Based in the heart of the New Forest, Chrissie has stitched since  she was a child. She gained an MA in Conservation and Restoration of the Decorative Arts, which was followed by training at the Royal School of Needlework, Hampton Court Palace as a specialist in the historical art of hand embroidery. She graduated from the Future Tutors Programme with a distinction and now regularly works as a tutor for the RSN.

Chrissie also works as a freelance embroiderer and tutor all over the country and abroad, creating her own designs for kits and running workshops and holidays with a variety of organisations. She has also developed a wonderful online community of stitchers teaching regular Zoom classes with students all around the world. Chrissie has also published two books ’50 Blackwork Patterns: Book 1 & Book 2’, which have been very positively received and are available to purchase in various countries.

As well as teaching, Chrissie is keen to develop her own personal portfolio of work and has been recognised for her work in a variety of ways. In 2017, she won a church kneeler design competition for the Worshipful Company of Broderers, whereby my design was made up into a kneeler and presented to St. Olave’s Church, Hart Street, London. In 2018, she won the category for Raised Embroidery in an internationally prestigious competition, run in conjunction with Inspirations Magazine and the Beat Around the Bush convention. In 2022, her work ‘Bottled Curiosity’ was included in the exhibition ‘The Art of Embroidery’ for the Worshipful Company of Broderers at the Bankside Gallery in London. In 2023, Chrissie won third place for her hand embroidered Blackwork portrait ‘Ayanna’ with the internationally renowned Mr. X Stitch Competition. And presently, her embroidered stumpwork box, ‘An English Sonnet’, is on display at Parham House & Gardens for their 2024 season.

Chrissie’s personal aim is to encourage the art of hand embroidery making it accessible to all whilst fulfilling her own potential by capturing nature and the beauty of the world around us with her humble needle and thread.