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| Established | 1872 |
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Academic affiliation | UCA |
| Chief Executive | Dr Susan Kay-Williams, |
| Location | |
| Patron | Queen Camilla |
| Website | www |
The Royal School of Needlework (RSN) is a hand embroidery school in the United Kingdom, founded in 1872 and based at Hampton Court Palace since 1987.
The RSN began as the School of Art Needlework in 1872, founded by Lady Victoria Welby. The first president was Princess Christian of Schleswig-Holstein, Queen Victoria's third daughter, known to the RSN as Princess Helena. [1] She received help from William Morris and many of his friends in the Arts and Crafts movement.
Its initial premises was a small apartment on Sloane Street, [1] employing 20 women. She employed Anastasia Marie Dolby as the superintendant and instructor but she died in the following year. [2] Nellie Whichelo was the head designer from the late 1880s. [3] The School received its royal prefix in March 1875 when Queen Victoria consented to become its first patron. It was also an inspiration to Dora Wemyss, who founded the Wemyss School of Needlework in Scotland in 1877 in its image. [4] The school grew to 150 students and moved in 1903 to Exhibition Road, near the Victoria and Albert Museum. The purpose-built building was designed by a group of architects, including prominent British Arts and Crafts architect James Leonard Williams (d.1926). [5] The word "Art" was dropped from the school's title in 1922. [5]
The RSN established a Studio which works new bespoke embroidery commissions and replicas of antique textiles as well as restoration and conservation projects. The work of the Studio has been used in many important events, including a joint effort with Toye in producing the velvet cushions on which the Royal Crowns were carried into Westminster Abbey for the Coronation of King George VI. [6]
In 1953, the School created the gold embroidery on the Purple Robe of Estate, part of the coronation robes of Queen Elizabeth II. [5]
The school moved from Princes Gate in Kensington to Hampton Court Palace in 1987, occupying rooms in Christopher Wren's construction. [7]
In 2011, the school was responsible for hand appliquéing machine-made floral lace motifs onto silk net (tulle) for the wedding dress of Kate Middleton, now Her Royal Highness The Princess of Wales. [8] [9]
In 2022, the school celebrated its 150-year anniversary with the 150 Years of the Royal School of Needlework: Crown to Catwalk exhibition at the Fashion and Textile Museum of London. [10]
The RSN embroidered 9 pieces for the 2023 Coronation, including the King’s Robe of State and the Queen’s Robe of Estate. [11]
To make arts and crafts more accessible to a wider audience, in 1880 the school published the Handbook of Embroidery. It was written by Letitia Higgin and edited by the school's vice-President. It included commissioned illustrations by Gertrude Jekyll, William Morris, Edward Burne-Jones and Walter Crane. [13] Over a century later, in 2011, the school reprinted the work with a preface essay by Lynn Hulse. [14]
William George Paulson Townsend, who taught drawing and became master of design at the school, also published several works including Embroidery, or, The craft of the needle and Plant and floral studies for designers, art students, and craftsmen, the latter of which was reprinted in 2005. [15] [16] [17]
The RSN has an archive of over 30,000 embroidery-related images covering every period of British history. There are also over 5,000 textile pieces in its Collection. [10]
For its 150th anniversary in 2021, the Royal School of Needlework opened the RSN Stitch Bank, a digital archive with detailed information about selected stitches, their history and usage. [18]
The Royal School of Needlework is a registered charity [19] and has always been under royal patronage. The current patron is the Queen. [20] [21] The previous patron was Queen Elizabeth II. [22] The school is governed by a board of trustees currently chaired by Andrew Palmer. Dr Susan Kay-Williams is Chief Executive. [23] Standards are overseen by QAA who, in 2014, commended the quality of student learning opportunities at the school. [24]
A former student made accusations that management at the Royal School of Needlework had failed to properly investigate allegations of bullying made by her and another student against a tutor on the Future Tutor Programme. According to a newspaper article, a prior complaint against the tutor had previously been reprimanded. The tutor was later allowed to teach the same student who had made the complaint against him, she alleges that the pattern of bullying behaviour was repeated. [25] Dr Kay-Williams, Chief Executive of The Royal School of Needlework, denied failing to investigate, said that it "is the role of the tutor to develop and challenge the students", and stated that the consensus of the staff who had worked with the student was that she "lacked the required focus and commitment for the course". [25]
The RSN runs leisure classes from one to five days starting with classes for beginners and leading on to more complex and varied techniques as embroiderers become more experienced. There is a Certificate and Diploma in technical hand embroidery for those who want to develop practical embroidery skills to a high level; also a unique Degree in hand embroidery which encompasses some technical training, with the emphasis on contemporary practice, alongside academic studies. The degree course in hand embroidery is accredited by the University for the Creative Arts. [26] In 2012 the RSN introduced a new three-year Tutors’ Course which combines high-level technical embroidery training with teaching practice and business skills required to work as a freelance embroiderer/tutor. [27]
Embroidery is the art of decorating fabric or other materials using a needle to stitch thread or yarn. Embroidery may also incorporate other materials such as pearls, beads, quills, and sequins. In modern days, embroidery is usually seen on hats, clothing, blankets, and handbags. Embroidery is available in a wide variety of thread or yarn colour. It is often used to personalize gifts or clothing items.
