consuming techniques such as the buttonhole stitches traditionally utilized to edge Hardanger embroidery—as shown in my first Hardanger teaching design:
I then began to experiment with using gel media to create small Hardanger embroidery earrings.
By combining mixed media with Hardanger along with beading techniques, I was able to create three jewelry sets that juried into EGA Fiber Forum and into recent Through the Needle’s Eye Exhibitions.
How do you approach balancing elements within a mixed media embroidery piece?
When utilizing mixed media in design, I have found that the same rules apply as when working only with textile materials. First, the media must coordinate with the fabric and the thread to enhance the entire design. The mixed media elements are treated as significant creative components–not just inclusions that enable the design to qualify as being in the mixed media category for exhibition or teaching purposes.
In addition, just as in hand embroidery, it’s important to use a thread size and color that works with both the fabric background and the mixed media elements. The final purpose of the creation will determine the requirements for which media will work well. For example, if it is an item of clothing, the mixed media must be sturdy enough to tolerate wearing and cleaning.
What is something you’ve learned from creating mixed media embroidery pieces that new students of the technique should know?
Through research, I have learned to avoid including any mixed media element that is oily. Even though these elements are fine for artists who work on paper or artist’s canvas, oils can create rings or spots when coming in contact with thread, cloth, or needlepoint canvas. Also, they will attract dust. It’s best to avoid using oil paint, the ink in some pens, and some glues when working with an embroidery piece.
Do you have any favorite tools?
Fun tools for mixed media include an iron and/or an embossing tool. They work well on bamboo cutting boards. Kitchen parchment paper and bamboo skewers used in cooking help to control the heat. For safety, I work with the hot tools outdoors on my deck or porch and use a respirator. It’s also helpful to have an extra pair of scissors designated for cutting paper and mixed media.
What are some of your favorite elements to incorporate into mixed media embroidery pieces?
Many of my own embroidered creations feature images of land. I strive to recreate the appearance of various land surfaces such as sand, clay, grass, stones of many different compositions, trees, and other plants. For example, including mixed media in my embroidery facilitated the creation of a sandy beach in Where the Earth Meets the Sea; snow and its reflection in a creek in Grand Tetons: Snow in Summer; and the sparkle and complexity of water in Early Morning Waterfall.
Mixed media embroidery feels very improvisational, but even with improvisational work there are some rules to understand. What, if any, are some of the guiding principles for mixed media embroidery?
It is important to consider some guiding principles for mixed media. Each of the media has its own guiding principles for use with embroidery. Embroidery with Mixed Media incorporates my knowledge of textile conservation which comes from my undergraduate degree in chemistry as well as from research done specifically for the class and other classes. I’ve updated the course several times since its initial publication as I learn more from my own experience and well as from that of my students.
Making samples of mixed media is an important way of working with them and aligns with my teaching philosophy as a process style teacher. Because the media are so unusual, they are outside most students’ experience. Therefore, it is necessary to experiment a bit in order to use them effectively. For the GCC evaluation, students are encouraged to create a stitched artwork using the media that work with their design (or one of the three designs included in the text). If there is something that doesn’t fit the design, they can send samples of that medium to show that they know how to work with it.
What do you hope stitchers take from Embroidery with Mixed Media?
The goal of the Embroidery with Mixed Media Group Correspondence Course is to establish an understanding of what mixed media are, how they can interact with our familiar textile materials, and to put mixed media tools into each student’s toolbox. Students work with four useful media: soluble fabric, Tyvek, Angelina fibers/film, and acrylic gel media. They learn about the properties of each one and how to integrate them with embroidery. They can create one or more embroidered works with the media. It’s acceptable to just send in samples for the evaluation, but I always enjoy it when students create a design that shows me that they really understand the class. There are three design ideas included in an appendix along with drawings, but most students prefer to use their own ideas.
You also lead an EGA course called Mark and Paint on Canvas and Fabric, which feels like a complementary course to Embroidery with Mixed Media and teaches students how to transfer their designs to fabric. Does painting your own fabric affect how you might choose to stitch the design later? Aside from creating your own designs, how does this technique influence the embroidery that follows?
Mark and Paint on Canvas and Fabric teaches students how to transfer their designs to fabric. The relationship between these two courses is interesting. I started out to write Embroidery with Mixed Media and then realized that if students were to create their own designs, I needed to incorporate instructions on how to transfer a design to needlepoint canvas or fabric.
In addition, other topics needed to be included such as – how big to cut the fabric, what type of pen to use, how to simplify a photo or idea to make it work well for embroidery, how to trace a design without buying a lightbox, and more. So, I wrote Mark & Paint on Canvas & Fabric first so that this knowledge would be available. While Mark & Paint is not a prerequisite, understanding the concepts covered in Mark & Paint can help students with Embroidery with Mixed Media.
Do you have any projects or events coming up we should keep an eye out for?
My upcoming events include Heartland Region EGA Seminar, May 1-5, 2025 in St. Louis, Missouri. My two-day class is Adirondack Autumn which uses Lutradur, fruit mesh, and other mixed media materials to create a layered collage that is then stitched. My one-day class is Triangle Trilogy Jewelry Set. Students will create simple needlepoint jewelry and then finish it using gel medium which is archival quality for textiles and protects the jewelry from dirt and skin oils.
Also, Tucson Chapter EGA will host Batik to Stitch class March 25 and 26. This unique class employs a hot wax process to print designs on fabric which are then stitched. It has traveled all over the country. For the Tucson event, I will also present a lecture on March 27. The lecture is called Skin of Venus, the Subtle Power of the Background. It is my “Color Second Level” lecture based on a quote from the artist Eugène Delacroix, “Give me mud and I will make the skin of a Venus from it—if you allow me to surround it as I please.” The lecture describes the color techniques he used and it is illustrated with over fifty embroidered works. Muchas Manos Chapter EGA in San Diego plans to have this lecture in the future. I enjoy talking and showing slides of embroideries both in person and on Zoom. I am grateful for the support of chapters who invite me to present talks as programs for their meetings and for all EGA volunteers, especially those who work with embroidery education.
Where can interested needleworkers discover more of your work and upcoming projects and events?
Interested needleworkers may discover more of my work and upcoming projects and events on my website: www.Stitch4Fun.com. Also, you can subscribe to my newsletter (five or six issues per year) through my website. You can also find me on my Facebook page.
