Touchlines - 62 Group - Sunny Bank Mills, Farsley

Louise Baldwin - The moments that I can't recall (detail), 2026 

 

Touchlines: The Delicate Boundaries of Care and Cloth is this year's 62 Group exhibition at Sunny Bank Mills in Farsley.  In Touchlines, we are told, "artists explore the subtle thresholds where contact is felt, withheld, or transformed. Set within the historic spaces of Sunny Bank Mills, the exhibition draws connections between textile labour, sporting cultures, and human relationships, asking how boundaries shape intimacy, care, and collective identity."

Here are some of my favourites...

Using old tickets, books, cards, packaging etc., Louise Baldwin has created a new work of layered relationships...

Louise Baldwin - The moments that I can't recall, 2026
Collected paper, card, and fabric elements with wood and beads; machine-stitched modules, hand stitching and glued construction

Debbie Lyddon's The Breath of the Moon maps the contours of a day's tides. The title comes from the Venerable Bede, who noticed a connection between the moon and tides and called it the breathings of the moon.  I love the title of this piece.

Debbie Lyddon - The Breath of the Moon, 2026
Linen, beeswax, linseed oil, wire, pulled threads, machine and hand stitch

Hannah Lamb makes the point that "duty of care" often misses out caring for the carers.  The patching and darning on this piece represents self care as the apron disintegrates. Perhaps it's time to re-evaluate who we value in society...

Hannah Lamb -  Duty of Care II, 2022
Vintage linen apron, silk organza, applique, hand stitch, machine stitch, devore

Helen Davies tells us that sometimes the only way to effect change is through disorder and nothing unites a community like a common goal.  Her work references the 1842 General Strike where workers across Lancashire & Yorkshire unplugged the boilers in mills and factories...

Helen Davies - National Union of Had Enough of This Shite, 2026
Cotton thread, synthetic thread

Helen Banzhaf's coat shows how important it is for pattern pieces to fit together to create the final form...

Helen Banzhaf - Salad Servers and the Odd Fish Slice, 2026
10 oz unprimed cotton canvas, assembled as a coat using various threads with stitched applique shapes

Hazel Bruce uses an old linen roller towel as a background for patches of colour and stitch to give it a new life...

Hazel Bruce - The beginning of something new? 2025
Huckaback linen roller towel, reclaimed fabric remnants, machine stitch

In Eszter Bornemisza's piece, her people are made of map fragments and linked by a network of streets, representing human connectedness...

Eszter Bornemisza - Icon-Maze, 2023
Organza, vintage ribbons, newsprint, tissue, threads, printing, cutting machine stitching

Helen Yardley uses the game of rugby as her inspiration with the physicality of the friction and pressure of the game echoed in her medium and representation...

 

Helen Yardley - Lineout, 2026
Cut and pieced 3mm industrial wool felt, hand stitched, screen printed, machine stitched and hand painted. Mounted onto a wooden stretcher frame.

Claire Barber's piece, part of which is shown below, made of melted shoelaces, heather and chalk represents how plastics infiltrate out environment...

Claire Barber - Sweepings (detail), 2026
Melted shoelaces, heather, chalk, stone, pins, broom, sugar palm fibres

Hannah White's work, through electroforming, transforms something soft into something rigid and she sees this as a metaphor for building human resilience over time...

Hannah White - Woven Touchlines, 2026
Woven, hand pleated and hand stitched, Trevira and stainless-steel threads, electroformed, nickel-plated

Mei Lock says her parents demonstrate their love through what they do rather than what they say.  Here, using her parents clothes and one of her Mum's recipes, she demonstrates their actions of love and care...

 

Mei Lock - Love Languages, 2026
Cotton apron, denim jeans, wooden chair spindles and thread, hand stitch

And finally, with humour but also with a point, here is Lynn Setterington's Gary on the Touchline. The traditional twee subjects of needlepoint are subverted and we have instead, Gary Lineker, a pundit as famous for his humanitarian views on refugees and asylum seekers as his football commentary. The question is, will Lynn Setterington ever stitch it?

Lynn Setterington - Gary on the Touchline, 2026
Canvas work print with coloured threads

And because everyone wants to touch everything but can't - there is a touching table...

Samples that could be examined and touched

There were, of course, many other interesting works too. The exhibition runs until 31st May 2026, on the 3rd floor, in the 1912 Mill at Sunny Bank Mills, 83-85 Town Street, Farsley, West Yorkshire, LS28 5UJ. Open Thursday-Sunday 10am to 4pm. Go see.  

