Introducing Tina Francis Tapestry

This month's sponsor of the Ho, Ho, Ho and on We Sew Giveaway is Tina Francis of Tina Francis Tapestry

I first came across Tina's lovely tapestry in an article in Stitch, the magazine of the Embroiderers Guild, and didn't waste any time in stitching up several of her delightful tapestry brooches.

I am always interested in knowing the background of the businesses that I deal with, and I thought that you might be too, so here is Tina's story.

"After winning a box of embroidery transfers in an auction Tina opened it to find it contained a whole

womans life in knitting and stitching patterns. From the most fashionable cardigan of 1959 to baby

matinee jackets, school uniforms and curtain patterns right through to more modern baby patterns

for her grandchildren, Tina realise that this unknown woman was a true artist who had spent her

lifetime stitching love. This sparked an interest in other “home crafts” tapestry appealed because it

combined two of Tinas loves, printing and texture so after learning how to stitch by completing

unfinished tapestrys from secondhand shops she decided to design her own and stitch on the

shoulders of the unknown women whose art had inspired her.

Tina has a range of both printed and counted tapestry kits, her patterns are very geometric and

modern and can be used for tapestry needlepoint, cross stitch and rug making. Someone has used

them for knitting but don’t ask Tina how!! 

Wool is the most expensive part of any kit and as the industry standard is to add 30% more wool than is required Tina realised that she was adding to the wool stash mountain and so created a set of patterns called “Use Your Stash”, each pattern uses less than 10 metres of each wool colour, you do not need to be a colour mixer to get great results as Tina has already ensured a perfect result every time through pattern placement.

Still not satisfied with ensuring the stash mountain is decreased Tina has now designed two sets of

brooch patterns which will ensure that even your smallest amounts of wool are used! For the brooch

patterns you need no more than a metre of each wool colour (and usually no more than 50 cm!). A

good design is scaleable and so if you prefer a larger count canvas the design will look just as good.

“Whilst the design will always be mine the art belongs to the stitcher the same as it belonged to the

woman whose life I now hold in the old chocolate box full of patterns”

Thanks Tina, what a fascinating story!

Don't forget to link up your Christmas and Holiday makes at this month's Ho, Ho, Ho and on We Sew Link Party if you want to be in with a chance of winning your own Tina France Tapestry brooch kit.