Sew What?

In this episode, Isabella interviews Hannah Sutherland, ACR, Senior Textile Conservator at the Victoria and Albert Museum. The two discuss what is involved in conservation, knitted masterpieces, and the exhibition Marie Antoinette Style.Images and sources are available at @sewwhatpodcast on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. The podcast has a website, sewwhatpodcast.com.You can find Hannah on Instagram at Instagram.com/hannahjoycetextiles. You can find her Textile History article at https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00404969.2025.2505489. 

In this episode, Isabella interviews Shilei Zeng, Assistant Curator of China at the Victoria and Albert Museum and final year PhD student at King's College London. The two discuss Shilei's research into the use of Chinese textiles in 18th-century Britain and beyond.Images and sources are available at @sewwhatpodcast on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. The podcast has a website, sewwhatpodcast.com.You can find Shilei on Instagram at Instagram.com/fashioneastandwest.

In this episode, Isabella interviews Micah Clasper-Torch, an artist, designer, and educator whose work is centred around the traditional craft of punch needle rug hooking. The two talk about the history and use of punch needle in all of its forms. Images and sources are available at @sewwhatpodcast on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. The podcast has a website, sewwhatpodcast.com.You can find Micah on Instagram @claspertorch and @punchneedle.world. Her websites are https://www.punchneedleworld.com/ and https://www.micahclasper-torch.com/. Her book, Punch Needle Fashion, is out now.

In this episode, Isabella interviews Ruth Battersby, Senior Curator of Costume and Textiles at Norfolk Museums Service. The two talk about the embroidery of Lorina Bulwer, a Victorian woman institutionalised in the Great Yarmouth Workhouse who spent her days embroidering vibrant, angry, and extremely long biographical scrolls.Images and sources are available at @sewwhatpodcast on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. The podcast has a website, sewwhatpodcast.com.

In this episode, Isabella interviews Alexis Penny Casdagli, the daughter of Major A.T. Casdagli, an Anglo-Greek spy famous for embroidering subversive needlework during his time in German POW camps in WWII. Images and sources are available at @sewwhatpodcast on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. The podcast has a website, sewwhatpodcast.com.You can read Major A.T. Casdagli's wartime diary, Prouder Than Ever, through Cylix Press here: https://www.cylixpress.co.uk/. Also be sure to check out Alexis Penny's blog here: https://www.cylixpress.co.uk/alexis-pennys-blog/.As a note, the Greek Civil War is mentioned in this episode as being in 1948. The Greek Civil War took place from 1946 to 1949.