Embroidery magazine is exclusively devoted to all aspects of embroidery and stitched textiles in art, design, craft and textile culture.
The magazine has built a reputation for quality and integrity over the years. Our goal is to bring you the latest, most exciting and innovative stitched work – we interview the artists, educators, curators and designers who matter, showcasing their talent as well as reporting on trends.
In each issue you will find in-depth profiles, artists’ essays, and reviews of the latest textile books and exhibitions, as well as news and listings of fashion and textile exhibitions in the UK, all underpinned by inspirational photography.
Embroidery is published six times a year in January, March, May, July, September and November. It is available on subscription and enjoyed by creative people with an interest in creative, innovative stitched work and textiles.
Meet Claire Waring
Embroidery Editor
Claire spent 14 years as a county magazine editor, covering everything from the poisoning of the Skripals and new theories about Stonehenge, to arts and culture, fashion, food, gardening and interior design. She was closely involved with local cultural festivals and the magazine ran its own summertime jazz festival and even had a racehorse.
The HQ was set in a barn surrounded by fields, where the overriding concern in winter was stopping the mice from eating the office chocolate supply. In spring lunch hours she fed the owner’s lambs from a bottle.
She left to enjoy time off and pursue creative pathways, spending lockdown painting and making linocuts of the local landscapes and establishing the viability of a small business venture.
Before she was a county magazine editor, Claire worked predominantly in newspaper features and edited a variety of magazines.
She brings to the job a lifelong love of art and craft, having started off with a foundation art and design course. She studied art and English at the University College of Wales and is proud to have Welsh lineage.
Textile art fascinates her in all its incarnations and she is keen to portray the diversity of the artform. She feels privileged to take over such a well-thought-of journal from outgoing editor Jo Hall.
Our History
First published in 1932
The first issue of Embroidery magazine rolled off the presses in 1932, establishing it as one of the longest standing and most respected textile publications in the world today.
Embroidery’s editorial outlined the magazine’s intention of championing ‘a really vigorous and well-balanced new work’. Today this continues, as we chart the creative lives of textile artists and makers, educators and authors. We are still owned and published by the Embroiderers’ Guild to this day, and since the 1950s have been available on subscription to everyone.
Over the decades, Embroidery has published trusted commentary on the changing tides and trends affecting embroidery, both as an artform and in wider society.
In the 1930s, the magazine campaigned for embroidery to be made part of the secondary school curriculum, and we went on to document the establishment of creative embroidery degree courses at universities in Manchester, Goldsmiths and Birmingham. We followed developments, such as the evolution of machine embroidery as a creative force and the broadening definition of textiles as a medium since the Millennium.
And our pages have consistently recorded the artistic development of some of our best-known embroiderers: Constance Howard, Beryl Dean, the establishment of the 62 Group, Jan Beaney, Michael Brennand-Wood, Alice Kettle and Karen Nicol, as well as acting as a springboard for young graduate talent.
Embroidery magazine has been published by the Embroiderers’ Guild since 1932. The Guild’s remit, expressed formally through its ‘charitable aims’, is to build awareness of stitch and textile art. The Embroiderers’ Guild educates, encourages, inspires, and promotes the achievement of excellence.