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In January 2023 I decided to enrol at the Royal School of Needlework to study for their Certificate and then Diploma in technical hand embroidery. The Certificate includes 4 modules - Jacobean Crewelwork, Canvaswork, Silk Shading and Goldwork. Since the pandemic it has been possible to study by Zoom and that is what I am currently doing.
Module 1 - Jacobean Crewelwork
My first challenge was to come up with my own original design based on traditional Jacobean designs, which often include a Tree of Life and one or more animals or insects. Tendrils are also a common feature. The images do not have to be to scale and are often exaggerated for effect. Once my design had been agreed, I worked on stitch and colour plans before finally starting the actual embroidery, which is worked on linen twill with Appleton's crewel wools. The work was done on a slate frame. There are two main colourways in different shades, with a couple of accent shades (in my case red & pink). I have used over 20 stitches in this work (some are obligatory), including trellis work, block shading, burden stitch, raised stem band, padded satin stitch, satin stitch raised chain band, buttonhole stitch, long & short stitch, bullion knots, cretan stitch, fly stitch, feather stitch, vandyke stitch, laid work, French knots, seeding, feather stitch, whipped & woven wheels & stem stitch. Once stitched, I mounted the work onto a board before sending it to the RSN for assessment.
My first challenge was to come up with my own original design based on traditional Jacobean designs, which often include a Tree of Life and one or more animals or insects. Tendrils are also a common feature. The images do not have to be to scale and are often exaggerated for effect. Once my design had been agreed, I worked on stitch and colour plans before finally starting the actual embroidery, which is worked on linen twill with Appleton's crewel wools. The work was done on a slate frame. There are two main colourways in different shades, with a couple of accent shades (in my case red & pink). I have used over 20 stitches in this work (some are obligatory), including trellis work, block shading, burden stitch, raised stem band, padded satin stitch, satin stitch raised chain band, buttonhole stitch, long & short stitch, bullion knots, cretan stitch, fly stitch, feather stitch, vandyke stitch, laid work, French knots, seeding, feather stitch, whipped & woven wheels & stem stitch. Once stitched, I mounted the work onto a board before sending it to the RSN for assessment.
Module 2 - Canvas Stitches
I began this module in May 2023 with canvaswork being more or less a new technique for me, The first task was to choose an image (A5) to copy and I decided to use a painting by my late mother of Gothenburg harbour (the painting is much bigger!). It's then about putting together a stitch plan, which can be quite challenging if you don't know canvas stitches. So I set about working a sampler of 36 different stitches, using a large variety of threads, also experimenting with shading. This has helped a lot and especially when I came to choose stitches for the water, which had to be mainly a mixture of Roumanian couching and Hungarian grounding. Unlike many other types of embroidery, the foreground is worked first so I started with the boats and then moved on to the water and the pier. You can see my progress so far on the right. After working the smaller boat, I stitched the water in the background using a variation of Florentine Stitch and after working on the buildings, I will finish with the sky in a Milanese stitch. There are quite a few lines to be stitched in afterwards and the work may also require a border. |
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