Royal School Of Needlework

25/03/2013 by Ann Bernard

Royal School of Needlework – Part Two: Let’s Step Inside

In early September 1950, the rest of my life started. Having just turned 17, and leaving an unhappy school life behind, I started travelling daily from an outer region of London into Kensington and Prince’s Gate.

Royal School of Needlework Floor Plan

RSN was housed in a magnificent building which had seen even more grandiose days in the previous century. The central hallway was two stories high, wood panelled, and had an impressively grand staircase and upper landing with a railing along two sides forming a balcony. The room beside the front door was an office. The other two rooms on the ground floor were large and gracious with floor to ceiling french doors or windows that opened onto a stone terrace. Beyond this was a sunken garden with large trees and an immaculate lawn. You can see this hidden garden on Google Maps aerial view; viewing it today makes me wonder, idly, how many other such hidden gardens there are in London.

One floor up, the workroom occupied the front room while the class rooms were in the two elegant rooms overlooking the garden. These rooms all had light coloured panelled walls and parquet floors. New overhead lighting had been installed and we had no trouble stitching anywhere in the rooms though most of us had young eyes. This is where our easels with slate frames stood. The easels were all ancient and finding and keeping a matching pair was a challenge. The cleaners could get them mixed up. There was also a huge high table where our teachers, or us, cut fabric, transferred the design (prick and pounce) and finally mounted it and laced it onto masonite. On the floors above were more class rooms where we learned history, dressmaking, pattern drafting, design, and something called small samplers.

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Elegant as all this sounds, let’s get down to reality. English society was still full of rules, regulations and restrictions and it never occurred to us (or to me, anyway) to question them. We were not allowed to enter through the front door but instead went down the stairs by the front door to the basement where we left our coats. We were not allowed to enter the front hall or walk on that magnificent stairway but used the steep and narrow servants’ staircase instead. You can see this on the left side of the floor plan. It was a long climb to the upper floors. We were not allowed to enter the workroom or talk to the staff. The showroom containing the threads and other supplies was located on the main floor in the larger room at the back. It was off limits except to select thread colours. Mostly, the threads and wools were set and did not require us to make choices. We were absolutely forbidden to set foot on the terrace or go into the garden. Did I feel hard done by? No. This was normal in England at that time and for a long time after, too. No one questioned this that I was aware of. We knew and expected nothing else.
And we started to learn our stitches immediately. We all knew the basic stitches but we had to stitch them perfectly or else they came out. Others were new to us, particularly the composite stitches which contained several stitching stages; I do not think I have used any of them since then. Feeling very virtuous, I stitched small. Not only can I now no longer identify the structure of the stitch but it made me slow with the result that I was the last one in our group of about seven students to complete their work. Being last meant that I had the last choice of background linen fabric for the next sampler and finished with a brilliant pink which I hated and still do. This second sampler was appliqué and on it we learned to stitch accurately and fast. It was a boring project and I think that everyone was glad to complete it. Frankly, it was sufficiently tedious and demanding enough to make anyone but the determined quit on the spot. Having survived that one, we progressed to the crewel work sampler stitched with wool on linen twill. I do not know what the wools we used were. Certainly not Medici. Materials and thread for embroidery still had limited availability but RSN had a stock on hand from prewar days. There seemed to be enough of everything but colour ranges and choices were not always complete. Our teacher, Marguerite Randell, was excellent. She was elderly but eternally patient and always available when you needed assistance. But, she had her standards. Stitching had to be up to that standard, and the best you could do or else it had to come out. Some careful snipping of threads released the offenders but the remainders (called dead stitches) had to be removed in their entirety. I remember clearly, being in a hurry to get on to the next stage and not getting all the thread whiskers out. She sat down and told me this was inadequate. The offenders were quickly removed but it was a very very long time before she came back to show me the next stage. A lesson never forgotten.

Next entry: We continue to stitch, the press comes to call and we meet other students.

10/03/2013 by Ann Bernard

Royal School of Needlework – a Historical Perspective – Part One

Are you curious about what it was like to be student at RSN? I would be if I had not had the good fortune and an accommodating father to pay the bill. Actually, I remain curious to hear about being a student at Hampton Court Palace and hope others with more recent experience will add to this account.

