Whale Embroidery Kit

These are the best UK made embroidery hoops there are - John Lewis stock them in their small haberdashery section. Made using FSC Beech wood in a village in the Cotswolds by a family run company called Elbesee, the wood is finished so that 1) it doesn't splinter and 2) it looks great!

We're really proud of this fabric. A LOT of cotton fabric out there comes from China, and is potentially picked by enslaved Uighurs (BBC investigation).

So we've made sure our fabric is not.

Made from cotton that's organically grown in India by a family run business. It's woven and dyed by the same firm. Importantly, they recycle the water used (growing and dying cotton uses a LOT of water) as well as only using a "Low impact" dying process.

The cushions we supply come from the same fabric - they're stitched for us by a women's co-operative in Kerala.

Our Tote bags are certified GOTS and made in India by another company.

Gamechanger.

We print each pattern onto a water soluble adhesive fabric stabiliser - when the kit arrives, simply peel the pattern off the backing paper and stick it onto the fabric. Once you've finished stitching, the stabiliser dissolves away in lukewarm water.

Why's it a game changer?

1. The extra strength the stabiliser provides while stitching prevents the fabric from misbehaving whilst stitching.

2. There's no problems with being able to see the pattern whilst stitching - white background, black pattern.

3. There's no printed pattern showing after you've washed the stabiliser away. Just your stitching.

4. Because we print this ourselves, we don't have to buy bulk pre-printed cotton. We'll always know who makes our fabric and where the cotton is grown.

Each hoop kit comes with felt included, which is for backing your finished piece. Doing so protects the stitches, and makes sure the colours in your piece isn't affected by whichever wall you hang it on!

The felt we supply is made in the UK by a family firm using 30% wool/70% viscose.

Vegan?

We have a synthetic felt available, just add a note to your order and we'll make sure you get that instead of the wool felt. We will be changing to only supplying a synthetic felt once we find a UK made one that's only made from recycled materials and or non-plastic based - if you know of such a felt, PLEASE let us know about it!

Felt isn't included in the Banner kits as it's not necessary. Likewise, the cushion and tote bag kits don't need the backing felt - you'll find an iron on interfacing included in these kits.

The kit comes with our own stitch guide included, which includes easy step by step instructions for all of the stitches with photos of each step. Prefer learning by video? There's QR codes in the guide that will also take you to our own tutorial videos of the stitches.

Printed on high quality, uncoated, recycled paper.