Stitching Idyllic

Stitching Idyllic by Ann Bernard

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Silk, Stockings and Clogs, by Janet Sunderani

1980s Britain was a difficult time to graduate from university. With a degree in English and no discernible job skills apart from a willing heart and an urgent need to earn my keep I felt very lucky to land a job with a textile company in the Midlands. Filigree Textiles made knitted voile, Jacquard lace, lace insertions and trimmings from Diolen. This polyester thread was used to make the sheer and lace curtains so popular at that time in the UK. They also owned E. A. Richards, a manufacturer of traditional Nottingham lace tablecloths, bedspreads and trimmings using machines that were already over 100 years old.

To take a tour of Leavers lace mill and see a working lace making machine watch the video below. Yes, I noted that it is in Rhode Island.

It is still possible to purchase Nottingham Lace. This tablecloth (Aintree design)can be found at the site below. Lace Story, also on this site, contains more information. The Lucilla pattern is 100% cotton and hand made. From cruising the web and reading the advertising, my impression is that there is an increased interest in using lace thanks to Downton Abbey.

http://www.quintessentialenglishlace.co.uk

I had a grand title, Marketing Executive, but in reality my job was a gofer. Officially I assisted in all aspects of our participation in national and international trade fairs. Included were purchasing of sales materials, display stands, packaging and print. Other duties could find me doing anything from cleaning the showroom, ironing samples to fetching and delivering urgently needed goods and trimmings. I felt lucky to have a job and was rarely bored.
I loved living in the Midlands near to Nottingham. We settled in Belper in a tiny cottage on Mill Lane. Our neighbour, Dina, had lived on that street all her life and worked for the local stocking factory, Brettles, where she was a ‘leg straightener’. She pulled the knitted stockings over a leg form prior to them being steam finished and becoming fully fashioned. That is, acquiring a leg shape. We moved and our new next door neighbour was ‘Dina’s other leg’. This means that she worked the other shift but worked on the same leg forms. I don’t think stockings are made like that any more.

If you would like to see a leg straightener at work, watch the following video:

www.britishpathe.com/video/stocking-factory

No. 17, was our neighbour on the right. This was an interesting cottage as it had been squeezed into the triangle shape between our house and the house further up the lane. At the front is a brick structure which was a nail makers workshop. As most of the mill workers were women and children, the men needed employment too. Belper was a centre for nail making and there are several nail makers cottages in the town. No. 17 was about twelve feet wide at the front but only three or four at the rear. All the cottages were tiny. I do not know how they brought up families in such small houses.

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-34348430.html

Take a tour of 17 which has been renovated to a desirable residence. The bathroom has a heated towel rack which is an attraction living with the general dampness outside the home. Dina and her husband continue to live in the same house on Mill Lane.

Belper was also home to other manufacturers. Thorntons made wonderful toffee and chocolate and the smell was amazing. Strutts cotton mill and Silkolene had closed by then. Silkolene had developed a conditioner for silk weaving that became Swarfega – a hand cleanser used by mechanics.

I was often sent to Congleton to Berisfords where they made silk ribbon and trimmings. The route took me through the beautiful Derbyshire Peak District by way of Ashbourne and Leek. The countryside bore the evidence of its industrial past. This was mining country. Most of the girls who sewed the sheer and lace curtains were the wives and daughters of miners. The Victorian industrialists had taken full advantage of the confluence of coal, water, steel and a labour force to build substantial factories. This moved knitting and weaving out of the cottages and into large purpose built mills.

Wardles Silk Mill dominated the town of Leek though It was closed even then. The Victorians built those buildings to last. The Wardles had been a prominent family and several of them had been mayors of the town. Many of the mill owners of that time built schools for the children of their workers. This had a radical effect on the social mobility of that class as their children received an education for the first time.

For more pictures of the Wardle and Davenport Mill in Leek, go to:

http://www.28dayslater.co.uk/forums/showthread.php/79297-Wardle-amp-Davenport-Ltd-(The-Big-mill)-silk-manufacturer-Leek-march-2013

Refer also to Dyeing and the Silk Industry during the Late 1800s. Posted on this blog Monday, November 25, 2013.

