The April workshop for the Guild's Certificate Course was presented by Nancy Williams and focused on Leek Embroidery, that is, embroidery developed and practiced in the town of Leek in Staffordshire, England. The Leek Embroidery Society and Leek School of Embroidery were founded in 1879 by Elizabeth and Thomas Wardle. Elizabeth established designs and kits for using the tasar silks her husband imported from India and for which he perfected dyeing and printing techniques. The Society and School produced furnishings and ecclesiastical embroideries of high quality.
The colours and designs achieved were in sharp contrast to the Berlin Wool Work that had been popular up to this point.
The colours and designs achieved were in sharp contrast to the Berlin Wool Work that had been popular up to this point.
Nancy had prepared kits and a design for us to work. The fabric was a silk damask and the threads filament silk and gold.
I don't much enjoy using filament silk, but we applied hand cream lavishly and got down to business.
Nancy taught each of the stitch techniques - long and short, satin and gold couching.
The design was just the right size. We made good progress in the workshop, and I was able to finish it off in an evening at home.
I decided to mount this in the lid of a small box under glass to preserve it from tarnishing.
If I were enrolled in the Certificate Course it would simply be a sample to go in my folder, but since I am an interested acolyte of the Course I can put it to practical use.
Alison Cole has just the box I was after on her website!
So here is the finished product, looking rather splendid and a gift for someone special.
1 comment:
Lovely colours for the dark wood of the box and a beautiful gift for your lucky friend.
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