Needle lace is a type of lace created using a needle and thread to create hundreds of small stitches to form the lace itself.
Needlepoint is a type of canvas work, a form of embroidery in which yarn is stitched through a stiff open weave canvas. Traditionally needlepoint designs completely cover the canvas. Although needlepoint may be worked in a variety of stitches, many needlepoint designs use only a simple tent stitch and rely upon color changes in the yarn to construct the pattern. Needlepoint is the oldest form of canvas work.
Chain stitch is a sewing and embroidery technique in which a series of looped stitches form a chain-like pattern. Chain stitch is an ancient craft – examples of surviving Chinese chain stitch embroidery worked in silk thread have been dated to the Warring States period. Handmade chain stitch embroidery does not require that the needle pass through more than one layer of fabric. For this reason the stitch is an effective surface embellishment near seams on finished fabric. Because chain stitches can form flowing, curved lines, they are used in many surface embroidery styles that mimic "drawing" in thread.
Mary "May" Morris was an English artisan, embroidery designer, jeweller, socialist, and editor. She was the younger daughter of the Pre-Raphaelite artist and designer William Morris and his wife and artists' model, Jane Morris.
Leon Conrad is a British polymath: writer, story structure consultant, educator, and specialist in historic needlework techniques known particularly for historically-styled blackwork embroidery designs.
Erica Wilson was an English-born American embroidery designer based in New York, known particularly for needlepoint. She also designed wallcoverings and greeting cards. Her designs were published by Vogue and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, among others. Wilson earned the nicknames "Julia Child of embroidery" and "America's first lady of stitchery" for her work.
The Embroiderers' Guild is the UK's leading educational charity promoting embroidery. The New South Wales branch was formed in 1955.
Toye, Kenning & Spencer is a British jewellery and clothing manufacturer based at Bedworth, Warwickshire; the Jewellery Quarter, Birmingham; and Covent Garden, London.
English embroidery includes embroidery worked in England or by English people abroad from Anglo-Saxon times to the present day. The oldest surviving English embroideries include items from the early 10th century preserved in Durham Cathedral and the 11th century Bayeux Tapestry, if it was worked in England. The professional workshops of Medieval England created rich embroidery in metal thread and silk for ecclesiastical and secular uses. This style was called Opus Anglicanum or "English work", and was famous throughout Europe.
Queen Elizabeth II's coronation took place on 2 June 1953. Ordered in October 1952, her gown took eight months of research, design, workmanship, and intricate embroidery to complete. It featured the floral emblems of the countries of the United Kingdom and those of the other states within the Commonwealth of Nations, including the English Tudor rose, Scots thistle, Welsh leek, Irish shamrock, Canadian maple leaf, Australian wattle, New Zealand silver fern, South African protea, Indian lotus flower for India, the Lotus flower of Ceylon, and Pakistan's wheat, cotton, and jute.
Hand & Lock is an embroidery brand in the United Kingdom created from the merger of M Hand & Company and S Lock in 2001, and is based in Fitzrovia, London.
The Oxburgh Hangings are needlework bed hangings that are held in Oxburgh Hall in Norfolk, England, made by Mary, Queen of Scots and Bess of Hardwick, during the period of Mary's captivity in England.
Magna Carta (An Embroidery) is a 2015 work by English installation artist Cornelia Parker. The artwork is an embroidered representation of the complete text and images of an online encyclopedia article for Magna Carta, as it appeared in English Wikipedia on 15 June 2014, the 799th anniversary of the document.
William George Paulson Townsend (1868–1941) was an English artist, designer, writer and editor.
Elizabeth (Bessie) Burden was a British embroiderer and teacher. She was a member of the Arts and Crafts Movement, and worked for the embroidery department of Morris, Marshall, Faulkner & Co. She was the sister of Jane Morris and sister-in-law of the artist, designer and poet, William Morris.
Louisa Pesel (1870–1947) was an English embroiderer, educator and textile collector. She was born in Bradford, and studied textile design at the National Art Training School, causing her to become interested in decorative stitchery. She served as the director of the Royal Hellenic School of Needlework and Lace in Athens, Greece, from 1903 to 1907. Pesel served as the first president of the Embroiderers' Guild. She produced samplers for the Victoria and Albert (V&A) Museum and cushions, kneelers, alms bags and a lectern carpet for Winchester Cathedral. She collected textiles extensively, and following her death in Winchester in 1947, her collection went to the University of Leeds.
Nellie Whichelo born Mary Eleanor Whichelo was the British head designer of the Royal School of Art Needlework that was renamed the Royal School of Needlework. She retired after more than sixty years in 1939.
Louisa Ann Wade was the head of the Royal School of Needlework for forty years.
Anastasia Marie Dolby born Anastasia Marie Dolan was a leading British embroiderer and writer. She was the first teacher at the Royal School of Needlework.
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