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Meet the Team
Read a review of a class Sarah held at the Crewelwork Company
Sarah Rakestraw
The Owner
Sarah is the owner of Golden Hinde. Her love of gold work and many other embroidery techniques can be seen in each piece of work crafted by her and her enthusiasm shines through when talking about or teaching Goldwork techniques.
“My love of gold work started whilst watching my mum for many years, designing clothes and making costumes for school plays. She worked on a banner for my school for two years, all worked in goldwork this banner is paraded with my old school St Thomas’s every walking day displaying its beauty as it ripples in the sunshine to this day”.
At the age of 14, Sarah studied Textiles GCSE, at which she achieved the highest grade (A). Sarah also attained an Art “A” level and over the years has developed her interest in embroidery and sewing by making and designing her own clothes and patterns.
Sarah also attended University and achieved a degree in business and financial management and as a result is also a Chartered Accountant.
Sarah is married to Stephen and has two children John and William.
Sarah is our in house tutor and runs our regular classes in Warrington dubbed “The Golden Wonders” in which we have a group of ladies who create wonderful masterpieces for pleasure and exhibitions.
You can find more information about our regular Goldwork classes by clicking HERE Our classes are very popular and we often have waiting lists.
Golden Hinde Family
Golden Hinde is very much a family run business and since Kate joined the team in 2015, both Sarah and Kate have become very good friends as well as colleagues and we believe that they make a very good team. Kate is the office manager and handles the day to day running of the office. Kate now also attends some shows with Sarah and helps with the running of our retreats, doing all the admin and generally helping out and answering any questions that the attendees may have. Sarah and Kate also attended garment making classes together, at a local sewing school creating clothes and making patterns.
Our newest staff member is Joanie who joined us in April 2024, Joanie’s responsibilities include packing your orders and dispatching them in good time, if you give us a call you are very likely to speak to Joanie.
We have 2 packers that put all our products together, this includes all kits (yes all our product is put together by hand) our 2 packers are Ida and Kim. Kim joined our team in March 2024
Our resident tutor is Sarah Rakestraw, she has been teaching Goldwork for over 25 years and is an expert in her field, she has taught in many different settings to different skill levels, from taster classes at the likes of the knitting and stitch show to full week long retreats.
We also hold fortnightly regular classes where lots of stunning work is produced with the help of Sarah, who designs many of the pieces based on what the embroiderer wants to make, this can be taken from a picture as inspiration or an idea from scratch.
In addition, Sarah also hosts special one off classes for others such as Embroiderers guilds, and has held a private class for Phillipa Turnbull and her team at the crewelwork company. Georgina Pillsbury from her team wrote this lovely piece about her experience learning Goldwork and of Sarah as a tutor, you can read Georgina’s crewelwork company review clicking the link at the bottom of the page.
Sarah has also taught for Lady Anne’s Needlework where she has taught a goldwork book, which involved samples of lots of threads and wires. In 2023 she taught Lady Margaret’s Pin Cushion, these were all taught online.
Golden Hinde Commisions
Here at Golden Hinde we do occasionally take on a commission, at the beginning of 2019 we started on a commission for our local school to complete a banner, you can see our story here School banner
Golden Hinde Collaborations
Golden Hinde has a very good industry wide reputation, supplying kits and goldwork supplies. We attend the knitting and stitching shows annually in Alexandra Palace London and Harrogate, where we get to see and meet new customers and welcome back customers that we have seen year after year. We love to share our knowledge with everyone from beginners to experts.
Golden Hinde has produced projects for magazines such as STITCH, WORKBOX and for Benton & Johnson plus many other projects.
Link to Goldwork Embroidery for all the updates we have made for classes, exhibitions and products
Read a review of a class Sarah held at the Crewelwork Company HERE