You can Google this address but, for those not familiar with London, Prince’s Gate is a terrace off Kensington Road. Crossing the road to the north is Hyde Park with the Serpentine and Rotten Row, a horse and carriage riding route. Connecting Kensington Road to the south is Exhibition Road which leads to South Kensington Underground station. The Victoria and Albert Museum, the Natural History Museum and the Science Museum are all located on Exhibition Road. To the west, you will find the Royal Albert Hall, Imperial College and Kensington Palace, the home of several members of the Royal family. Going east will take you to Knightsbridge and Harrods. I found the history of the development of this area of London to be interesting and hope that you will, too.

In the late 1600s, a gardener named George London and partners established the Brompton Park Nurseries, part of which is now the site of the Victoria and Albert Museum. Influential in garden design and innovative plantings, he nurtured plants and trees brought to him by travellers to other countries. He supplied plants and trees and landscape designs in London, elsewhere in England and in Europe. In the 1700s the neighbouring rural village of Brompton experienced a building boom with an influx of terraced houses and the creation of a busy metropolitan borough. A further building boom in the early 1800s transformed the area into a prosperous residential area. Portions of the nursery garden were appropriated for building.

All this is linked to the Industrial Revolution (1760-1870). Water and steam power and the development of machine tools influenced every aspect of daily life in Britain. Massive population and income growth created the first capitalist economy leading to both great wealth and abject poverty. Steam-powered ships and railways were late developments of the Industrial Revolution

In 1850, Britain decided to celebrate its huge achievement with a Grand Exhibition. The contract was awarded to Joseph Paxton who built a modular style building of cast iron and glass and erected it in the southern part of Hyde Park. Punch, the magazine, dubbed it the Crystal Palace. With so much glass, it needed no electric lighting system but the glass panelling was not watertight and there were widespread leaks in the roof. After the Exhibition closed the Crystal Palace was dismantled and rebuilt in south London where it survived until destroyed by fire in 1936.

Britain had money to spend and Prince Albert, Queen Victoria’s husband, proposed that the area south of Hyde Park be developed as an area for enrichment and education. Thus began the founding and building of Exhibition Road, the museums and the Royal Albert Hall. He died in 1861 before seeing the completion of these projects. The Albert Memorial was built in Hyde Park opposite the Royal Albert Hall and commemorates his contribution. Queen Victoria was devastated by his death and went into mourning for the rest of her life.

To move back to Prince’s Gate, this area just north of the original Brompton Park Nursery was a market garden growing vegetables and fruit to supply the London area. In the early 1800s, plans were drawn up for a four sided block of rental town houses enclosing a private and ornamental garden. Of necessity, the first buildings were stables and a carriage house. Prince’s Gate faces onto a carriage way. This private road was set apart from the the main road and allowed horses and carriages safe access to the front doors of the houses. It is now a convenient place to park your car. Speculative building of houses with four to five storeys over a basement began in the 1840s. This was a large project and took several years to complete. The houses were slow to rent initially and then fell out of favour during the building and use of the Crystal Palace as prospective tenants complained of the loss of their view of Hyde Park and all the traffic and noise created by the Grand Exhibition. NIMBY is nothing new! Gradually, the houses were occupied by the newly rich bankers, industrialists, ship owners and minor aristocracy who wanted smart and convenient town houses in this new and fashionable area of Kensington. Despite interior differences, the facades were similar and Italianate, three windows wide with a porticoed entrance on the ground floor. The stuccoed exteriors were painted white and remain white to this day as you will see in the photograph.

Royal School of Needlework

The photo is courtesy of Google Street View and is current; in the 1950s, there were far fewer cars. No. 25 is the first house and entrance beyond the black railing. It is a bit larger than was normal as it is L shaped taking advantage of an indentation in the previously built house on the right of the photo; that building is now a boys’ school. No. 25 was occupied by The Royal School of Needlework from 1949 to 1987 when RSN moved to Hampton Court Palace. In the 1990s the whole house was refurbished and restored to a single residence. This area of London is now the location of foreign embassies with several located in Prince’s Gate.

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British History Online www.british-history.ac.uk provided the information for this précis. Of further interest to stitchers are the designs for the floor and ceilings of these houses to be seen on the British history sites.

