Third Saturday for Families: Embroidery

The Utah Museum of Fine Arts is hosting a family art-making session on Saturday, April 17, as part of its Third Saturday for Families series. This one centers on embroidery, and the museum is free that day, which is how the whole series works: every third Saturday of the month, UMFA opens its doors for free and puts a hands-on activity on the calendar for families to drop in and try.

The session is built around the museum's own collection. Before you start stitching, you're invited to walk through the portrait hall and the European art gallery and take a look at the fine lace and embroidery on display there. It's a good way to see how the technique actually looks in a finished piece—the kind of detail that's easy to miss unless you're looking for it—and to get a sense of what the masters were doing before you try it yourself.

Once you've had your look, you'll get to experiment with your own embroidery. Instead of fabric, you'll be working with perforated paper and thread, which makes it a bit more approachable if you've never picked up a needle before. The idea is to mimic the work you saw in the galleries, so you can play around with different stitches and patterns and see how they come together. It's a low-pressure way to spend a few hours making something, and since it's geared toward families, it works just as well if you're bringing kids as it does if you're just coming in on your own.

The session runs from 1 PM to 4 PM on Saturday, April 17, at the Utah Museum of Fine Arts in Salt Lake City. Admission is free, as the museum is free every third Saturday of the month.