Audible Original recording of Pride & Prejudice - public embroidery activation
Audible commissioned a massive 7.5-foot hand embroidery to help celebrate and promote the launch of their new Audible Original recording of Pride & Prejudice. I designed the embroidery utilizing traditional regency era embroidery motifs executed with contemporary embroidery materials and hand stitch variations.
The embroidery was displayed during the Word on the Street Festival in Toronto’s David Pecaut Square.
I also designed an embroidery pattern inspired by Audible’s book cover artwork and included it in an embroidery kit. Everyone who came into the booth got to listen to a sneak peak of the recording and then they could choose to sit at the community hoop and try an embroidery stitch or grab a free kit and sit in the tent and learn from teachers ready to walk them through each step. I also created a series of YoutTube videos that provide step by step instruction for the embroidery kit.
This project took well over 700 hours of hand embroidery labour. I could not have done this alone. I had the help of 14 amazing artist assistants. All were students of mine at some point in my 15-year (and counting) gig as part-time faculty at Sheridan College in the Bachelor of Craft & Design Program. For some of the artist assistants – this was their first time working on a commission of this scale, for others, who have art careers of their own, it was a chance to sit and connect again while stitching.
Each year, the Word on the Street Festival host hundreds of author readings for visitors of all ages and a vibrant marketplace featuring the best selection of books and magazines in Canada. A massive vaulted booth presented a unique embroidery experience for visitors to the festival marketplace in Toronto’s David Pecaut Square. When folks first entered the booth, they could grab a pair of headphones and use the listening stations to hear the trailer of the multicast, immersive dramatization of Pride & Prejudice in atmospheric sound.
The Event:
Thousands of people took photos with the massive hand embroidered mural. I got to pose with them sometimes and take photos of them with their friends and witness them marvel at the multitude of stitches. Many people expressed their long running love of the book and connected to the central quote in the embroidery.
People of all ages sat down at the community embroidery frame and added their own stitches.
The Selfie Moments:
The embroidery pattern and kit that I designed was inspired by Audible’s book cover artwork. The kit included a QR code on the front to a free download of the audio book. Inside the kit there was a pattern, fabric, needle, and coloured floss to complete the embroidery as well as a QR code to step-by-step instructional videos on YouTube.
During the event, skilled embroidery instructors were on hand to assist any visitor who chose to stay and create their embroidery. The embroidery lounge was a great place for festival goers to take a moment and enjoy an atmosphere and artistic pursuit perfectly matched for audio book listeners.
The take away:
Here is a selection of photos that show details of the stitches and motifs included in the large hand embroidery. To get an understanding of the amount of time dedicated to this embroidery – the small pink and yellow circles around the border – of which there are 70 – each took almost an hour to complete.
The Details:
The scale of this project required many hands working all hours of the day to bring this embroidery to life. Audible understood this - and believed that this type of attention to the fine craft of embroidery was important for this project to succeed. I was able to hire many artists to support this project. Often there would be 4 artists embroidering around the custom-built frame at one time. Many of the artists were connected to the Craft & Design program at Sheridan College as faculty, alumni, or students. I rented a 1500 square foot studio in Hamilton Ontario to ensure we had enough space to create the embroidery, store supplies and assemble the thousands of embroidery kits.
Behind the Scenes:
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Because of the size of this work, a custom frame needed to be built. The frame was custom built by Christina Pupo. She is a talented Toronto based woodworker and also the Furniture Studio Technologist at Sheridan College. This frame is inspired by a vintage Mennonite quilting frame and a Luneville embroidery frame and takes some functions from both. If I were to design this frame again, I would certainly make changes but it served its purpose.
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The large hoop frame used to display the work was fabricated by Sean McCormack at Art Aggregate. Sean also teaches with me at Sheridan College in Oakville, Ontario.
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Lead Artist Assistant
Gabbi is an artist who, at the time of writing this, is living and working in the GTA alongside some very dear friends and her cat. Textiles — the materials and techniques, and also all of their devotional labour, and practiced skill — are her medium of choice. She is a lifelong space nerd, fan of things, internet person and craft bastard. She upholds the importance of things being incredibly cool. She takes everything really seriously and believes that if only she is sincere enough, doors will keep opening when she asks them to.
Artist Assistants
I’m an artist drawn to materiality and process, exploring how art can create connections. I work with natural elements and tactile materials, letting the process guide the outcome. Whether through layering, mark-making, or working with raw textures, I’m interested in how materials hold memory and transformation. I approach art with curiosity, always experimenting and allowing space for the unexpected.
Tai is an emerging Textile artist living in the GTA, completing their undergraduate degree at Sheridan College in the Crafts and Design program. Inspired by colours and textures, Tai works in mediums including quilting, stitch, dyeing and weaving. Their current work follows testing and explorations about individual experiences and traumas as a way of sharing within community. Tai enjoys the simplicity of gathering with likeminded individuals, attending craft nights, and cycling with friends. Their hopes and dreams include continuing education through a master's degree and attending residencies within Canada and beyond.
