Jo hand embroiders intricately stitched floral artworks featuring meadows and garden scenes on watercolour painted backgrounds.
Jo combines her watercolour painted backgrounds with layers of threads and ribbons to add texture and create depth to her embroideries. Her aim is for the observer to see the flowers first, then on closer inspection to discover the stitches.
Alongside Jo’s original framed artworks, Jo has developed a range of embroidery kits inspired by her original pieces. She also has a book ‘Where Meadows & Gardens Grow’ and a range of greeting cards
Who or what inspires you and your products?
Jo’s love of flowers radiates from how she captures them with thread in her own impressionistic style of embroidery. From creating the feeling of sitting in a meadow on a summer’s day to the colourful combination of a flower border in full bloom.
Jo is inspired by the gardens and flowers at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show and has exhibited her work there for the last two years.
Creating embroidery kits enables her to share her love and style of embroidery with those who stitch or want to learn.
How did you start your business?
Jo started embroidering after the loss of her first daughter in 2000. It was a therapy giving her empty hands something to do and a creative outlet to occupy her head.
She’d always been creative and discovered the love of sewing in all its forms as a teenager, going on to work as a fashion designer/pattern cutter.
Then in 2011 Country Living featured the ‘Kitchen Table Talent Awards’ competition. Jo won the craft section; this was the start of believing she could make a business from what she loved to do. The following March she had a table for a day at the CL Spring Fair and from that success left her job and booked a stall at the 2012 CL Christmas Fair, where she has continued to exhibit for many years since.
How did you choose the name of your business?
Jo Butcher Embroidery Artist – keep it simple!
What do you enjoy most about the creative process?
Jo is always observing flowers, analysing their colour and their form. Working out which shade of thread and which stitch to use to best portray them.
With her pieces she will first make a watercolour sketch to capture colours and composition before painting her cotton or silk background and choosing her thread colours.
Combining her love of flowers and embroidery is a calming and creative art.
What is the biggest challenge you've faced as a small business owner?
Juggling the many hats of running a business, from the admin, marketing emails and social media and then balancing that with creating.
As she can spend many hours stitching a project, sometimes getting the work/life balance is tricky, but she loves what she does and has been known to stitch whilst catching up with friends.
What is your hero product or one that means the most to you and why?
Can anything beat the feeling of meeting a customer who instantly falls in love with an original creation?
Each embroidered picture is a one of kind original, and comes with a lot of love stitched into it. Immediately becoming the “diamond of the season” or the hero product. To unite that artwork with the perfect customer and their emotional connection to it, is such an honour.
But there are only so many heroes to go around, which led to the development of the embroidery craft kits. Now, stitchers across the world can get joy from embroidering and re-creating Jo’s impressionistic style and find their own bliss.
What does a typical working day look like?
Mornings are usually taken up with admin and packing orders.
Followed by her walk to the Post Office, which usually involves looking at the plants and grasses for inspiration along the way!
Afternoons are spent stitching, which usually continues into the evening under her daylight lamp.
What tip (or tips) would you give anyone looking to start a small creative business?
Having a unique product is essential in today’s market. Then meet your customers, grow slowly, develop, listen and learn.
Find a small business group to join, where you can learn and share each other’s highs and lows.
Shop Jo Butcher Embroidery at the Country Living Christmas Market this November for a thoughtful gift this Christmas!