What would your sewing teacher say?

THINK "embroidery" and what comes to mind? Probably neat and precise little stitches following a neat and precise pattern, where everything has to be perfect and one wrong stitch spells disaster.

Well, think again.

The new generation of embroidery is bold, adventurous and wildly innovative. As well as needles and silks, it can use metal, paper, felt, leather - even elements as unlikely as domestic bleach and sun-dried tomatoes. What would your old sewing teacher say?

They are all part of the 20 or so pieces of work that make up a new exhibition, Footprints, at the Oriental Museum in Durham. The exhibition, inspired by Ancient Egypt is the work of Fusion, a group of embroiders based mainly in Country Durham.

The sun-dried tomatoes and real eyeballs make up a sort of death mask. The bleach is used to stunning effect by Sue Atkinson of Middleton St George, who has created an image of urns on black velvet.

"It's probably wrong to call it embroidery," says Maggie Smith, Fusion's organiser and a lecturer in Art and Design at New College, Durham. "Better to think of it as textiles or mixed media.

"The last 20 years or so have seen a revolution. Embroidery used to be very controlled. Now it is freer, much more expressive and adventurous, with all sorts of new ideas and techniques coming along."

She is an Embroidery Guild speaker and many of the group give workshops, demonstrations and have exhibited their work in top exhibitions. The group has a wide age range and meets for an annual weekend workshop with a guest speaker.

"But we also spark each other off. It's always fascinating to see what the others are doing," says Mrs Greta Hodgson, who is probably one of the older members. "There are so many new ideas about."

Textiles being wonderfully tactile, the pieces on display tempt you strongly to touch them - such a shock to discover something you think is hessian is actually metal - but this is strictly forbidden. Instead, and this is a brilliant idea, each piece has a small sample which is designed to be felt, gazed at, picked over, so you can see the precise techniques used.

Greta Hodgsons' piece is based on the Egyptian Book of the Dead, each symbol embroidered on silk in fairly traditional stitches but then set in a machine made frame or raffia and string, and mounted on papyrus.

The exhibition was originally intended to coincide with an Egyptian exhibition at the Hancock Museum in Newcastle, and went ahead even when the travelling exhibition failed to materialise and now seems totally at home in the Oriental Museum.

Melita Butterell was an architect and farmer and is now an embroiderer and has exhibited in London. Her pieces include a splendid Egyptian cat and a lotus flower made of hand-dyed silk with metallic threads. But it's so reassuring to learn that she is not a natural needlewoman,

"I hated sewing as a child, wouldn't sew a stitch if I could help it." A sentiment Greta Hodgson echoes: "I never liked needlework back then."

But both agree this is different. Embroidery has never been so exciting.

Footprints, a textile exhibition inspired by Ancient Egyptian artefacts by the group Fusion, is the Oriental Museum, Durham until December 1. Open Mon-Fri 10am-5pm; Sat, Sun 12-5pm.