Soulful Stitch: Finding Creativity in Crisis, Cas Holmes and Deena Beverley

Soulful Stitch is a tender, meditative exploration of textile-making as a form of healing and resistance in times of upheaval. British textile artists Cas Holmes and Deena Beverley collaborate for the first time, weaving personal narratives of grief, isolation and transformation through richly textured stitch-based artworks. The book invites readers into quiet acts of creativity—collaging fabric scraps, using found threads, reworking personal ephemera—that reflect on life’s fragility while affirming the quiet power of making.

Far more than a technique manual, the volume is both manifesto and companion. The authors share practical strategies—drawing on real limitations—to nurture creativity during crisis, as well as poignant reflections on collaboration, resilience and aesthetic presence. Each page balances thoughtful essays with richly evocative images of stitched artworks, encouraging makers to embrace imperfection, memory and emotional truth through cloth.

About the Author
Cas Holmes is a celebrated UK textile artist and educator, based in Kent; her textile practice—often described as “painting with cloth”—emerges from a deep engagement with place, sustainability and memory through mixed media and stitch. Her past publications include Textile Landscape, Stitch Stories and Connected Cloth.

Deena Beverley is a Wiltshire-based textile artist and writer, known for her explorations of slow stitching, mending culture, and material storytelling. As an award-winning embroiderer and contributor to Embroidery magazine, her work often focuses on the everyday as a source of artistic potential.

Publication date: 2024
Publisher: Batsford
Pages: 128
ISBN: 9781849949187