There are cafes at Sunny Bank Mills, various shops and a ScrapStore.  It's a great place to visit.  Check opening hours before visiting.

Laetitzia Campbell - On Your Way Home, What Did You Find? - David Parr House, Cambridge

Laetitzia Campbell - Yesterday's Light, 2025
Screen print, machine-embroidery, hand-embroidery on linen
Cotton & polyester thread

 

Laetitzia Campbell's On Your Way Home, What Did You Find? is currently showing  at the David Parr House in Gwydir Street, Cambridge until 23 May 2026.  Laetitzia Campbell is a British-French textile artist with Jamaican heritage.  We are told that the works in this exhibition draw on Campbell's father's childhood journey home from school in Jamaica, evoking memories that shape our sense of home.

Laetitzia Campbell - Memories of Calmer Times, 2025
Machine and hand-embroidery on cotton
Cotton & polyester thread

Her works are shown alongside the Richard Hopkins Leach travel journal, which also records a journey...

A Journal with Delineations of Nature Principally of Cornwall; Journal of the Tour, 1814
Richard Hopkins-Leach - Illustrated & Handwritten Journal

My favourite of the Campbell's pieces is Yesterday's Light (top image) which is mostly hand stitched and is a sizeable piece.

Laetitzia Campbell - Sombre Metamorphosis iii, 2025
Machine and hand-embroidery on cotton
Cotton & polyester thread

The pieces that are machine stitched use a zigzag stitch which is unusual in machine stitched textile art as a free-machined straight stitch is more common.

Laetitzia Campbell - Bright Night Sun, 2025
Machine and hand-embroidery on cotton
Cotton & polyester thread

The David Parr House is a typical Cambridge terraced house with an amazing hand-painted interior. It was home to the Victorian working-class artist David Parr and his family for over 125 years. As a rare survival of Arts and Crafts workmanship in a modest domestic setting,  it is well worth a visit. The David Parr House is a short walk from Cambridge main station (15 minutes) and is just off Mill Road on Gwydir Street.  Sustenance is available at the very pleasant Hot Numbers cafe on Gwydir Street or any number of places on Mill Road including Mill Mediterranean Coffee Spot.

Mill Mediterranean Coffee Spot

You can visit the exhibition and the shop anytime from Wednesday to Saturday, 10am to 5pm but if you want to visit the house, which is very interesting, you have to book a timed ticket (Thursday to Saturday).

Thread - Sarah Myerscough Gallery, London

Wycliffe Stutchbury - Shore Road (detail), 2025
Salvaged western red cedar shingles on cotton twill

 

At the Sarah Myerscough Gallery in London, we are told that this is an exhibition of contemporary woven work but I think the title "Thread" sums it up better. Nineteen international artists show their work here deriving their "thread" from recycled rubber, roots, flax, feathers, cotton, raffia, reeds and more.  On until the 16 May this exhibition is definitely worth a look.  Here are some of my favourites...

Wycliffe Stutchbury - Shore Road (detail), 2025
Salvaged western red cedar shingles on cotton twill

I loved the variation in colours, shapes and textures of Stutchbury's piece

Diana Scherer - Apical #6, 2025
Plant root textile and jute

Diana Scherer's work is fascinating.  She develops her root textile pieces by growing her plants through specially designed moulds.

Lucy Williams - Where things rest, 2026
Californian pine needles, lapping cane, dried seaweed, mixed leaves, wood, linen, cotton mixed seeds and flax thread

Lucy Williams' small scale forms were quite a contrast to a lot of the large scale work on show.  I wanted to pick them up and examine them.

Patrick Bongoy - In the Wind, 2026
Rubber inner tubing, valves on board

Patrick Bongoy's pieces had a certain amount of drama and looked like creatures about to approach. They are created from strips of recycled inner tubing braided, woven and stitched.

Taylor Kibby -Double Skin 14, 2025 
Terracotta, embroidery thread, steel wire and glass beads

I was amazed to discover that Kibby's pieces, which looked like knitting from a distance, were actually made of terracotta.

Aude Franjou - Forest Nests
Sculpted linen dyed in shades of green

Franjou's linen fibre, wrapped in linen twine, looked like sinuous root forms and were indeed intended to look like plant forms.

