A Cumbrian YouTuber has stitched together a community by uploading an embroidery video every day for the last year.
Phillipa Turnbull, an expert and tutor in crewel work embroidery, based in Appleby, and co-owner of The Crewel Work Company, asked her husband Richard to video her stitching in the sitting room with her cat Mikey by her side.
She invited others to join her during the next few days, to stitch together – unaware then that she would continue to post videos for a whole year to embroidery enthusiasts worldwide.
“The start of the pandemic and the first lockdown in England was a very worrying time, and I thought to myself, I have to reach out and find others who have a passion for, or find pleasure and relaxation in, stitching historic designs and to share time together with recorded and sometimes live videos,” said Phillipa.
“I had no plans to keep the daily videos up for a whole year. I’d only suggested a few weeks of showing people how to learn or develop their crewel work skills – and the response we received was overwhelming.
“We soon started to receive messages, emails and telephone calls saying how much people looked forward to our videos each day. Some people were completely on their own, and we were the only people they were in contact with and so we felt it was important to keep posting a video each day.”
The popularity of the free daily videos grew and many thousands of fellow ‘crewel workers’ have viewed the original ‘Crewel Work Corner’ videos.
With people unable to get out and buy materials Phillipa set about creating a design people could freely download and create a Christmas stocking using leftover materials from other crafting projects.
Phillipa said: “I had made a Christmas Stocking for one grandchild and had planned to make them for all my grandchildren, so I simply shared my own project online.
“From copying the designs onto material embroidering the stitches and choosing colours, it was great fun for me to be engaged with others as we all made stockings for others to enjoy later in the year.
“Over the past year, we have had messages from all corners of the world: South Africa, North and South America, New Zealand, Australia, Europe as well as many here in Britain. We have people who had never tried crewel work before making their first stitches and the community of stitchers continues to grow.
“It is hard to believe that today marks one year of stitching together online.
“Our daily videos (including Christmas Day and New Year’s Day) have been a privilege to film and publish – and follower’s wonderful emails and telephone calls sharing how important it has been for us to stitch together each day are very special for all the Crewel Work Company team.
“We will have a special video to share on Wednesday sharing just some of the crewel work embroideries followers have stitched with us over the past year.”
Phillipa and her daughter Laura had planned to host the largest needlework festival in Europe this summer in Appleby, however, due to the pandemic they are now planning to host a virtual festival this year and a physical festival in Appleby in 2022.
Phillipa launched The Crewel Work Company more than 25 years ago and runs the family business with co-owner Laura Turnbull. They share a passion for historic embroidery and for keeping the designs and techniques from the past alive and thriving.