In a way I felt completely at home in that industry. My grandmother had been a mill girl before her marriage and worked as a child (1905-1915 approximately) in a cotton mill as a halftime piecer. Under the looms, she joined together the threads as they were woven into fabric. She worked mornings and went to school in the afternoons. School included a nutritious hot lunch cooked on site. I wish I had paid more attention to her stories. All the local girls worked in the mill. It was much better money than being in service in a large home. Her husband was a chauffeur. Even married girls worked in the mill; their babies were brought to the mill for nursing at lunchtime. My Aunt Edna always credited her scholarship to Grammar School to the excellent education she received at the JP Coates school which used the strict Scottish education system. JP Coates made embroidery supplies. My great aunt Alice stitched the sample tapestries used in stores publicize their wares.

I often thought of the family connection as I drove through these Midlands industrial towns. The UK was in the midst of a hard recession. Company profits were down 20% and manufacturing output was down 15%. Inflation was 17% and unemployment had reached 1.5 million. Evidence of this was everywhere in the closed shops though the area was better off than some. Race riots occurred in the major cities triggered by arson attacks on the homes of racial minorities. The prisons were in uproar too with riots and hunger strikes. Peace camps were set up at Greenham Common to protest the siting of nuclear missiles as the USA slid towards war with Iran.

However Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher who was deeply unpopular, declared her intention to continue her policies announcing “the Lady’s not for turning”, and her Minister of Employment advised people to “get on your bike and look for work!”

One bright spot in all this was that Prince Charles and Lady Di were married and we were all invited to watch on the telly. As she swept down the aisle of St. Paul’s Cathedral, her magnificent silk dress had become a little crumpled from the confines of the glass coach. Perhaps this was a foreshadowing of things to come. The silk for the dress was woven in Suffolk, not Macclesfield. Filigree Textiles designed and produced an official souvenir lace panel to commemorate the occasion which sold very well in Japan.

The Lace on the bodice of Lady Diana’s wedding gown.

Like Wardles Mill, the factory I worked at is now derelict. Unlike Wardles the modern building did not last a hundred years. Filigree Textiles swallowed up its competitors and centralized its manufacturing into a new factory. I am not sure how much of its lace and voile is still manufactured in the Midlands. Cheap imports of excellent quality textiles from Eastern Europe were already threatening the market even in the 80s. Filigree had begun to buy lace rather than make it.

Information regarding lace keeps arriving:

“Do you know how to tell good lace from cheap lace? It’s the variation of the size of the holes. The more variations, the better the quality. This variation also causes the woven fabric to feel fairly stiff. Manufacturers would starch cheap lace so that it felt like good quality lace”. (Sheila McCoy)

Most of the old mills are derelict or transformed into flats or historic museums for the tourists. Which amounts to a glimpse at Britain’s manufacturing past and a trip to the tearoom.

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Each generation of the industry, each innovation seems to have been shorter than the previous ones. Cloth and thread were home produced for hundreds of years. That is, home grown, home spun and hand woven. Many generations would have worn cloth that was produced, cut and sewn within a very few miles of their homes. When the Victorians built the massive mills my grandmother worked in, wearing her clogs, they must have expected this marvellous new technology to last for many generations. The buildings and the machines were built to last. And yet I probably do not own one item in my closet that was made in North America. That is, made from American cotton, woven, cut and sewn all in North America.

In fact probably almost half of my wardrobe has more to do with the oil patch than the cotton patch, sheep fold or silkworm.

And the clogs? Janet has so much to share with the readers of this blog that it has been divided into two instalments. Stay tuned!

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From Lace Back to Stockings

The last posting on Lace triggered some interesting responses. Among them was the fact that a wedding dress was made of Nottingham Lace. Another reader wondered where one finds pieces of chunky old lace with which to play creatively. A third observed that the only place in the UK where lace continues to be manufactured is in Heanor in Derbyshire. And there was an email from Jeri Ames in Maine, USA with a request to share this blog with the members of Lace@Arachne.com.

That will be a pleasure and I hope that the lace makers will find this blog interesting though tangental. And for any readers with links to RSN in the 1950s, my name during my RSN days was Ann Nind. While a student there, I completed two and a half years of the three year course all in an 18 month time period. I worked hard for the first time on my life. It was a skill I really wanted to pursue but employment prospects were almost negligible. Hence the move into Occupational Therapy.

One never knows what will happen when one starts a blog. And it’s all rather exciting!