Having taken you on a historical tour, my next entry will be about being a student of RSN in this historic house during a time, just five years after the end of WW 2, when London was still bleak and dirty and food was short. But we survived and the RSN experience was certainly an interesting one.

22/01/2013 by Ann Bernard

Royal School of Needlework – Third Sampler – Applique and Couching

This piece was a pain to stitch. For starters, I did not like that hot pink linen fabric then and I continue to dislike it. It was the project where we learned, because we had to, how to stitch accurately and quickly.

Royal School Of Needlework Applique And Couching

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The design was transferred onto the cream fabric by the prick, pounce and paint a very thin line with black watercolor paint method. The pink and the cream fabric were both mounted onto a slate frame and the cream fabric was thoroughly basted in place. Starting somewhere, probably near the base of the stem, small running stitches were made on the design lines along a small section. The fabric was trimmed away very close to the marked and stitched line. The couched thread was either 12 or 18 strands of DMC Floss (deliberately left slightly puffy) couched down with three threads. Whatever your spacing was between the first two stitches was what it had to be consistently throughout no matter the curve or the space available. We worked by eye with no templates allowed. I encourage my students to use templates where accurate spacing is necessary. There is no need to try the patience of students unnecessarily.

The edges and the centre of the Rose are Padded Satin Stitch.

The edges and the centre of the Rose are Padded Satin Stitch. I am writing a tutorial on how to do this shortly. Like everything else, once you know how, it is easy.

It will be on my blogsite: Stitching Idyllic

14/01/2013 by Ann Bernard

Stitches Sampler from The Royal School of Needlework

This was the first sampler stitched as a student at The Royal School of Needlework in 1951.

Royal School of Needlework 1951 Sampler

At 17 years plus a few days old, it was one huge undertaking to travel in and out of London each day and actually spend my time doing something that was both interesting and demanding. (Believe me, it was joy after attending what was a prestigious and appalling school.) My eyes were good and I was in ‘the smaller the better stitches’ phase in my life. As such, I now need a magnifying glass to identify some of these stitches.

This is particularly true of some of those in the darkest of the wool threads. There are some interesting Trellis Filling stitches but you can take a closer look at some of the details.

Trellis Filling Stitches.

These samplers were mounted on masonite this being the only mounting board available at the time No one knew or understood anything about acidity and the conservation of fabrics and threads. On taking these samplers apart for acid-free remounting, I found that the fabric that wrapped across the cut edges of the masonite to be more discoloured than the main part. The white sheeting wrapping the board and underneath the sampler was brown as if plunged into tobacco smoke though no one in this house has smoked near them. In fact they have been behind glass for protection for many years.

The smaller the better stitches phase in my life.

The new mounting on acid free board covered with clean and freshly laundered white cotton underlay has been a huge amount of work. But I reckoned that if I did not do this, no one else would and that in another 50 years the condition of the fabric could be terrible. The threads have generally survived well though there was some minimal damage from moths that I was able to repair.

The fabric that wrapped across the cut edges of the masonite to be more discoloured than the main part.

As you can see, there was not a lot of fabric available outside the design lines. After it came off the slate framed on which it was stitched, it was blocked. We used carpet tacks for this and you can see the holes and rust caused by this. I think that it would be almost impossible for a sampler such as this to exist without incurring damage from blocking, mounting and framing. It is sad to see this as I do remember, and remember well, what the samplers were like when pristinely new and not been ‘processed for presentation’.

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I hope you are enjoying and are interested in these Real Glimpses from the Past. Not too many stitchers from that era are still alive and I want to pass the views as well as the experience on before it is lost.

The next sampler to go online will be our second one. I am planning to include the directions on how to create immaculate Padded Satin Stitch. Like most of these techniques, it is not difficult once you know how.

Happy New Year.

04/12/2012 by Ann Bernard

Coral Stitch

Coral stitch is featured as an outline stitch in the Queen Anne corner of the Crewel Work Sampler stitched at the Royal School of Needlework during the early 1950s. I have never seen this stitch featured in a Stitch Dictionary which has motivated me to share it with you. Coral Knot stitch is often referred to as Coral Stitch but this is different.

