Joanne Spotswood is the creator behind Anything Sews Embroidery, a charmingly unconventional collection of embroidery patterns, stickers, and finished embroidered art. Joanne’s designs are not only adorable, but accessible as well–she takes care in designing them so that they’re beginner friendly, yet still full of character. Read on to learn more about this artist, teacher, and all-around talented creator…
M&R: How long have you been drawing?
Joanne: I’ve been drawing for as long as I can remember. I have artsy older siblings who I wanted to be like, and a lot of support from my teachers and family growing up. When I was young I remember specifically drawing hundreds of dresses over and over, barely changing their designs, but wanting to make and have all of them some day (spoiler, I don’t).
How did you become interested in embroidery?
There are a lot of facets that drew me to embroidery but this is the most direct line. I’ve always had some interest in fiber arts, but spent most of my life picking it up and doing one cobbled together project and then going back to the mediums I had more tools for and knew better. In my undergraduate drawing and painting program, I took the interest in embroidery specifically further. I wanted to make my own ecclesiastical garments and decorate them with hand embroidery. That’s when I started seeing it as something to keep up with.
What is the most rewarding things about your craft?
With my art in general, I like making people happy. In addition to making finished pieces to sell, I make a lot of patterns. Embroidery is a repetitive method, and can be meditative and really therapeutic for people. For me, it gives me something to do with my hands when my mind is racing. Similarly, people who have worked through my patterns have messaged me to tell me about their relaxing experiences with embroidery. I’m really glad to be able to provide that to others.
Are there any challenges involved in producing your art or patterns?
Making patterns can be really challenging. I want to make patterns that anyone with the barest experience in embroidery can follow, despite being interesting compositions. So there’s a fine line to walk between interesting and overwhelming. When I teach in person, I get to go into a lot of detail about why I choose the stitches, the strand amount, the color, the stitch length, and all of these little elements of the pattern that will just make patterns overly complicated and confusing. But that’s the part I really love talking about and teaching other people about.
What inspires or influences your work?
I focus on making things that make me and other people happy. So a lot of my work is influenced by the things that make me happy. I love things that are cute, weird; I love nature. I end up making a lot of cryptid themed items; I absolutely love monsters. But I definitely add a lot of curves and try to cutify even scary monsters. When I’m not making things that are to make me happy, I take on commissions to make other people happy. I am happy to embroider a pet, a meaningful photograph of a landscape, a wedding bouquet, and more! I try to take on whatever someone presents me with, but there’s also a limit to my capabilities.
How do you hope your work will influence or benefit others?
Besides making people happy (I really like it), embroidery is a really repetitive task. In that repetition, embroidering takes on a meditative quality. As someone with anxiety, it’s useful to have something active for my hands and eyes to focus on and calm myself down again. And I’ve heard a lot of my students have the same experience, and also some who find catharsis in repeatedly stabbing something over and over.
Is there anything else you’d like to add?
I will take the opportunity to plug my Patreon. I make a pattern a month for patrons, and that’s also where I’m most available to answer any and all questions for people looking to learn embroidery and all of its complexities. Plus, you get random goodies every few months, and vote of what the next pattern I make is.
Be sure to visit Anything Sews Art to see more of Joanne’s work, and follow her on instagram @anythingsews or at facebook.com/anythingsewsart. She’s also on TikTok, @anythingsews.
Click here to check out Joanne’s Patreon page.
