Goldwork Training Day with Golden Hinde

On 22nd February we had our Goldwork Training Day, led by Sarah Rakestraw and Sue Hinde from Golden Hinde goldwork supplies.

Clare, Lucy, Amanda and Marie tacking their designs on to silk mounted in embroidery frames

Hard at work.

 We all chose a design, originally created by Sarah, and used different techniques to outline and fill in.

This is the design I chose - a simple flower. The design is marked on tracing paper, then tacked on to silk dupion which has been mounted on to an embroidery frame. Then the tracing paper is carefully removed, leaving the tacking stitches behind.

We learnt beginner's goldwork techniques: couching, leather work and beading. However these are staple techniques for goldwork: most of the more advanced techniques simply build on them.

Sue demonstrating couching. The stitches which overlay the gold threads, holding them to the fabric, form a pattern which are part of the design.

By the end of the day I'd made a bit more progress

 If I apply myself, I should manage to complete my design so that it looks like this:

Sarah's flower design

We are planning to hold further goldwork courses later in the year, when we will tackle different techniques. Watch this space!

New Pall

The Guild of St Clare was commissioned to make a new black pall for use with a small catafalque at Requiems. This was completed just in time for the Traditional Sung Requiem for deceased members of St Benet's Hall, Oxford, the Benedictine house of study, which is now an annual event.

The new pall in use in the small chapel of St Benet's. The celebrant is Fr Edward Van den Bergh, of the London Oratory and also an alumnus of the Hall.

The pall was made with silk dupion from Beckford Silk and trimmed with brocade from Vanpoulles. More photos can be viewed on Joseph Shaw's Flickr page.

Forthcoming Events for 2014

The Guild of St Clare is holding two training events in the first half of 2014 (more will follow).

First, on Saturday, 22nd February, there will be a Goldwork Day, held in Oxford at the church hall of St Anthony of Padua in Headington. The tutor is Sarah Rakestraw from Golden Hinde, and the cost is £40 per person plus materials.









Second, spread over two days, the 9th and 16th August, we are having bobbin lace making for beginners, also in Oxford, at The Fibreworks in the Cowley Road. The price for this is also £40.









Places for both these courses are extremely limited so please make sure you book in good time! Email lucyashaw@gmail.com to reserve your place.

*************************************UPDATE!**********************************

The 22nd February is also the date of the Oxford Pro-Life Witness, which is held from 3pm at the same church where we will be conducting the Goldwork course. People hoping to come and sew are very welcome to attend the course and take time out for the Witness. We will all have tea together afterwards - do bring friends and family too!

The Guild of St Clare at Towards Advent

The Guild of St Clare is at the Towards Advent fair today!

We are selling embroidery kits, Christmas decorations, vintage tea cups and Ceri's ever popular cake pops!




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Gold Altar Frontal for St Alphege's

The gold altar frontal, commissioned for the church of St Alphege’s in Bath, has now been completed. It is made with silk from the Gainsborough Silk Weaving Company, a Suffolk-based company which specialises in the replica of historical fabrics, and lined with white Irish linen. Here you can see the before and after photos.

The very plain forward altar

The altar with its new gold altar frontal

The church still requires altar frontals in four other colours, so watch this space for more!

New Banner by the LMS Treasurer

The LMS is very fortunate to have an enthusiastic needleworker in its treasurer, the indefatigable Paul Waddington. Here is his most recent creation - a banner for the Latin Mass Society. He assures the Guild of St Clare that he has already begun work on a new one - we can't wait to see it!

First banner by Paul Waddington

New commission

The Guild of St Clare is delighted to have been commissioned to create a set of altar frontals for the beautiful church of St Alphege in Bath.

The church was designed by Gilbert Scott and completed in the 1920s. It was featured in A Glimpse of Heaven by Christopher Martin. More recently, a new book has been written about it, called Our Lady and St Alphege, Bath: Sir Giles Gilbert Scott's Little Gem of a Church, by Caroline Shaw (spot the family connection!)

We are very excited to have been called on to assist with beautifying the interior of the church. We hope to complete our first frontal (appropriately, a gold one) by June.