Kathryn Sanders is our second Future Tutor Graduate who shares her RSN journey with us.  Kathryn completed the Certificate at RSN Scotland whilst working as a Mechanical Engineer, then decided to ‘turn her life upside down’ focusing on embroidery full time.

“I have been stitching for as long as I can remember. Like many, I learned a few basic surface stitches as a child by making a sampler.  Stitching continued to be a hobby for many years, providing a welcome change from my daily office job as a Mechanical Engineer.

In 2015, I decided to learn a new skill, which was when I discovered that the RSN ran classes in Glasgow, Scotland, my home city at the time. I had often wanted to branch out from the pixilated designs of Cross Stitch, but had never known where to start.

Having no notion about the vast number of embroidery techniques or their characteristics, I really just wanted to give any of them a go! So I signed up for a Goldwork Day Class and I spent a wonderful day learning, surrounded by others who shared my joy and interest. One day, one class and I was hooked!

I did one more Day Class before enrolling on the RSN Certificate in Technical Hand Embroidery course. I felt like a kid in a sweet shop!  Each class quickly became the highlight of my month and I longed to get home from the office to do my embroidery homework.

At the start of 2018, I had almost completed the Certificate course and was starting to think about what to do next. That was when RSN Tutor Helen McCook, who teaches at RSN Scotland, suggested I might like to look into the Future Tutors Programme. There followed a number of nervous, hesitant and excited weeks as I thought about turning my whole life upside down and focusing on embroidery full time. And that’s exactly what I did!

Well, the Future Tutors Programme is not for the faint hearted. It is a truly intense learning experience and I have found myself completely immersed in the world of embroidery for the past three years. Every technique has taught me something new and has its individual challenges, and each new piece has its own character, which revealed itself as it grew.

My final year was spent working in the RSN Embroidery Studio, giving me a tantalising glimpse into the commercial world of the professional embroiderer. It has been a privilege to see, handle and care for a variety of extraordinary embroideries, both historic and modern.

It is with a somewhat strange feeling that I find myself at the end of the course; a mixture of joy and achievement at all I have accomplished; of excitement and anticipation about all my plans for the future. I am currently working on a series of introductory kits which I hope will persuade people to pick up a needle for the first time or maybe try a new technique. My goal for the coming years is to encourage more people to experience the joy of designing and creating their own embroideries; knowing that, as more people find inspiration in embroidery, the techniques will also continue to thrive.”

You can follow Kathryn through her Instagram account.  We wish Kathryn the best of luck on her new chapter of life!  LINK:

More Information on the Future Tutors Programme