Written by Our 1000th piece is probably a chair back as only half of the fabric has embroidery on it, but the work is fully finished. The embroidery is of a face stitched using whitework techniques, surrounded by abstract patterns in a square. Pulled work patterns with satin stitched flower and border. Blanket stitch and running stitch create additional details. It was worked in 1950s by Evelyn King: she studied at Winchester College of Art and was a member of Winchester branch. Before she died she passed a lot of her work to another member of Winchester Branch who gave them to the Guild a number of years later.
A number of the pieces we have photographed are whitework and use pulled work techniques. They are all beautifully stitched and this particular piece made a lovely 1000th piece to be photographed as part of the digitisation project.
We are making good progress on the digitisation project and have dates planned through to July to continue the project. We have also signed an agreement with Art UK to load the photos onto their collections’ website. The initial batch is only 24 items so we can check the process of working with Art UK, but Anne is busy preparing the next batch – getting over 200 items ready to load.
We will be letting all our members and followers know when these first pieces go live!
Anne Haigh, Trustee
Note: These images are ‘behind the scenes’ photos taken by Anne Haigh and not the finished photos from the photographer.
For details of the project, see our earlier news post: Digitising the Embroiderer’s Guild Collection