Ann Coddington - Constellation, Set 1, 2025
Mixed Fibres

Coddington uses a number of techniques to make her basket-like forms, some of which resemble parts of the body

Annette Mills - Both Sides Now, 2026,
Jute, willow bark, waxed twine & raffia,
Enclosed 3, 2025
Willow, willow bark, daffodil leaf, linen, jute, raffia & cane
 Enclosed 2, 2025
Willow, daffodil leaf and cane

Mills densely layers her plant materials using basketry techniques

Lin Fanglu - She's Hill No 2, 2023
Cotton cloth and cotton thread

Lin Fanglu, winner of the 2021 Loewe prize, has gathered, wrapped and sculpted her cloth into a varied series of forms.  Everytime you look you see something new.

The Sarah Myerscough Gallery is at 18 Balderton Street, London which is not far from Selfridges.  It doesn't have a typical gallery front - you can't see the work from the street.  You have to ring a doorbell and be buzzed in.  Don't let this put you off.

Textile Art Redefined - Saatchi Gallery London

Ian Berry - The Secret Garden, 2026
Denim on denim

 

On until 10 May 2026, Textile Art Redefined is a free, one room, textile art exhibition at the Saatchi Gallery in London.  It's curated by Helen Adams (@textilecurator), author of Fine Art Textiles: Conversations with Artists Creating by Hand.  Adams is a great advocate for contemporary textile art.

Ian Berry - The Secret Garden, 2026

The exhibition showcases the work of over a dozen international textile artists. Here are some of my favourite pieces.  Most striking when you walk in, is Ian Berry's denim collage, The Secret Garden, which occupies one whole wall.  Up close it's fascinating, with more to see everytime you look.  It makes great use of the tonal variations of denim using both the front and back to give even greater variety. Looking carefully you can see the layers of denim collaged together.

Chiachio & Giannone - Conversacion sobre arte, 2022
Hand embroidered with cotton threads on toile de Jouy, quilt

I particularly liked Conversacion sobre arte, 2022 by Chiachio & Giannone more for the sum of the parts than the overall composition.

Chiachio & Giannone - Conversacion sobre arte (detail), 2022

Jenni Dutton -  Then a Moment Later She Smiled
Dementia Darnings  series, 2017
Fine wools sewn through bobbinet

Jenni Dutton's portrait of her mother during the progression of her dementia is both wonderful - so realistic, and incredibly sad.  I have seen the Dementia Darnings before and find them almost too difficult to look at.

Magda Sayeg - The Machine Gun, 2017
Replica of a Bushmaster XM15-E2S, acrylic mix triple worsted yarn, vintage children's sweaters
& Yoga Balls, 2025
Acrylic yarn , inflated PVC ball

I must include Magda Sayeg who set the world yarnstorming (knitted & crocheted graffiti), including me, after which I embarked on several successful commmunity art yarnstorming projects.

Simone Pheulpin - Lune de Bois ll, Croissance Series, 2025
Cotton folds & pins

I think Simone Pheulpin's piece looks just like a tree trunk cross section and must have taken hours as it is held together with pins.

Deniz Kurdak - Dysregulated, 2026
Polyester thread on duck canvas

This was a beautiful piece of machine embroidery by Deniz Kurdak.

Anne Von Freyburg - In Flight Mode (after Fragonard, The Swing), 2021
Textile wall installation painting: acrylic ink, synthetic fabrics, PVC fabric, tapestry fabric, sequin fabrics, hand embroidery, polyester wadding, and hand dyed tassel fringes on canvas

This enormous, colourful & clever piece would have benefitted from a picture of Fragonard's The Swing for reference.  You can see a picture of it here.

Other work on show included a great text piece by Sara Impey, tulle portraits by Benjamin Shine, colourful pieces by Signe Emdal, Kaffe Fasset & Kenny Nguyen.  Pieces by Caroline Burgess & Jakkai Siributr are also present.

The Saatchi Gallery has a number of exhibitions showing.  Some are free, some not.  There are lots of coffee shops and restaurants close by.  You can find the gallery on the King's Road, a short walk from Sloane Square tube.  You've still time to go see this exhibition and it's well worth going.

