About

Travelling workshops run by Kim Searle. All my workshops are based on encouraging sustainability, building community and supporting attendees well-being. I mostly work across West Yorkshire, South Devon, Dorset and Hampshire and the surrounding areas, but willing to travel. I also runs workshops at festivals, art events and community days.

I am passionate about ensuring craft sessions are accessible to all, providing discounts on most courses for people on low/no incomes, seeking out venues that are wheelchair accessible and ensuring that workshops are calming with more of an emphasis on enjoyment and new skills over perfection.

I run a wide range of activities, including Visible Mending, Punch Needle, Jesmonite Plant Pots, Macrame, Marbling, Book Binding, Upcycling, Rag Rugging, Batik, Locker Hooking, Pom Pom Making, Paper Making, Kumihimo Braiding, Lino Cutting and Printing and lots more. They can be tailored to all different age groups, and can be altered to fit different events and themes, as well as different run times depending on schedules.

Workshops are run with a relaxed, informal and inclusive atmosphere, letting people go at their own pace. Materials, guidance and technical assistance are provided but everyone is encouraged to push their own creativity, and most of all have a good time!

I have partnered with lots of different venues and groups including the Biscuit Factory in Newcastle, RHS Bridgewater, Overbecks and Nostell Priory for the National Trust, the Walled Garden at Hawarden Estate, North Yorks Art School, Sunnybank Mills, Lucy and Yak, Frank & Olive’s Crochet Retreat, Holmfirth ArtWeek, Towneley Hall in Burnley, various different Women’s Institute groups and lots more. I also run workshops at festivals including Glastonbury, Green Man, End of the Road, Underneath the Stars, Deershed, Wychwood Cornbury, Greenbelt, Just So, Beacons, FarmFest, BeatHerder and more. I work at numerous Textile shows including the Knit & Stitch Show, Creative Craft Show, the Stitch Festival and the Festival of Quilts.

I work with a wide range of charities including Support to Recovery (where I work part time), Aspire Creating Communities, Mermaids, The Sanctuary Clothing Project, the Change Project and more.

Over lockdown I quickly pivoted to working online providing zoom and facebook live sessions for Frill and Flounce, Support to Recovery, the Virtual Village Hall, Hampshire Cultural Trust, Leeds Art University Union, the Teenage Cancer Trust and a one off sessions. These often included accompanying kits so that people could craft along at the same time, or a list of easy to find materials to work with. I also relearnt how to film and edit video and provided pre recorded workshops for Support to Recovery, Woven in Kirklees, the Change Project and a few for my own youtube channel.

I co-founded sustainable textile Community Interest Company Thread Republic, alongside Holly Carr and Julia Roebuck. This is a Kirklees affiliate of Totnes based Mend Assembly, alongside Isle of Wight affiliate Stitch Department. We have a shared goal of creating circular textile economies and creating community through creativity.

I work alongside Woven in Kirklees- in the 2020 festival I was part of coordinating thousands of craft kits to be delivered to disadvantaged children in Kirklees as well as working with the Big Rainbow knit and creating a large scale piece of macrame. This can now be seen at Hive Community Cafe in Huddersfield. I also coordinated piecing together a collaborative butterfly piece with woven and felted pieces from local school children around Batley. This was displayed at Batley Train station as a sister piece to the

I studied BA (Hons) Textile Crafts at the University of Huddersfield, specialising in textile printing. I’ve also studied weaving, felting, bookbinding, dark room photography and fine art printing at L'Ecole des Beaux Artes at Besancon, The Academy of Design in Kuopio and Leeds University, as well as studying a range of creative techniques on a foundation course at UcCA Canterbury.

Artists CV:

-Workshop Leader and business owner at Darn It! Workshops 2013-Present

Planning, advertising, delivering and coordinating workshops for a wide range of audiences.

-Co-founder, Director and Studio Manager of Thread Republic

-I organise our workshop program at our Huddersfield Textile Reuse Hub planning a varied series of sustainable textile workshops from a range of practitioners. I also help update our website and social media and work in our hub on a regular basis alongside our team of volunteers sorting donations, prepping materials and running the shop.

-I set up Sew Queer, a monthly stitch social for the LGBTQIA+ community which has been growing in popularity!

-Woven in Kirklees Artist

-Working as a community artist to bring yarn bombs together and working with community groups on projects bringing together natural dyeing, printing and stitch.,

-Freelancing running workshops at events and celebration days and creating online video content.

-Developing and delivering teachers CPD focusing on how they can integrate textiles into the curriculum.

-Working with schools on stitch based projects.

-Sessional Work at Support to Recovery (S2R)

I run occasional workshops for S2R at our Huddersfield base and out in the community including for Kirklees Libraries, community hubs at schools, community centres and more. I run regular zoom sessions covering sustainable textile crafts and sometimes work on our community allotment.

Our Cultural Heart Festival, 2025

Working with Kirklees Libraries to deliver a series of workshops to engage the public in creativity and conversation around what they would like to see in a new library building and what they value in a library.

Macrame Mandala 2024

Working with artist Ben Thomas to deliver a large scale macrame mandala and ivy leaves displayed at RHS Bridgewater as part of an exhibition

Ragged Life

Running occasional workshops for Ragged Life around Yorkshire.

-Artist at The Change Project 2020

Working with year 3s and 7s at Batley Grammar School on Science themed artwork, including creating at home activities during lockdown. (https://changeproject.co.uk/)

-Co-Founder of The Making Space, Huddersfield

-Workshop Leader at Greenhead Park Art Club 2015-2018

Delivering creative workshops for 5-12 year olds based on Greenhead Park and the changing seasons.

-Screenprinting Assistant Technician at University of Huddersfield 2012-2018

Technical support: mixing dyes and pastes, stripping, cleaning and maintaining silk screens. Helping to prepare material stock over the summer before students return.

-Wedding Stationary Maker at Norma & Dorothy 2014-2016

Hand finishing printed wedding stationery to very high quality with tight deadlines.
Wrapping and packaging the stationery to a high standard.
Hand finishing, packaging and shipping wedding stationery samples.

-Features Writer at Crafty Magazine 2013-2014

-Artist in Residence at the Lawrence Batley Theatre, 2012-2014