Valentine’s Hare Workshop with Nigel Cheney on Saturday 14th February

Valentine’s Hare Workshop with Nigel Cheney

Saturday 14th February 2026 – 10 – 4pm – £70 – Nigel sees his workshops as the starting point of a collaboration between himself and the participants. You work together to begin new art works for you to finish at home. He stresses that there are no ‘wrong answers’ and that the work is very much directed by the skills and interests of those who take part. They can be completed by hand or machine stitch. He focuses on producing unique fabric collages that incorporate digitally printed images of his own original drawings and art work with your own fabric samples.

From Nigel – ‘I love cloth and fibre. From their tactile qualities to the memories imbued in the cloth I stitch onto. From who has worn it or how and where it was made I am intrigued by the haptic nature of cloth and textile, tactile memory. The compositions I make are a conversation between the original digitally printed panels I produce and the cloth that I piece and patch around them.’

On these workshops participants will be introduced to techniques in fabric collage and detailed ‘Slow Stitch’ of illustrated elements. Emphasis will be placed on colour, composition and using stitch to ‘draw’ in thread.

Inspired by the array of examples of different approaches to hand stitch and fabric collage that you will be shown, this workshop will allow you to gain the confidence to assemble your own collage of fabrics and bring them to a cohesive surface through stitch. It will also include the development of charming stitched motifs to apply onto a background.

I use a broad palette of textile techniques in my work and I assure you that this workshop can be undertaken entirely in machine or hand stitch, or indeed any combination.

Everyone will be able to chose from a selection of original printed fabrics (unique to that workshop) that have been created from Nigel’s hand-drawn illustrations; prices start from £5 for a small printed fabric swatch with more patches available. Developing your own individual compositions you will be encouraged to introduce other textile elements that ensure your own unique response to the challenges of this workshop. The techniques shown are inspired by cultural and ethnic textile philosophies, where the life story of the cloth is inextricably linked with its new purpose. Hopefully this workshop will help us all to consider using existing fabrics in our practice as well as our constant love of buying new !

What you need to bring.

*Fabric– This is a chance to integrate your own vintage fragments, scraps from charity shop finds or even your unfinished samples /fabric prints/eco dyeing from previous workshops into a composition so it is important that you bring a wide selection of these.

*Equipment– basic sewing kit, needles, scissors, pins etc.

The workshop can be by hand or machine so obviously you will need to sewing kit, leads, instructions for your machine in case of issues etc that are relevant to you.

*Threads- whatever hand or machine threads you want to work with. This can range from viscose machine embroidery thread to basic sewing cotton, stranded, Perle or chunkier threads to couch down. It is your chance to control the colour palette you want to work with.

I will always bring a selection of my own current work to inspire you, and even some drawings and prints available to buy.

Biography

Nigel Cheney is an embroiderer born and living in Market Harborough, Leicestershire. Drawing is central to his work. His practice is divided between textile art and producing one off designed pieces. His art work is often large in scale, whilst his brand ‘DROOL’ (deliberately random objects of loveliness) produces decorative textile products for interiors and fashion accessories that combine digital print with hand and machine stitch.

His work has been exhibited widely throughout Europe and has won numerous awards and is in a number of International collections. Most recently he was a finalist in both the Fine Art Textile Awards at the Festival of Quilts and Hand and Lock.

He held the position of University Lecturer in Embroidered Textiles at National College of Art and Design, Ireland for over 24 years before returning to live in his native Harborough in 2017.

The photographs are a good representation of the class but a unique set of prints will be developed for the day.