Lis Binns
Creative textiles
My mother taught needlework and would often make her own clothes. When she was busy sewing she’d give me fabric, a needle and thread and encourage me to try different embroidery stitches or, when I was older, she gave me the scraps from her project and I would use a hand Singer to make dolls clothes. Whilst at school I would make my school uniforms and always had some sewing on the go, usually embroidery.
Although I was an engineer for 4 years before I retrained as a teacher (maths, science, and I.T.), I sewed for my own pleasure including cross stitch, dressmaking, and soft furnishings like curtains and cushions. I was also an out-worker for a blackwork designer – I stitched samples that would be displayed in shops.
In 2006 I started patchwork and quilting; prior to this I had always wondered why you’d cut up fabric to then sew it back together! In September 2008, I took a year-long class in Advanced Patchwork and Quilting, followed by gaining the City and Guild Certificate in Patchwork and Quilting in 2012 and the Diploma in 2018.
I started giving talks and teaching classes at local groups in 2012 and taught several monthly classes at Inspirations, Preston from 2013 and at Creative Threads Studio, Garstang from 2019 – both sets of classes stopped due to Covid and Inspirations closed in April 2022. In 2019, I also started working for Wonderfil (a specialist thread company based in Canada) and I give talks and workshops for them too. In 2021, I started teaching at retreats at Higham Hall in Cumbria.
I enjoy all aspects of patchwork and quilting from traditional to contemporary, from piecing to quilting. I am an active member of the Quilters’ Guild and am on the regional committee having been an area rep (twice) and the website editor, and I am on the committee for Quiltfest which is an exhibition held in Llangollen in February each year. I helped run the Guild AGM in Llandudno in 2016 and, as well as acting as a steward, I have been a Quilt Angel (hanging the quilts) at Festival of Quilts and I have helped with the paperwork for the judges. I taught workshops at the Festival of Quilts in 2021.
I usually teach workshops for specific projects, but I also particularly enjoy the challenge of helping people who bring their own projects.
Lis Binns 