London Embroidery School

Central London based Embroidery School

embroidery

Part 2 Intro to Silk Shading is Out

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The second part of our introduction to silk shading has been released and is now available on the London Embroidery School website. If you purchased one of our kit and classes bundles then the second part will have been delivered to your email address otherwise it is now purchasable independently.

needle painting, silk shading , thread painting, long and short stitch
Silk shading from below, detail

During this class we will be talking to you more about the technique of silk shading and how it can be tweaked with your directional, material and density choices. As you will have become comfortable with juggling your thread blending using two needles we will offer a little context and examples from the history of silk shading which will hopefully spark ideas of how you can go on to apply your new skills.

If you haven’t already secured your introduction to silk shading kit, don’t delay as these have been selling like hot cakes since the launch of part 1.Find all your options in the online classes section of the London Embroidery School Website.

needle painting, silk shading , thread painting, long and short stitch
Intro to Silk Shading in frame

March’s Student of the Month

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Feels like Spring is here and with that a new student of the month. So for their lovely works during March the winner is…@rhea_krcmarova

It is so fascinating and inspiring to see what each of you like to do in your spare time and how you manage to work embroidery into your lives. Taking Rhea for example- describing herself as a writer and transmedial text artist, we were delighted to see how our chiffon rose class came out for her and how effective they are when built up in this way.

As a text artist, she also wrote this wonderful poem to go along with the piece which we think is just beautiful:

”my needle

floating

in a field of fingers 

my pulse explodes

in silky-spoken strands

my blood is bound

my knots are softly breathing

my thread is rising

where my lashes bend”

Rhea Krcmarova 2021

 

Do have a look at her instagram page if you would enjoy seeing more of her works and seeing how her other artistic mediums all fit together.

If you would like to be the next #studentofthemonth,  use the hashtag #londonembroideryschool or tag us when sharing your photos from your London Embroidery School class or the things you have gone onto make following one of our classes.

All Images courtesy of @rhea_krcmarova

February’s Student of the Month

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February as always flew by as always, but it would seem that you all managed to find time for your stitching with all the submissions we had for student of the month. And so we have a new student of the month to announce…. @chlopargins

Chloe has been working away at her Goldwork Online Class Pear Design over the course of February and has been sharing images of the various stages and techniques she tackles.

As a Costumer, we are excited to see what she does with her new found goldwork skills.

As you can see here, she has really got into the couching and is bricking those stitches wonderfully.

We also love to see our students taking care of their works well, like taping the ends of the god threads before plunging to preserve them.

We can also see from her instagram that this is not her first foray into goldwork, having tried our Introduction to Goldwork Cherry Design at the start of the year. It’s wonderful to see people’s confidence grow from the intro kits onto the more challenging designs.

We also very much appreciate a little bit of geeking out about good working practises- like wrapping one’s embroidery frame. ”10 points to Griffindor!”

Cocktails and Cutwork anyone? It could catch on!

 

If you would like to be the next #studentofthemonth , use the hashtag #londonembroideryschool or tag us when sharing your photos from your London Embroidery School class or the things you have gone onto make following one of our classes.

 

All Images courtesy of @chlopargins

January’s Student of the Month

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January is over- phew! And so we have a new student of the month to announce…. @hanlroberts


Hannah purchased our Goldwork Online Class and kit and has been working away on her pear in great detail.

I’m sure you will agree she has made a fantastic job of it and even though she says that the cutwork was tough, we think she should be very pleased with it.

Hannah is quite an accomplished stitcher from her instagram page, you can see she has turned her hand to lots of wonderful stitching kits, all of which could be adverts themselves !

Hannah’s finished Craftpod Kit

If you would like to be the first #studentofthemonth of 2021, use the hashtag #londonembroideryschool or tag us when sharing your photos from your London Embroidery School class or the things you have gone onto make following one of our class.

Hannah’s finished Emilie Ferris Kit

All Images courtesy of @hanlroberts

Goldwork Letter 3 is Out Now!

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Goldwork Letters Style 3: Cutwork with padding and Pearle Purl edging is here. The final step in our goldwork for lettering series aimed at those who have done some goldwork before and are ready to apply those skills more specifically. Taught by breaking the letters down into their characteristics, we discuss the intricacies of the elements you will face and how to deal with each of them as well as showing how to bring all those elements together into one considered, cohesive outcome.

There are no kits for this class as we encourage you to make your own creative material choices for a truly personalised outcome. Do check out the materials listed on the class for our guide to what you’ll need. Head over to the London Embroidery school website for all the details and access to our most technically advanced goldwork class to date.

Goldwork Letters 2 Out Now!

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Goldwork Letters Style 2: Couching and Overstretched Pearle Purl has arrived.

Bringing colour and texture to the party, this goldwork class for a lettering outcome is designed for those who have done a little goldwork before and want to step it up a gear. Taught by breaking the letters down into their characteristics, you can apply the approaches to the letter of your choosing, and it will arm you to be able to take on any shapes you might come across.

There are no kits for this class as we encourage you to make your own creative material choices for a truly personalised outcome, however we will guide you through what types you will need to have to hand. This makes it a great class for those who want to get started straight away, and also for using up some left over materials you might have from previous goldwork projects.
Head over to the London Embroidery school website for all the details and to start creating your own sophisticated goldwork letter piece.

 

Materials and equipment

  • Base fabrics (felt, melton is best fabric if you are thinking about make it into a patch) & Calico (medium tight weave – any Goldwork with Plunging technique includes requires a supporting base fabric unless you are working on very heavy non stretch fabric)
  • Pricker
  • Pounce
  • Tracing paper design drawn (printed out or drawn. Blue transferable paper work too so no need to prick & pounce)
  • Gel Pen/ Water soluble Pen (optional, pencil works fine if it’s light fabric)
  • Goldwork Thread: Passing (2g – Yellow Gold Passing used in the video) & Rococco (1m – Very Fine used in the video), Pearle Purl (1g) (Some letters use less or more) Japanese Gold Thread or Twists can be used too.
  • Needles: Embroidery/Chenille Needle (Embroidery No.10 used in the video) Chenille Needle for Plunging (No. 22 used in the video) (optional) & Curved Needle (optional)
  • Thread to match Gold Thread
  • Embroidery Stranded Cotton
  • Sewing thread to match the stranded cotton
  • Heavy/stronger thread (Extra Upholstery Thread used in the video. Top Thread/Buttonhole Thread are good too) (optional)
  • Goldwork Scissors (ideally separate from normal embroidery scissors as Golwork will blunt the scissors)
  • Thread scissors
  • Mellor/Stiletto
  • Wax
  • Pins
  • Embroidery hoop/frame (ideally clamp/seat/slate frame so your both hands are free)
  • Access to a printer or trace off a computer screen at 100%
  • Temporary adhesive spray, wall paper paste, sewing machine (all optional)