London Embroidery School

Central London based Embroidery School

prestigious embroidery

The Perfect Mother’s Day Gift

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Mother’s day is just around the corner, and what better way to treat her than with the gift of a new skill!

We are currently offering weekend workshops in both tambour beading and beginners goldwork with dates approaching very soon, so perfect timing for getting those all important Mother’s Day present’s sorted!

Our Tambour Beading weekend workshop is running on Saturday the 12th of March from 10am to 4:30pm, and the Beginners Goldwork taking place on Saturday the 2nd of April from 10am to 4:30pm

This is the perfect gift for any mother who loves crafting, or just wants to learn something new, and can be an ideal day out to spend some quality time together.

If you’re not quite sure what you think she would like there is always the option of gift certificates for the London Embroidery School so she can choose for herself. Just search in the personalised gifts section of the site and choose the amount you would like to gift.

We are now taking bookings for both these workshops, so book now to secure your seats!

The History of Limerick Lace

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Limerick Lace is a fragile technique that requires practice and patience to become proficient. It is the art of embroidering net to make beautiful, lacy pieces that are extremely delicate and time bearing. There are two types to master; Limerick Tambour and Limerick Run Lace.

19th Century Irish Limerick Lace

Limerick Lace originated in the Far East, and is believed to have been brought to Europe through Turkey in the 18th Century.

The name Limerick Lace comes from Limerick in Ireland, where Mr. Charles Walker set up a lace manufacturing business in 1829 after a machine for making net was invented in Nottingham in the early 1800’s. Mr. Walker produced mainly Limerick Tambour in his factory.

A less traditional way to handle Limerick Lace

The business was thriving, until unfortunately the standard declined and the factory was sold on in 1841.

Limerick Run Lace

Although the art has somewhat decreased in popularity, there are still lace makers  who are keeping the tradition alive, and you could be one of them! Here at London Embroidery School we teach Limerick run lace, which can be learnt on our Lace Series course and our individual Limerick Lace class.

Please don’t hesitate to give us a call if you have any questions about the classes!

Michele Carragher

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As embroiderers, we cannot help but be infatuated by the beautiful embroideries seen in Game of Thrones! London based embroiderer Michele Carragher – with a degree from the London College of Fashion, is the talented embroiderer behind the wonderful details on the costumes that can be seen throughout the series.

We love the attention to detail in this exquisite leafy design that must have required hours of work!

One of the things we love to praise Michele Carragher on is the 3D elements she incorporates in a lot of her work. These details are often unnoticed and underestimated on the television screen, however, after looking closer you can begin to appreciate the hard work and long hours that go into a single piece!

Carragher never fails to impress with her attention to detail and beautifully unique stitch work. She uses mainly traditional embroidery techniques, whilst occasionally combining them with more modern techniques and materials.

This beautiful layered fabric is one of Carragher’s textural pieces, which undoubtedly reflect’s the effect of dragon scales for the ‘Mother of Dragons’ in the latest season.

Lucky fans of the series and it’s wonderful costumes were given the opportunity to see the fantastic craftsmanship at the Game of Thrones exhibition last February, where they could get up close and personal with some of Michele’s work.

We would love to have been at the exhibition to see the costumes and appreciate the fantastic stitch work first hand!

After admiring the details of Carragher’s work over photographs, all we can do now is wait for the next season to be released, at the hope it brings us ever more impressive embroidery by Michele Carragher!

 

Beautiful Creations at Ecole Lesage Embroidery School

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Ecole Lesage Interiors Embroidery Production

After looking at what different techniques are taught at foreign embroidery schools – in particular Ecole Lesage in Pais, London Embroidery school have been captivated by some of the final outcomes their courses can provide, and how they differ to our traditional English embroideries.

Ecole Lesage Interiors Embroidery Final Outcome

François Lesage founded his prestigious French embroidery school in 1992 to train the art of highly renowned embroidery in his unique style, and has since trained over 400 students a year!

Ecole Lesage ‘Frieze’

We have fallen in love with the outcomes of some of their courses, like this beautiful mounted piece (above) using chenille and cotton flat stitch, a French solution to applying beads.

The piece takes a total of approximately 30 hours to complete!

Ecole Lesage ‘Discovering the Hook’

Another piece we loved was the outcome for the 12 hour ‘Discovering the Hook’ course. The pieces require a combination of needlework stitches, as well as using a lunéville (also known as tambour) hook to apply beads, sequins and jewellery; the Parisian alternative to tambour beading using a barring stitch.

This gorgeous embellished clutch bag wouldn’t go amiss on the Chanel catwalk, and is just one example of the many classes available at Ecole Lesage Paris for beginners.

So if you’re interested in a unique Parisian experience by learning French embroidery techniques, there may be a course for you!