Place your fabric in a hoop so that it is taut. DMC Perle 5 was used for this demonstration.

1. Work from right to left. Bring the thread to the front at the start of the line. Take the needle to the back above the line with the thread in a loop as shown.

Coral Stitch #1. Take the needle to the back above the line with the thread in a loop.

2. Bring the needle back to the front an equal distance below the line and within the loop as shown.

Coral Stitch #2. Bring the needle back to the front an equal distance below the line and within the loop.

3. Pull the thread vertically up towards your nose.

Coral Stitch #3. Pull the thread vertically up towards your nose.

4. And here is the tricky bit. Adjust the length of the arms by pulling the thread away from you in a horizontal direction and then towards you horizontally until the length of the two arms of the stitch are equal.

Coral Stitch #4. Adjust the length of the arms by pulling the thread away from you in a horizontal direction and then towards you horizontally.

Worked in the traditional manner this is a ‘squared stitch’ meaning that the space between the stitches is equal to the width of the stitch.

Coral Stitch #5. this is a ‘squared stitch’ meaning that the space between the stitches is equal to the width of the stitch.

Also, it is preferable to use a thicker thread and decrease the size of ‘the square’ so that the black line is completely covered. If you look at the Queen Anne sampler, you will notice that the squares are so tight that it is hard to see the construction of the stitch.

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Here are some examples of using the stitch in a more relaxed and contemporary manner. These are far easier to stitch than the traditional style where it really shows if the stitches are not an even size and spacing. I like the circular placement and think that it would nice alternative to Buttonhole Stitch and is much easier to control.

Coral Stitch #6. Coral stitch in a more relaxed and contemporary manner.

Coral Stitch #7. Circular placement and think that it would nice alternative to Buttonhole Stitch.

Coral Stitch #8. S Shaped Coral Stitch.

What will this stitch do for you?

11/11/2012 by Ann Bernard

Queen Anne the fourth quarter. What is special or different about this?

Queen Anne (1702-1714) was the last of the Stuart monarchs. Although in poor health she was pregnant 17 times but only one child lived beyond infancy. Her great friend, Sarah Jennings, with whom she had a stormy relationship, married John Churchill. He had great military skill winning many battles in Europe including the Battle of Blenheim. A grateful nation created him the Duke of Marlborough and built Blenheim Palace for him. Located northwest of London and near Oxford, it is well worth a visit. Winston Churchill was born there.

Queen Anne’s reign was noted for the development of the two party political system, the Union of England, Ireland and Scotland forming Great Britain among other achievements. It was a time of the building of mansions, private houses, lavish interior decoration and beautiful furniture. The furniture was smaller, lighter and more comfortable than previous styles; the cabriole leg (S shaped) is the most recognizably enduring part. This seems to be an appropriate accompaniment to the style of embroidery that we were told was current during Queen Anne’s reign.

What we were told at the Royal School of Needlework was that silk threads from the Far East had become available triggering a whole different style of embroidery. These threads were not suited for portraying the Jacobean Tree of Life with all its fanciful and massive leaves, flowers, birds and beasts. Instead, linear and free form shapes better were better suited to the new style furniture and interior decorating. I do not think that the elements of this design represent anything or are symbolic of anything.

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You will notice that the colours have become muted more like the Elizabethan colour scheme rather than the boldness of the Jacobeans. The parallel lines use negative space between the colours to enhance each one of them. The stitches used are puffy Couching, Long and Short Stitch, some Laid Work, and French Knots. The majority of the lines are worked in Coral Stitch which happens to be one of my very favourite stitches of all time. I have looked for it in books and never seen it anywhere. It does seem to be related to Coral Knot but is worked a little differently. No, it is not difficult. The effect is a light and open decorative line which works well both as a single outline and a spaced filling. I include the closeup so that you will be able to see it better. We stitched some lines in worsted wool such as the blue and green outer lines. The couching and long and short stitch are in Pearsall’s Filoselle Embroidery Silk which is a 6-strand silk floss.

See also:
Sampler of crewel work stitches worked by Dorothea Nield, c.1930 in the Bridgeman Art Library. Creative Needlecraft by Lynette de Denne. Octopus Books Limited 1979 ISBN 1 85052 07. This excellent book is a good investment if you should be lucky enough to see it somewhere. Erica Wilson is bound to have it in her books though I am unable to tell you which one.

