National Training Day

We at the Guild of St Clare are very excited to be holding our first National Training Day on 5th January. The Royal School of Needlework is providing the beautiful setting and also the expert tuition of Heather Lewis in Ecclesiastical Goldwork for Beginners. Book early for this treat: places are going fast! To make a reservation or to find out more please get in touch with Lucy Shaw on lucyashaw@gmail.com. Attendees must be aged 16 or over.

Goldwork is principally used for ecclesiastical purposes

Hampton Court Palace is home to the Royal School of Needlework

The Royal School of Needlework created the magnificent wedding dress worn by the Duchess of Cambridge, and designed by Sarah Burton for Alexander McQueen

Our Chaplain's most recent creation

Our chaplain, Fr Bede Rowe, (A Chaplain Abroad), has recently completed this wonderful piece of satin stitch embroidery, which he has appliqued on to a white chasuble. The Guild of St Clare is honoured to have such an accomplished needleworker as its spiritual leader!

Close-up of the embroidery

The chasuble with Fr Bede's needlework appliqued on

Guild of St Clare at Towards Advent

Toward Advent 2011

I'm excited to announce that this year the Guild of St Clare will have a presence at the Towards Advent conference at Westminster Cathedral Hall. We will be selling our own handmade products including Christmas tree decorations, Missal covers, bags and lots more besides from the Latin Mass Society stall. Look out for us there!

Outing to the Beckford Silk Centre

On 18th June the Oxford Chapter visited the Beckford Silk Centre in the Cotswolds. The centre is one of only a couple of places left in the UK where silk is screen-printed by hand. The trip was fully booked and greatly enjoyed by all.

Some of the audience preparing for the introduction to the tour

We were shown round by Anne Hopkins, the daughter of the founder of the Beckford Silk Centre

We were able to watch the screen-printing in progress. Here, the printer is pushing the dye over the screen to create a pattern on the silk underneath.

The screens act as very sophisticated stencils, and every design has a screen for every colour. Thus the screen-printers build the design onto the silk colour by colour till the picture is complete. 

Here the screen printer is creating a series of silk scarves which have been commissioned by a museum. After being printed, the colour will be fixed by steaming, and then the silk will be ironed and cut and finally each scarf will be hand finished by ladies living in the village of Beckford.

After completing the tour and making some purchases in the shop, the Guild members all enjoyed picnics in the bright sunshine on the lawn outside the centre.

Restoration work at the Guild of St Clare, London

The Guild of St Clare, London has been hard at work restoring sets of vestments for use at the Traditional Community of St Bede's, Clapham Park. Here are two of the members with the chasuble from the red set which they completed earlier this year.

Visit to Lisio

Two representatives of the Guild of St Clare, including myself (Lucy Shaw from the Oxford group) and a member of the Birmingham group, attended the 2011 Una Voce International conference in Rome. Whilst there we visited the world-famous Lisio's, a shop selling the most beautiful liturgical fabrics. We would welcome commissions using any of their fabrics! - have a look at some of the samples we loved the most.

LMS banner commissioned for Walsingham pilgrimage

The Oxford branch of the Guild of St Clare was honoured to be asked by the Latin Mass Society to create a banner featuring the two LMS patron saints, St Margaret Clitherow (for England) and St Richard Gwyn (for Wales). Five of the group's members collaborated on the project, which was supervised by Mary Lord.

Clockwise, from top left: Clare Auty, Lucy Shaw, Mary Lord and Emma Stevens put some finishing touches to the banner

The banner on its first outing at the LMS Ely to Walsingham Pilgrimage

Further pictures of the banner and the pilgrimage can be viewed on the LMS Chairman's blog here.