On a wall on the King's Road
Fashion is not frivolous it is part of being alive today - Mary Quant

Chiharu Shiota & Yin Xiuzhen at the Hayward Gallery - London

Chiharu Shiota - Threads of Life

 

Two exhibitions on at the Hayward Gallery in London, until 3 May 2026, are Chiharu Shiota - Threads of Life, and Yin Xiuzhen - Heart to Heart.  Both feature large scale immersive textile installations.  Shiota draws on her own experiences and engulfs everyday objects in webs of wool to express universal human concerns. Yin Xiuzhen is renowned for her use of secondhand clothing, concrete, food and household ephemera in her sculptures to express ideas about the individual, society and memory.

Chiharu Shiota - Threads of Life

One of the things that intrigues me about such exhibitions is how they were installed.  So - Threads of Life (pictured above) took 10 people (five from the Hayward Installation Team and five from Chiharu Shiota's Studio) 12 days to install and the gallery attendant thought there were 4000 keys.  Apparently Shiota's team bring the top layer of threads from which everything else hangs.  I don't know whether Shiota oversaw the installation.  Threads of Life features red wool, a double door & keys.  Shiota believes that people are connected  by an invisible thread which she represents here with red wool. The keys represent both the security of locking the door to your home but also the possibility of opening doors to new possibilities.

Chiharu Shiota - State of Being (Dress)

Shiota uses found objects in her work that she comes across in her daily life.  She tells us that clothes carry memories and traces of the wearer and, for example, even without the wearer's presence, the dress above represents a state of being.  A web of threads fills the surrounding space.  When Shiota can no longer see where a single thread leads she considers the work complete.

Chiharu Shiota - Letters of Thanks

Letters of Thanks contains within it letters of gratitude and thanks that members of the public had left at the gallery. A collecting box for these was at the gallery entrance and letters could still be left.  Shiota thinks it is sometimes easier to write a letter of thanks than to say it.  Letters have been collected from around the world where iterations of this installation have already been exhibited.

Chiharu Shiota - During Sleep

When Shiota first moved to Germany she lived in several different places and would wake up disorientated and wonder where she was.  She began weaving yarn around herself to create her own cocoon. This idea is developed here in During Sleep. At certain times during the exhibition performers sleep in the beds.  Shiota likes the traces of existence they leave - crumpled sheets and dented pillows.  It's hard to imagine how they actually get through the threads to the beds though. 

Yin Xiuzhen - Heart to Heart

Yin Xiuzhen - International Flight & Portable Cities

International Flight & Portable Cities are exhibited as a baggage reclaim complete with a plane above. The suitcases are spilling open on the conveyor belt.  Each contains a different city that Yin Xiuzhen has visited.  The used clothing that is stitched into these cites was collected from inhabitants of those cities.

Yin Xiuzhen - A Heart to Heart

Unlike Portable Cities which have been shrunken to fit in suitcases, A Heart to Heart has been enlarged so you can walk and sit inside it.  Yin Xiuzhen hopes it will inspire people to have meaningful conversations.

Yin Xiuzhen - Wall Instrument No. 17

Yin Xiuzhen traps unusual materials in a ceramic base.  Here, in Wall Instrument No. 17, fabric and buttons emerge from the porcelain like flaws and fractures.  She sees this as representing the changing landscape of her home city of Beijing and also the tensions between society and the individual.

Yin Xiuzhen - Collective Subconscious

Collective Subconscious is a minibus that has been elongated with textile sections giving a caterpillar-like appearance.  Because it is constructed from clothing from 400 people, all with different experiences, Yin Xiuzhen sees it as a collective subconscious.  Inside, the colours of the clothing give a stained glass type of light.  A song by Wang Feng - Beijing, Beijing - is playing inside the minibus.  It reflects Chinese people's complicated relationship to a changing Beijing.  She sees this as a spiritual place.

These are fascinating exhibitions that are well worth a visit - go see...

New Fabric Necklaces Arrive at cambridge contemporary crafts

Hippystitch Fabric Necklaces

 

A whole new batch of Hippystitch fabric necklaces have now arrived at cambridge contemporary crafts (ccc) in Bene't Street, Cambridge.  There are lots of luscious Liberty prints in soft Tana Lawn cotton...

Hippystitch Fabric Necklaces

There's quite a colourful selection so you should be able to find one that's perfect for a present or a treat for yourself...

Hippystitch Fabric Necklaces

As well as jewellery, ccc have ceramics, prints and paper, sculptures, glass, textiles and cards. Find them at 5 Bene't Street, Cambridge, CB2 3QN.  Definitely worth a visit.