Lace is a huge subject and my blog barely scratches the surface. Further information on the history of Lace can be found in the article Lace by Sheila A. Mason, BA, FRSA. www.nottsheritagegateway.org.uk

Machine knitting was invented about 1589 by William Lee, a vicar of Nottinghamshire. The Stocking Knitting Frame made it possible for workers to produce knitted goods up to 100 times faster than by hand. The industry was primarily based in Nottinghamshire, Leicestershire and Derbyshire. The workers required quick sight, a ready hand and retentive faculties. It was a hard and demanding way to earn a living. Queen Elizabeth 1 refused to grant Lee a licence to produce stockings as she feared that it would result in financial hardship for the hand knitters. He went to France where he and his brother developed the machine further and within a decade he was able to produce long silk stockings for the gentry. Prior to this, stockings were hand knitted at home by every person available much like the production of Dorset Buttons.
www.frameworkknittersmuseum.org.uk

I am reminded of Malvolio in Twelfth Night written by Shakespeare 1601/02. By then, his yellow stockings had become a fashion item and it did not take long for them to become established. The cross gartering was not so normal! White was the usual colour and stockings were made of wool or cotton with silk being the most expensive. Fashion dictated colour changes and the inclusion of designs such as clocking as the machines became ever more complex.

The hand operated stocking knitting frames were an integral part of a cottage industry in the homes and cottages of Nottingham. A good light was essential and the high set wide windows in the photograph below indicates that a knitting machine was installed in the upper rooms. It was a family occupation. The men operated the knitting machine, the women did the sewing up and the children wound the hanks of wool onto cones. The machines became better, larger and faster. The industry boomed. The hand operated Stocking Knitting Machine depicted below is very different to the complex machine being demonstrated in the video at the end of this entry,

These four cottages in Stapleford near Nottingham were purpose built for the home based stocking frame knitters. The large windows on the top floor let in as much daylight as possible. In 1844 there were 16,382 stocking frames in the area. But the home industry was in decline because the availability of steam power made it increasingly attractive for the industry to move into factories. As a result, many of the machines in the homes fell idle and the welfare of the workers deteriorated. To earn the same money, the worker now had to toil 16 hours a day whereas previously he worked 10 hours. Their living conditions became deplorable with a diet consisting mainly of bread, cheese, gruel and tea on which they grew emaciated, pale and thin. As you will see in the video, operating a machine by hand requires strength and coordination.

This photo and the information were found in a wonderful collection of pictures: English Cottages by Tony Evans and Candida Lycett Green, ISBN 0 297 78116 2.

As the 19th century progressed, fashions changed. Men wore trousers and no longer needed long stockings. In the years from the 16th century to the 19th century it became harder and harder to make a living from operating a knitting machine. This is a brief synopsis from a long and informative article at
www.picturethepast.org.uk

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A Google search of Framework Knitting Machines will lead you to YouTube videos of these machines in operation. You will notice that working the 100 year old machine requires good body strength and concentration. The knitter, Martin Green, can be seen in the following video which includes an explanatory soundtrack.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oWfzzfjMa6k
The beautiful lace shawl pictured at the end of one of the videos reminded me that I have a similar shawl given to me by an English friend on the occasion of the birth of our first child. It is like gossamer and is in excellent condition because it has been treated as a treasure.

I hope that you have enjoyed this brief trip into the Land of Lace.

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Some History of Lace

It is a long time since you have heard from me. Life got in the way.

I would like to introduce you to Janet Sunderani. Reading this Blog brought back her memories of growing up in the Nottingham area of England and the stories she heard from her grandparents and neighbours who worked in the stocking and lace industry. Official history does not record what it was really like to work in the textiles factories that have long ceased to exist. These recollections fill in the gaps between the official records, photos of machines and statistics and it is important that they be recorded.

Making lace by machine required technical innovation, experience and dexterity. The machinery no longer exists and the needed skills no longer exist either. Janet says that it is a lost art that is unlikely to be reborn.

Photo from www.nottshistory.org.uk
The article contains considerable information about the industry and the developers of the machinery.

Another interesting site is http://thelacemakers.co.uk
Here you can watch the trailer of a movie. It shows the lace making machines and the jacquards that control the patterns. The white room where the ladies checked, cut and hemmed the finished lace is included. The jacquards are the cards that control the pattern that is being woven.