Notice the different design features and the different methods of stitching. Your comments are always welcome so please keep them coming. The next entry will be our first RSN sampler and, possibly, the second one also.

21/10/2012 by Ann Bernard

Late Jacobean Crewel Work sampler

Crewel Work Sampler Third Corner Late Jacobean

The latter part of the 17th century is the period known as Late Jacobean. The third corner of this crewel work sampler was stitched while I was a student at the Royal School of Needlework a very long time ago, a teenager. This is where we learned to shade. The red and pink of the pomegranate is parallel shading. Parallel rows of stem stitch are worked starting from the outside. Notice how the colour change is achieved. The rest of the items are all long and short stitch and we started with the central part of the large leaf. By the time we got to the smaller, outer leaves we had more of an idea on how to do this difficult stitch. The leaves that shade from navy through green to yellow are one inch in length for the smallest, and one and a half inches long for the leaves at the top of the panel. The method is ‘stitching to a vein without a vein’. Notice the sharp points and crisp edges to these leaves. I did a good job of those and yes, there are technical tricks to achieve this.
Researching this design, the pomegranate is symbolic for fertility and abundance though there are different meanings dependent on the culture or religion.

Pomegranate is symbolic for fertility and abundance

We were told that the blue rose indicated the joining of the Houses of Lancaster and York which concluded the Wars of the Roses. These civil wars in the 15th century (described as long, repetitive and destructive) were between the Plantagenets (white roses) and the Tudors (red roses) and the politics were complicated. A combination of sick and incompetent rulers created widespread unrest with families divided and fighting each other.

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Henry Tudor (became Henry V11), won the final battle which was horrific but ended the conflict. He was the father of Henry V111 and grandfather of Queen Elizabeth 1. As the Early Jacobean period occurred after the reign of Elizabeth, this blue rose indicates a period that was already history. The above stylised version of the uniting of these warring factions is really more congruent. I, personally, think that the blue rose is just a blue rose with no historical significance.

Unfortunately, the water damage from steaming is clearly visible in this quarter of the sampler.

I remain eager to hear your comments and ideas on the significance of these motifs. It would be great to be able to put more information into the provenance.

You can also go to Stitching Idyllic to see more recent stitching or check out Etsy for some great Jacobean Crewel Embroidery kits, but I have not tried them.

08/10/2012 by Ann Bernard

Early Jacobean Embroidery Crewel Work Sampler

Before getting into the Jacobean Embroidery, I thought you would like to see this piece of embroidery. It is labelled as neo-crewel period dated 1910. Courtesy of H.E. Kiewe. English Crewel Designs by Mary Eirwen Jones 1974 1SBN 1-688-00288-9. It makes me curious, more and more curious.

English Crewel Designs by Mary Eirwen Jones

Early Jacobean Embroidery

The Jacobean period refers to the 17th century when the Stuarts, starting with James I and Charles I and II, ruled. They were the Kings immediately after Queen Elizabeth 1. There was a break in the Stuart line for Oliver Cromwell. It was an ornate period with lavish clothing and wonderful architecture. Early Jacobean specifically refers to the reign of James 1 in the first quarter of the century. The East India Company was at that time importing palampores into England which greatly influenced English decorative arts.

Palampores, hand-painted (stencilled) cotton fabrics from India, were influential in developing the traditional crewel work designs such as the Hindu Tree of Life pattern. Favourite embroidery motifs included exotic animals, resplendent birds, large ornate leaves and fantastical flowers. The timeless appeal of the Jacobean designs means that these motifs and layout continue to be used today though many of us now seek to arrange them in non-traditional ways. Embroidery was done on linen or twill fabric using wool yarn in bright colours. Many household items such as large wall hangings and bed curtains as well as cushions and pillows were decorated with Jacobean embroidery. They can be seen in museums and are illustrated in many books.

