A Fan-tastic Old Kit

I learned to embroider by working commercial kits. I have a few favourites and I recently saw one of them come up for sale on ebay.

Dragonfly with Underside Couching

When I stitched the Opus Anglicanum Little Man, I became intrigued with the background that was created with underside couching in gold metallic thread. I was fascinated with the patterning that appeared to be etched into the gold.

My first attempt at this technique was quite rough, so I definitely wanted to try it again.

Little Man in Opus Anglicanum

For many reasons, I've had Medieval embroidery on the brain lately. Several years ago, I had the  good fortune to be invited to a symposium put on by a Society for Creative Anachronism (SCA) group. They taught four embroidery classes over two days, and it was an incredibly valuable experience.

One of the classes was Opus Anglicanum (translation: English Work) which I don't think I'd even heard of at the time! We worked a traditional Medieval character in silk and gold threads.

Gold Leaf

Back in 2007, I had the opportunity to take three goldwork classes over six days with the Royal School of Needlework (RSN) in Iowa. (The RSN used to teach in Iowa every year.) In one of the classes, I learned several metal thread techniques by working a goldwork rose. In the final class, we embroidered a more modern take on goldwork which included this gold leather leaf sprinkled with beads.

Golden Oldie

Way back in 2007 I had the opportunity to take six days of goldwork classes with Royal School of Needlework (RSN) tutors in Iowa. RSN used to teach in Iowa every year and, although I didn't know it at the time, 2007 would be their last year there.

The first session was a one-day introduction to goldwork class. The next two days were for intermediate goldwork and the last three days were devoted to creative goldwork.

The first two classes were taught by the fabulous Shelley Cox and it was like goldwork boot camp. I learned so much. I especially liked the project for the intermediate class. (I don't know if Shelley was the designer.) It's a wonderful goldwork rose.