In February I was very excited to get an email from The Royal School of Needlework to tell me of a cancellation on a weekend course, that I wanted to get onto but had been sold out. The only issue was that it was Friday and the course for Saturday and Sunday. I am not very good at doing things without planning it first so I wasn't sure if I should go, but I took the bull by the horns and made a call and signed up. It seemed like a fair bit of money at first but very soon after getting there It was obvious that it was going to be worth every penny.
I should say now that the course was in Jacobean Crewel Embroidery, a style of needlework that I have admired for a long time. Whilst I had embroidered with some of the stitches before, the chance to learn this art from an expert in such amazing surroundings was too much to resist, oh yes, didn't I mention? the Royal School of Needlework's home is right in the heart of Hampton Court Palace!
My first view of my home for the next two days
The design process.
My attempt at trellis-work , I used French knots for shading.
On the second day, I arrived early so I had a wander around the grounds. It was freezing but beautiful.
Details from the beautiful crewel-work screen that we were to use as inspiration
A bird from the same screen.
Crewel-work Screen.
It was an amazing experience which had me wanting to go back the next day and the next. Whilst chatting to the two lovely tutors Lizzie and Kate, they tried to talk me into becoming a student there and enter into the School Certificate course, I rushed home to look into this on the website and found it would cost me the best part of £4000! One for the lottery win I think!
We used the best materials, as you would imagine; gorgeous linen twill fabric, used for Crewel work since Jacobean times (and is £50 per metre!) a lovely deep wooden embroidery frame which fits under your leg leaving both hands free (a revelation for me, I love it!) and the most beautiful merino crewel wool, hand-dyed in France by Renaissance Dyeing (http://www.renaissancedyeing.com.
I would however like to try and take a class there once a year. I have my eye on Gold-work or maybe Illuminated lettering.
I am in the process of designing some embroidery and cross stitch patterns, which will eventually be available for download , I'll blog about my progress with this soon
This is was a must for any embroidery buff or indeed if you are interested in History, a great chance to get amongst it.
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