Q and A with Textile Designer, Sarah-Jane Hocking

We spoke with Sarah-Jane Hocking, whose Textile Design work is showcased on http://www.londonpropertymakeover.com/.

Why did you decide to specialise in your chosen subject at university?

The BA Textile Crafts course at Huddersfield seemed right for me. During the first year of the course, all students study each specialism area: embroidery, print, knit and weave, for five weeks and then you decided your degree specialism. From day one, I thought I would choose embroidery and my five-week tasters of each specialism confirmed this.

What inspired your love of embroidery?

I’ve been sewing from a very young age. My mother used to make clothes for us both when I was younger which I thought was wonderful and I would make clothes for my dolls. The embroidery however, I’m not really sure where that came from to be honest. I did a lot of cross-stitch when I was younger as I watched my Auntie cross-stich. The creative embroidery came about during my A Levels though and progressed throughout university.

Where do you get new ideas?

I draw most of my inspiration from nature. The Country Park near my home in Lancashire has been a huge inspiration to me and has been the starting point to a number of my college and university projects. I enjoy texture and form so my influences are not always identifiable. I was extremely lucky to go on two London visits with university, which included a visit to the Herbarium at Kew Gardens to study and draw from the enormous catalogue of plant species. I hope to produce a collection purely based on these drawings in the future.

How long does it take you to create a new piece?

It is difficult to define how long it takes. Some of my work is quite simple and quick whilst others are more detailed and time-consuming. At the beginning of a new body of work, I might spend three of or four days drawing and photographing, another couple of days developing these initial drawings and then begin the embroidery. I also dye all my own fabrics so this takes some time. During my degree, I spent weeks developing a collection of dye swatches, which I am still working from now. On average, the cushions, which are available for purchase from London Property Makeover, take about four hours.

Which designers do you love?I absolutely love Claire Coles’ and Catherine Hammerton’s work.  They both create beautiful wallpapers.

Whilst studying for my degree we were supposed to look at designers whose style we liked but as I progressed through my degree I found I was doing this less and less, for fear I may subconsciously work too closely. It means I know my work is 100% my own.

What's the best advice you've ever been given?

Don’t strive for perfection. Learn to be loose and free. And to explore dyeing.



If my final year tutor sees this she will laugh! I am a perfectionist by nature, or was should I say. Mid-way through my second year at university I learnt to be freer and work in a slightly less controlled manner, this was when my work took a turn for the better and I found my own creative identity. It was a battle to begin with, forcing myself to draw larger scale, plan a little less and work with imperfections to make them a feature. Well, it turned out all right in the end; my final degree show collection, ‘Mapping Nature’ is my proudest achievement and it is full of imperfections, free-ness, loose-ness and a LOT of dyeing.


What would you like to be designing in the future?

I would love to have a wider body of interiors products including large-scale embroideries for wall features. I am also currently taking an evening course in soft furnishing with the hope of adding curtains and roman blinds to my repertoire once I’ve had some practice. I have also considered fabrics for upholstery. Having said that, I wouldn’t be able to produce all of that myself so I may need to explore other means of production.





Contact Details:
E-mail: sarah-jane.h@hotmail.co.uk
Phone: 07971701271
Blog: sarah-janehocking-eyeoftheneedle.blogspot.com/
E-Portfolio: www.wix.com/sarahjanehocking/portfolio
Facebook: Sarah-Jane Hocking Embroidery
Twitter: @sarahjane_h