Landon Carletti is a 1st-generation Canadian textile artist with a focus on using scraps of collected fabric/fibres and stitch methods such as mending and patchwork to work sustainably. Being born to El Salvadorian parents, his work explores the idea of intersectionality, fusion, and emotion that he approaches through a lens of culture, both of nationality and of queer identity. Landon's work is characterized by intense texture, bright colours and a playful use of repetition and material. He specializes in Kantha stitch and other hand stitching & mending techniques as well as machine sewing techniques such as free-motion embroidery and patchwork.
Grayson Harvey
Grayson Harvey is a textile designer based in Oakville, Ontario. She has a maximal approach to her practice often using bright colours paired with an assortment of textures, making her aesthetic unique and distinct. Through large scale soft sculpture containing her own text derived from trauma and negative experiences, Grayson strives to achieve self-liberation while encouraging others to be vulnerable.
Morgan Hordyk is a textile artist and surface designer based in Hamilton, Ontario. She creates textile objects and designs that are both playful and sophisticated. Her work is grounded in observation, drawing inspiration from her surroundings—especially geometric forms and tonal colour palettes.
By combining familiar patterns, textures, and colours, Morgan aims to create order through connection. Whether working with natural dyes, patchwork, or digital compositions, her process is guided by curiosity and intuition, resulting in designs that feel comfortable and approachable.Emma Mae Moeller is a textile and collage artist who resides in the heart of Hamilton. She uses sewing thread, acrylic paint, paper, and found materials to craft soft sculptures, weavings, and collages. Her practice reflects her commitment to art that is intuitive, joyful, and deeply connected to the world around her. Whether testing new materials or revisiting familiar forms, Emma’s work continues to surprise and excite her, guided by intuition, and a love for exploration.
Leigh Robinson is a GTA based artist working primarily in textiles. They want to make queer art for other queer people.
Olivia Mae Sinclair is a textile-book artist. Her intuitive and trauma-based practice is guided by sloppy craft and imperfection. She is addicted to infatuation and Redbull. She is a maker of books, love and other grotesque things.
She graduated from OCAD University's Interdisciplinary Master's in Art, Media and Design program. She earned her Bachelor's degree in Craft and Design at Sheridan College. Olivia is a Harbourfront Centre Artist in Residence alumnus.
Typically, books made from fabric are intended for children and infants. Olivia Mae Sinclair’s books, however, are made for lovers, survivors, artists, her, him, them and me.Amara is an emerging textile artist and craftsperson based in the Greater Toronto-Hamilton Area.
Alexis is a textile artist specializing in embroidery, crochet, and weaving. Drawing inspiration from the natural world, her work explores texture, pattern, and color, often reflecting the beauty found in plants and landscapes.
Julia Wylie is a textile artist originally from Hamilton, Ontario. She graduated from Sheridan College in 2025 with a degree in Craft & Design, specializing in textiles. Her focus has been on slow processes such as embroidery and hand sewing, emphasizing the connection she feels with her work the longer she spends with it. She is inspired to create work on lived experiences, love, and human connection.
Shirley Xiao is from China and currently studying Craft and Design with a focus on textiles at Sheridan College in Canada. She specializes in combining traditional crafts such as embroidery and weaving with contemporary design to convey emotions and memories through fabric.
Truly a magically fun project - obviously I was enjoying myself!
Unravel Hate
In 2019, I was asked to unravel the MAGA hat and keep the thread so it could be used to embroider “welcome to Canada” on a toque for the clothing brand Peace Collective.
Unravelling a slogan that was synonymous with American nationalism, sexual violence, as well as hatred to people of colour, new immigrants, and queer identities, was an emotionally difficult project to take on. Yet it held a small amount of satisfaction when the words finally disappeared off of the hat that had become so visually connected to Donald Trump and his time as the U.S. President.
Harlequin Books asked me to design and embroider the cover for a new mystery book by Jane K. Cleland titled Deadly Threads. The murder weapon is a Burberry style woven scarf (maybe that’s a spoiler alert?). Having read my aunt’s stash of paperback Harlequin Romances during my teenage summers, I was pretty excited to work with Harlequin Books on this.
Deadly Threads
Pulse Magazine
In 2014, Pulse Magazine, the University of Toronto's Nursing Faculty alumni publication asked me to embroider an illustration honouring Dr. Floris King. She wrote the nurse’s hymn to honour one of the faculty's deans back in the 40s. They sent me the sheet music and some floral inspiration. I love Imagining nurses of all genders, singing this music together as they embark from school to their professional careers. See the whole magazine here.
