With a wealth of fresh content, the May/June issue of Embroidery magazine is brimming over with uplifting and thought-provoking stories. Our cover feature, part two of Stitch in Strange Places, showcases artists for whom the ‘canvas’ has been replaced with everything from leaves and aluminium drinks cans to a £5 note and a vintage fish knife. This necessitates thinking outside the frame, with ingenious approaches to materials, tools and methods, resulting in innovative artworks.

Elsewhere, see the exuberant and joyous designs of the Collier Campbell sisters, and meet an Australian artist practising eco-conscious ‘upholstery art’, who revolutionised her life and business when she learned how many plastic toothbrushes go to landfill. ‘Couture critters’ are the topic of Rachel Gooden of Stitch and Bone, whose intricate stumpwork and embellishment takes anywhere from 40 to 120 hours for each piece. Minute worlds can also be discovered in our in-depth dive into Sew Dainty: The Art of Tiny Stitches, the Embroiderers’ Guild exhibition drawn from their collection. The gigantic gets a look-in too, with Ema Shin’s enormous 2.7-metre tall heart, a commission at the centre of the 25th Biennale of Sydney. Profiles of exciting Fresh Talent artist Laetitzia Campbell and of Manya Goldman’s practice look at memory and the passing of time, while Offbeat Artist features young Royal School of Needlework graduate Gwyneth Melling, who has let her imagination run free to create left-of-field embroideries. In The Sewing Room we step inside Cas Holmes’ two work rooms, while a duo of absorbing First Person features come courtesy of Michala Gyetvai and multi-award-winning artist Ruth Harries. There’s plenty more, with previews of London Craft Week and Fringe Arts Bath, the winners of NEA 2026, out and about ideas, news, Take 5 Books, reviews and what’s on listings. Enjoy!