Block shading crewel sampler

This is the second of the four corners on this Crewel Work sampler. In terms of technique, it is an exercise in Block Shading. This is not difficult to do but it is advisable to know how it is done to reduce unnecessary problems. We started with the green areas and progressed to the large turquoise leaf. The learning process is fairly obvious if you look closely. I love the pink and grey motif in the upper right corner. I also like how the green of the main leaf forms the stem of the turquoise leaf giving the whole design unity. The oddity in the piece is the bright blue in the lower left. It is not a mistake or a repair. We were given this colour to use in that position. I remember questioning it. These being the postwar years and a lack of replacement materials, I think that RSN was running out of the right shades of wool threads though it does add a little zing to the composition.

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The dark brown area is Long and Short Stitch. We were told that Block Shading was a technique that was used before the development of Long and Short Stitch. I have no idea whether this is correct or not. And it bugs me not to know and understand the progression of stitching history except in reference to major shifts and developments. I hope that there is someone who knows the answers as I will be gratefully eager to hear them. Unfortunately, in this corner of the sampler the water damage from steaming is obvious. I greatly regret this as it is otherwise in excellent condition.

Any thoughts or suggestions you have will be greatly appreciated.

The next corner, Late Jacobean shows a progression in technique and a totally different design.

08/09/2012 by Ann Bernard

Conservation of Samplers stitched at the Royal School of Needlework

I am currently renovating the samplers I stitched while a student at the Royal School of Needlework and I am writing a provenance. We have one grandson, I reckon that I am the only person who will undertake this large and arduous task.

It has been obvious for a few years that these samplers needed attention. When I took them apart, I found that they are mounted on Masonite. To be fair and honest, this was long before any knowledge of acid damage to fabric and before the days of Foam Core Board. Masonite was all that was available.

I am asking for your assistance with any information you may have on the origin or details of these designs. I am able to identify the techniques.

This is the third of my samplers and a photo of the first of its four sections. This is the information I have and I would welcome help in creating a provenance. In England, this was not a time when information was given or shared. References to sources of information would also be appreciated.

Crewel work stitching sampler 1951 from Royal School of Needlework.

Worked on Linen Twill fabric in Worsted Wool threads, probably Medici.

This was a most enjoyable sampler to stitch. Lots of variety, always something new to learn and the results please me as much today as they did then. I love the motifs and the colours. It is also undamaged by moths or loosened stitches. But, after removing this piece from the masonite board, I steamed the outer edges to flatten them before remounting. Being annoyed with the kettle steam which kept turning off, I resorted to steaming the edges over a saucepan of boiling water. The water marks you see were caused by the water bubbles. I regret the damage this has done. (2012)

Royal School of Needlework First Corner. Elizabethan.

We were told that these motifs are examples of Elizabethan embroidery but I have always had my doubts. I saw a picture of a crewel work sampler stitched in 1910 with included several of these motifs. They may have been taken from an Elizabethan piece of work but I dubious on the accuracy of this. My researches have told me that Elizabethan embroidery was mostly table carpets stitched in tent stitch of which there are well known examples in the Victoria and Albert Museum. Black work stitching was also current having been introduced to England by Catherine of Aragon, Henry Vlll ‘s first wife.

The ability to achieve shading without mixing the threads or undertaking Long and Short Stitch is demonstrated here. Note the use of darning, particularly the colours used in the strawberries. Also note the circlet of six leaves within the other large leaf. Some Laid work is included. The acorn base includes Trellis work which is a good way to secure Laid Threads.

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The block pattern in the strawberry leaf was technically hard to do and one has to know the understructure to get this to work.

There is some Long and Short stitch in the butterfly wings. I think that the body of the bird is parallel Stem Stitch.

The next photo is an adaptation I made for a teaching sample. It worked well and was within the abilities of all Intermediate level stitchers. Some people were uncomfortable with the emptiness of the two corners but, I liked it then and like it now.

Crewel work teaching stitching sampler from Royal School of Needlework.

While designing the above sample, this adaptation developed. It is too much work for students but I worked it myself. Both of these are stitched in Medici Wool on linen.

Crewel works stitching sampler adaptation from Royal School of Needlework.

If you would like more information about me, you will find it on my website Stitching Idyllic by Ann Bernard or visit the Royal School of Needlework website.

It is also included in the introduction to the book Stitching Idyllic : Spring Flowers.

The next blog post will be about the second corner which is Early Jacobean.