Masonite

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.

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.

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.