Of note is the Battle of Britain Panel. Thirty eight identical panels were produced; each one took a week to weave. They were presented to the RAF and Commonwealth units involved in the Battle of Britain, to important personages and to each of the Commonwealth countries. The panels each measured 14′ 9″ high by 5′ 3″ wide. They are national treasures. The machine used 40,000 jacquard cards all of which were destroyed after the panels had been completed. Below is a portion of the lowest part of the panel. To see more go to Googles Images- Battle of Britain Lace Panel. A search of the relevant sites is a very interesting experience.

Lace making machines were a development of the machines that made stockings. But that is for the next article. Stockings were produced in high volume whereas lace was a limited industry. During World War II, the factories and production were revamped to produce mosquito netting and camouflage nets.

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Janet drives two hours each way to attend our Guild in Guelph. Her reasoning is that we are a teaching Guild and she wanted to learn new techniques. She is an immaculate stitcher and we enjoy her presence among us. She has enriched our Guild as much as we have taught her. And it is totally thanks to her that this article and the one to follow are here for you to enjoy.

To my followers in Canada, Happy Thanksgiving.

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The Art of the Lacemaker: Exhibition at the Guelph Civic Museum

The Ruhland Collection: For the Love of Lace

“Lace is an art form … very precise and delicate. It takes years for a craftsman to perfect … and just as many years to learn and appreciate his work.” Margaret Ruhland, Ottawa Citizen, 1988

An Exhibition of Lace is a rare event. Come to think about it, I have never seen one but this omission in my life has been corrected. Currently, there is an amazing exhibition of lace at the Guelph Civic Museum and it is well worth a visit.

Margaret Ruhland started collecting lace in 1978. My concept of lace is a stained, damaged and torn remnant of a bygone age. This collection is none of these. The lace is crisp and clean and has been carefully selected and stored under conservation standards. The variety and quantity is amazing.

Margaret and occasionally, her friend, Joyce Taylor Dawson, made trips to Europe looking for and acquiring lace of the highest quality they could find. Margaret died last year and this exhibition is in her memory. It has been curated and mounted by Joyce.

Here is an example of what you will see: Gros Point de Venise – ca. 1640 – Italian. This is a noble lace made for a noble person. It is Needle Lace made with gossamer fine flax, unusually high cordonnets and a variety of filling stitches. The picots are unusual for that period. Look at how many of them there are in this small detail and how even they are in size. The collar, despite its age, is in perfect condition as is all the lace in the exhibition.

You will see Needle Lace and pulled thread work. In our Guild, this is one of the favourite classes we offer so we have a number of knowledgable members. It is good for us to see the history of this skill and we are arranging a group visit during October.

Bobbin Lace is a more complex and rare skill, beautiful Bobbin Lace that could have been worn by royalty. It is complicated and time consuming to create and thus has always been expensive. It could only be afforded by people of wealth and was one of the ways in which they displayed their wealth.

Above is a Venetian Point Bobbin Lace Collar, Italian, made in the second half of the 19th century together with a detail of the same.

In the middle of the 19th century, a lace making machine was developed. It was the time of the Industrial Revolution and machines were invented to produce many textile items. Lace became more affordable and the less wealthy were able to purchase collars, cuffs and edgings by the yard. The hand made laces remained affordable by the wealthy only.

This is a piece of Handmachine lace. Point de Venise Fragment – ca 1890. It is just as beautiful as its earlier, handmade counterparts.

Lace tools are on view as well. And, in a special added feature of the exhibition, there are a few pieces of modern lace by contemporary Canadian lace makers, some made with a metal thread.

Magnifying glasses are provided so that you can really see the detail.

This is a large exhibit. There are drawers full of lace, framed pieces on the wall, towers of lace and reproductions of famous paintings of famous people displaying their lace. There is a lot to see.

The photographs, taken by Margaret and Audrey Ruhland are from the catalogue
For the Love of Lace (ISBN 978-0-9918365-0-5) as is the quote at the start of this blog entry.

The catalogue can be purchased at the Guelph Civic Museum or ordered directly from Audrey Ruhland at audreyruhland@gmail.com
I hope that you will be able to visit. The museum is in downtown Guelph at 52 Norfolk Street, adjacent to the Church of Our Lady, a prominent landmark. The museum is open daily from 1 pm to 5 pm but there are occasional variations so check first. The museum phone number is 519-836-1221. Group visits can be arranged. The exhibit closes on November 2, 2014.

