Our People - Textile Artists and Tutors

Above all things, we are teachers at the School of Stitched Textiles. Our textile tutors have a mission, and that is to impart knowledge and facilitate success and creativity. We are innovators in the field of distance learning alongside our roles as designers, embroidery artists, creatives, researchers, and master practitioners who combine to support, lead and encourage. Find out more about our textile artists below, or discover our City & Guilds textile courses online.

Gail Cowley

Gail is Head of Centre and a Technology Enhanced Learning Specialist. She has numerous City & Guilds qualifications, Teaching Certificate in Adult and Further Education, BTEC Diploma in Art & Design, Bachelor of Design (Hons) specialising in design for Textiles & Metal, Post Grad Cert in Education, MA in Education and a PhD in Education. Her interests are particularly in graphics & computer aided design. Gail enjoys gardening, walking and Hatha yoga in her free time.

Karen Quickfall

Karen completed her City & Guilds Level 3 and Diploma in Embroidery with the School of Stitched Textiles a number of years ago. Since then, she has specialised in Stumpwork, Needle Lace and Ruskin Lace – a type of embroidered lace crossing Needle Lace and Counted Thread work – indigenous to the Lake District in the north of England. Karen loves the outdoors and is a keen orienteer; attending and taking part in many of the UK events.

Sally Hart

Sally has been knitting and crocheting for over 30 years and is a complete yarn addict. She spends all her free time on yarny pursuits and planning the next project. Sally spent two years knitting and crocheting for Stylecraft before working in her local yarn shop, where she loves helping customers to plan their next project as well as giving help solving knitting and crochet problems. Sally’s previous career in education included the development and delivery of online training as well as online assessment.

Deborah Jarvis

Deborah completed her City & Guilds Patchwork and Quilting Diploma whilst living abroad and has been an avid lover of knitting, crochet, sewing and all things crafts related for most of her life. She works teaching crochet and accounting classes in her local area and enjoys teaching and exploring new textile methods. Having spent most of her working life in finance she now feels more able to dedicate her time to her crafty passions and particularly enjoys dyeing and recycling fabrics into something new and useable. She is also a member of her local quilting and embroidery guilds.

Mistianne Guzman

Mistianne is a new arrival to England, having moved from the United States. She has completed her City & Guilds SS4 in Patchwork and Quilting with the School of Stitched Textiles. Over the years she has found she loves textiles, quilting, crocheting, and becoming a professional ballet tutu maker. She has also taught numerous courses and classes. She owns her own online store, The Stray Bobbin, as well as enters quilt contests when she can. In her spare time, she loves to go on long walks, take pictures, and go fabric hunting. Her favourite type of quilting is anything by hand.

Samantha Jones

Sam has taught fashion and textiles in FE colleges for over 25 years and is a self-certified fabric and thread enthusiast. She has a Degree in Textiles, a Post Graduate Certificate in Education along with a City & Guilds Certificate in Machine Embroidery. Sam enjoys experimenting with a variety of media and is currently exploring eco-printing and indigo dyeing. She is a member of Phoenix Contemporary Textiles, the Contemporary Quilt Group of the Quilters Guild and Thames Valley Contemporary Textiles. Sam is also a keen gardener.

Victoria Merness

Victoria is a qualified artist and educator, holding an MA in Contemporary Fine Art and a Masters-level PGCE in Art and Creative Practice. Since 2021, she has been teaching through her own creative business, Little House of Victoria, where she shares her passion for textiles and storytelling. Her work sits within the Folk Art tradition, often inspired by vintage photography and personal narratives. Combining embroidery with mixed media, Victoria brings together printmaking, painting and drawing to create richly layered textile pieces. Based at Woodend Mill in Mossley, a historic cotton mill nestled in the Saddleworth hills near Manchester, her practice is deeply connected to the heritage of textiles and place. You can hear Victoria Merness talking about her career over on our podcast episode.

Anniken Allis

Anniken Allis grew up in Norway, where she learnt to knit as a young child and began designing her own patterns as a teenager. Now based in the UK, she has been designing and teaching knitting workshops since 2006. Her work spans lace, colourwork and brioche, and she has published two books, Beaded Lace Knitting and Easy Lace Knits, with designs featured in publications including Vogue Knitting, The Knitter and Simply Knitting, as well as in collections for British and international yarn companies. Anniken is known for her patience as a teacher and her commitment to helping knitters build both technical skill and creative confidence.

Sarah Hatton

Sarah Hatton studied Fashion Design at Bretton Hall College, University of Leeds, and on graduating was offered her first role as a designer with a hand knit company, where she developed her expertise in knitting, pattern writing and design. She has worked exclusively within the hand knitting industry ever since, both with well-known pattern houses and as an independent designer. Sarah’s work is rooted in garment shape and construction, and she specialises in cables, texture and lace, typically working with a single colour to let the structure of the knitting take centre stage.