As Kristen Gula leans over her embroidery hoop, colorful flowers—from anemones to zinnias—sprout from the tip of her needle. Gula is the creator behind Gulush Threads, a modern hand embroidery company that she runs from her studio in Swansea, Illinois. After taking up the art form as a hobby in 2013, she now creates custom and ready-made products, travels across the country teaching embroidery workshops, and runs a YouTube channel on the topic.
How did you get started? With losing my job as a copy editor, something bad became something positive. What I do is considered a modern take on hand embroidery. Instead of using 200 stitches to do 200 different things, I focus on a small library of stitches—like, 10, max—to do all of my embroidery work. The idea is to create more with less and paint with thread. Instead of trying to find a stitch for everything, you look at it like a coloring book, and you fill it in with thread. It’s more freeform—there aren’t a lot of rules. I go with the flow.
Get a weekly dose of home and style inspiration
Subscribe to the St. Louis Design+Home newsletter to explore the latest stories from the local interior design, fashion, and retail scene.
What made you decide to turn a hobby into a business? Back in 2013, there were only a few other people doing embroidery the way I was doing it, so I got a following really quickly. I decided to open an Etsy shop. A year later, I was looking at 70 orders per month.
Describe your process. I’m naturally a planner, so when I’m going to work on a piece, I will spend time drawing it on my iPad and figuring out the colors. Recently, I’ve been not as controlling with that by not planning any colors. I have different jars that have random bits of thread separated by color. If I know something is going to be green, I’ll just pick a random green out of the jar and stitch with it. I’ve made some really fun pieces that are super colorful and unique. Each one is different.