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Guelph is one hour west of Toronto, within easy reach of most of southern Ontario and border cities such as Buffalo

You have not heard anything from me lately as my time has been spent working on my book. It is on Hand stitching recognizable Summer Flowers and should be available soon.

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Beginners Gold Work Class

First, an apology. I have not forgotten about this blog but have been busy working on my eBook on Summer Flowers. It is progressing well but such a project takes up a huge amount of time. Publication is delayed until the fall as I would like to appreciate the summer weather after our endless winter.

This is an opportunity to catch a breath and to flaunt the achievements of the members of this class. They were true beginners not even knowing the names of the thread let alone how to use them. They listened well and stitched well. We started with learning the techniques on two small designs which between them, introduce most, but not all the techniques. This was not taken at a leisurely pace as I wanted time for them to work on designs of their own choosing. Some members stitched the learning samplers while others continued on a design of their own.

This was one of the designs on which the stitchers learned how to use the materials. The leaves are appliqued organza. The centre of the flower is highly padded and covered with parallel lengths of gilt. The edges of the petals are very fine Pearl Purl which is hard to handle and the main stalk uses the S-ing technique. Notice the smooth curve of the heavier Pearl Purl connecting the leaves. Stitched by Sandra Ackerley.

This small acorn spray was stitched by Renate Georgeff. She placed it between the two learning motifs where I had left space in case someone wanted to add something interesting. Notice the nice smooth curve of the Pearl Purl. The acorns include appliqued leather. The photo is slightly out of focus. I wish that my photography skills were as good as the stitching skills of this class.

Pat Harwood stitched this piece trying out brick stitching Japanese Gold and Or Nué neither of which I had taught as neither was included in the learning pieces. The central stalk is a cord. She used a twisted red and gold thread for continuous couching within the flower petals. This is an effective way to use this twist as it gives a textured effect. The framing enhanced all four of Pat’s pieces perfectly.

Gail Bailey stitched the seed head pictured above. She used appliqued leather, sequins and beads together with appliqued organza for the leaf. I think everyone in the class mastered stitching Pearl Purl in a smooth curve and the leather is well stitched down.

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Marsha Fontes designed and stitched this Art Deco motif. The darkness of the organza contrasts well with the beads in the petals and centre of the flower. The star shaped sequins break the curve of the outer circle most effectively. The slant of this piece when on display at our annual show reflected the overhead lights. The fabric is cut from a Pashmina shawl. It is closely woven, soft and needs more back-basting than is normal for stitching security.

Janet Sunderani stitched the fish to practice combing organza and leather in one piece before using it on a depiction of St. Basil’s in Moscow. Then she added the seaweed and pebbles to create this piece. The sequin waste used in the sea weed and the square beads for the sea floor make this an interesting piece. I am looking forward to seeing St. Basil’s when completed.

The class worked hard over six lessons to accomplish all this stitching. We will have an Advanced Class starting in September when the students will stitch their own designs. I am looking forward to the challenge and the results.

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Berlin Wool Work

The course of research does not always flow smoothly in the intended direction but often leads one to other destinations. But as all endeavours, including embroidery, are influenced by other factors, then one needs to take notice of the other players in the field. One major influence was Leek Embroidery. Another one is Berlin Wool Work.

Not surprisingly Berlin Wool Work originated in Germany. It was enormously popular in the first half of the 19th century. Worked on a coarse canvas using a thick wool yarn, it was stitched in tent stitch or cross stitch. Other stitches were used but these predominated. The finished pieces became firescreens, cushions, upholstery, small rugs and pictures and some panels would be joined together to make carpets.

The Industrial Revolution created a larger middle class where more ladies had the leisure time for stitching. The creation of more wealth and more stitchers fostered a demand for canvas, wool and patterns. Public taste for increasing decoration in the home was part of the Victorian lifestyle.

This chart (1825-1850) was hand coloured and is in the collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.

The charts were initially coloured by hand until the printing industry developed the ability to print increasingly large and detailed charts and, eventually, they appeared in colour. The records state that the designers and printers circulated 14,000 different patterns. Although charts were plentiful, there were also hand painted canvases available. The designs were floral but also included animals, pets, children, religious subjects and reproductions of famous paintings.

Another achievement that helped fuel this boom was the invention of analine dyes. This process created wools of vivid colours hitherto unavailable though the range of shades was limited. The wool came from Merino sheep in Saxony, was spun in Gotha, both of which are in southern Germany, and dyed in Berlin. The production of Berlin wools was discontinued in the 1930s. Charts, wools and canvas were exported to Britain and the USA where they also became very popular. In fact, Berlin Wool Work became a craze and basically ousted all other sorts of embroidery in England. Berlin Wool Work was a major interest that kept the stitchers of the western world busy and excluded other styles of embroidery.

As well as tent stitch and/or cross stitch, beading and tufting work could be included. Tufting goes by many names including Turkey Stitch. The loops formed by the stitch are cut and the resulting pile is trimmed to contours and shapes. The sample above contains tent stitch, beading and tufting.

While searching for images to illustrate this style of embroidery I found that many charts still exist but the actual stitched pieces are harder to find. Also, many have become faded and discoloured and are not as visually appealing as are the charts.

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Further information on this subject can be found in books with titles such as Berlin Wool Work and Victorian Canvas Work.

It would appear that this style of embroidery has had a lasting effect on the designs and stitches many enjoy today. I am sure we can all think of examples of types of embroidery influenced by Berlin Wool Work.

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Dyeing and the Silk Industry During the Late 1800s

This article is an introduction to the next one which will be about Leek Embroidery

Thomas Wardle (1831-1909) of Leek in Staffordshire was an English dye chemist and printer who devoted much of his life to development of the textile printing industry employing both locally woven and imported fabrics. He had widespread interests, considerable energy and solved many problems associated with the dyeing of fabrics making many technological breakthroughs and innovations in the process.

Colour played a defining role in his life. He developed consistency between dye lots, colour fastness and also the variations of shades in colour ranges. His company printed small runs of fabrics using both natural and chemical dyes. He used wood printing blocks and, with over printing, created extra colours.

William Morris was a protégé, business partner and friend. Together they experimented with dyeing and printing using natural dyestuffs. Morris would create a design which was cut into woodblocks and which were used for short run printing. Morris and several other lesser known artists designed for the Arts and Crafts movement which was hugely influential in developing public taste as it moved forward from the tastes of the Victorian era. Prior to this time, the fashion had been for Berlin work where the colours are vibrant but there are few shades within a colour range. A look at the William Morris designs gives you an idea of their complexity, richness, balance and subtlety of colour.

Design Indain Poppy By Wardle & Co

A label reads:

Design Indian Poppy, c 1884-89, based on a woven French silk, Tussur silk cloth hand-woven in India. Block-printed by Wardle & Co, the Hencroft Works, Leek, stitched with Indian tussur silk yarn dyed with natural dyes by T & A Wardle, the Churnet Works. Leek Embroidery Society. (SMDC Collection)

The Wardle Company also dyed textiles for bulk orders such as for the Admiralty. And they dyed hanks of wool for the carpet industry as well as threads for sewing, embroidery and braids. He was the major supplier of printed textiles to Liberty’s on Regent Street as well as to Harrods in Kensington. And he had a store under his own name on Bond Street.

Tussur Silk became a huge part of the life of Thomas Wardle. Tussor Silk is the product of a large, wild silk moth native to India. The fibres are long and this length creates the sheen in the fabric and in the embroidery threads. Although it is a durable fibre, it is beige in colour and resistant to being dyed.

He spent many years experimenting with ways of processing the fabric and dyeing it to produce a jewel toned range of colours. This silk fabric became enormously popular and fashionable in England as well as France. The discarded (short) fibres were used to create Sealcloth, another invention. This fabric was water resistant and in high demand to make coats and cloaks.

Late in his life, he travelled to Kashmir (India) where there was a famine and the silk industry was failing. His knowledge and experience brought changes, revitalizing the industry and providing employment for thousands of Indians and lifting them out of poverty for decades to come.

The long silk fibres were made into embroidery threads with a range of shades within a colour. In 1879, Thomas took some of the threads home and gave them to his wife Elizabeth, an embroiderer, challenging her to find a good use for them.

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The accompanying photos are examples of Leek Embroidery. The design woven into the fabric was typical for its time. The embroiderer then used the Wardle dyed silk threads to enhance the woven design. Note the lustre of the silk thread and the good condition of the next piece. It is thanks to Joan Landon who had collected and stored it at her home, Sunnycroft (Blog dated September 15, 2013)

References: ISSUU – Who was Thomas Wardle.
Thomas Wardle and Tussur Silk

Thomas Wardle and Tussur Silk

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Beryl Dean Panels

One idea or a question from the Blog triggers another Blogwrite.

I found, and would like to share with you, a website devoted to the magnificent panels embroidered by Beryl Dean and now in the care of St. George’s Chapel which is located within the walls of Windsor Castle. I first saw the panels in the ’70s and they were proudly displayed in a side Chapel of the Church. The next time, I was reluctantly allowed to see them after the the caretaker tried to deny their existence. The last time, about 10 years ago, my interest was unwelcome but I got a brief glimpse. The space had become a repository for extra chairs and pieces of furniture. I nearly cried that this had happened to these incredible pieces of ecclesiastical embroidery. On finding the following article on the web, I am relieved to see that they are now properly housed and hung. And treated with the respect they deserve.

The panels are large. A guess would be that they are between 3 and 4 feet wide, and 5 and 6 feet high. The colours are wonderful, and glowing. I think that she used silk threads as well as gold. Photographs do not do these masterpieces justice. I have enlarged the photos in the article but, even so, they only give an indication of their beauty. I do not know if Beryl did all the stitching herself or, if she had help, who else was involved. I wish that I had been one of them. And that says how much I admire them.

If you have a chance to visit Windsor, I heartily recommend that you see the Beryl Dean Panels.

From the College of St. George website:

http://www.stgeorges-windsor.org/about-st-georges/news1/news-archive/2011/beryl-dean-panels.html

2nd August (2011) marks the 100th anniversary of the birth of Beryl Dean. She died in 2001 but her remarkable work lives on at St George’s Chapel and other places in her embroidery and related work.

Between 1969 and 1974 Beryl Dean made five panels to hang in the Rutland chantry, one of the side chapels within St. George’s Chapel. On a background of especially woven linen and lurex she used a variety of techniques such as applique, drawn thread and pulled work. The five panels now hang in a special cabinet in the Ambulatory to protect them from too much light and dust. One panel is always on display and others can be seen on request to the Chapel staff. The work was commissioned by the Friends of St George’s and the Descendants of the Knights of the Garter to mark the Chapel’s quincentenary in 1975.

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The five panels depict the Annunciation, the Visitation, the Adoration of the Magi, the Temptation in the Wilderness, and the Miracle at Cana.

Annunciation

Annunciation

Visitation

Visitation

Adoration of the Magi

Adoration of the Magi

Temptation in the Wilderness

Temptation in the Wilderness

Miracle at Cana

Miracle at Cana

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Royal School of Needlework – Part Four: Designing

Remembering is fun especially when there is someone else to share memories and add to them. I am indebted to Gillian Cox, now Creelman (the dark haired young lady, second from the right in the first class room photo in my July 4 posting). We were both very happy to learn professional techniques from the masters of the art of embroidery but neither of us was particularly happy to discover that, after learning the basics on established samplers, we were expected to design our subsequent pieces of embroidery. These included Long and Short Stitch, Laid Work, Black Work, Coarse and Fine Whitework and Gold Work. How this piece of vital information could have surprised me is now beyond my comprehension. From hindsight, I will also comment that it is hard to design for a technique about which you, as yet, know little or nothing. I still have a mental block about designing but have developed some coping skills.

To aid us in this endeavour, we spent Friday mornings sketching in the Victoria and Albert Museum, the Natural History Museum and, Gillian tells me, she also sketched in Kensington Gardens and Hyde Park but that was after I had left. She remembers, as do I, that passersby would comment on what we were doing as if we were not there or were stone deaf. I dutifully went to the museums and sketched bits of the Syon Cope and stuffed birds but had no idea why I was doing it.

Syon Cope

Syon Cope

The Syon Cope is one of England’s treasures. For those who do not know about this remarkable, large piece of embroidery, I will explain why. Made between 1300 and 1320, it is an example of the high degree of artistry and the use of the technique of Underside Couching. Commissioned by wealth it was made by professional stitchers in a workshop. The most expensive of materials was used and it was extremely labour intensive. Underside couching was a specialty of England and is known as Opus Anglicanum. The Syon Cope was taken out of England during the reign of Henry V111 for safe keeping and remained in France until the early 1900s when it was returned. This saved it because otherwise if would have been destroyed and the extensive amount of gold used in the gold thread would have been recycled into the Exchequer. I hope that this information is correct but you can read a lot more about it on the web. I missed the Syon cope when I visited the Victorian and Albert Museum on my last trip to England. The Information Stand that now stands in the main entry hall is not an aesthetic replacement.

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The result of being clueless was that when we got to the point of producing a design for the next technique, I was dumbfounded, speechless and without a thought or an idea in my head. Miss Randell coaxed me into some sort of a decision and a design for Regal Lilies using Long and Short Stitched stitched in wool emerged. I had never even seen a Regal Lily and I do not think that anyone else had either. Remember that London was bleak and grey at that time and even the basics of life were in short supply. Available flowers were only those hardy perennials that had survived the war years. My choice was governed by the dream of an unobtainable exotica and the colours. Even after the decision was made, side views and details were guess work. The shading was guided by Miss Randell without whom I would have been totally lost instead of only 98% lost. Now we can turn to Google Images and find a wealth of information and pictures on every subject possible.

Regal Lilies

Regal Lilies

I was interested to hear from Marion Scoular, who many of you will know, about her experience of RSN and design. She started her training two years after Gillian and myself. For her first year, Marguerite Randell was her teacher; the second year, Miss Randell moved to the workshop section and Beryl Dean became the senior teacher in the school. Beryl Dean was an RSN graduate but was also an accomplished artist and designer. She tried to change the curriculum and place more emphasis on design. However, the Board of Governors did not agree with her and she only taught there for one year. What a missed golden opportunity that was. Her work is amazing and well worth researching on the web.

Cope for Bishop of London

Cope for Bishop of London

When I look at the current RSN students’ gallery, I am totally amazed at the variety and ingenuity displayed. Their work is a lifetime different to anything we ever created.

www.royal-needlework.org.uk Gallery: Degree students work

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The Alice Project

Ellen Collington was a participant in our ‘Creative Use of Stitches Class’ in Guelph. She drew her inspiration from Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland and Salvador Dali. As well as these two creators, she also combined the learnings of three classes into this project. You will see photoprinting on fabric, a variety of stitches and the construction of an accordion book. On top of all these variables, her house was undergoing extensive renovation, her workspace was nonexistent and her stash unavailable.

Down The Rabbit Hole:

Sailor edge, feather, knot, seed, satin, straight, pekinese
Chain: square
Outline: whipped

Down The Rabbit Hole

Down The Rabbit Hole

Advice from a Caterpillar:

Antwerp edge, back, rope, knot, pearl, vandyke, outline
Chain: twisted, whipped
Feather: closed

Advice from a Caterpillar

Advice from a Caterpillar

“Who in the world am I? Ah, that is a great puzzle”

“Do you think I’ve gone round the bend?”

“I’m afraid so. You’re mad, bonkers, completely off your head. But I’ll tell you a secret.
All the best people are.”

“You used to be much more…’muchier.’ You’ve have lost your muchness.”

“And what is the use of a book, thought Alice, without pictures or conversation?”

“My dear, here we must run as fast as we can, just to stay in place. And if you wish to go anywhere you must run twice as fast as that.”

The Mock Turtle’s Story:

Sailor edge, satin, web, knot, feather, back, straight, buttonhole
Outline: whipped
Chain: square twisted, whipped, detached

Mock Turtle's Story

Mock Turtle’s Story

Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland

Written by Lewis Carroll. Pen name for Charles Dodgson (1832 – 1898)

 

Salvador Dali (1904 – 1989)

Spanish Surrealist Painter

 

The Mad Tea Party:

Antwerp edge, back, knot, feather
Outline: whipped
Chain: twisted, whipped

The Mad Tea Party

The Mad Tea Party

My challenge criteria for the Alice Project:

To develop a stitch sampler, using as many traditional stitches as possible.

To work entirely by hand, using only DMC: stranded cotton, spooled metallic thread
and number 5 perle cotton.

To use stitch only . . . no beads, applique, yarn, silk, ribbon, purchased or machine made embellishments.

To highlight focal points and allow at least 50% of the printed background to show.

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To use the colours as they appear in the printed fabric rather than the brighter version in the photos.

There are eight embroideries in the Alice Project book. They are combined with the photos and text in a book that opens out in both directions like an accordion.

I hope that you have enjoyed seeing Ellen’s creativity. I will be forwarding all your comments to her.