From the home page of the exhibit;

“This exhibition explores the sumptuous costume of British monarchs and their court during the 16th and 17th centuries through portraits in the Royal Collection. During this period fashion was central to court life and was an important way to display social status. Royalty and the elite were the tastemakers of the day, often directly influencing the styles of fashionable clothing.

In Fine Style follows the changing fashions of the period, demonstrates the spread of styles internationally and shows how clothing could convey important messages. Including works by Hans Holbein the Younger, Nicholas Hilliard, Van Dyck and Peter Lely, the exhibition brings together over 60 paintings, as well as drawings, garments, jewellery, accessories and armour.”

There are a number of special events linked to the exhibition. On July 3 at 19:00 is a lute concert where the music of John Dowland will be performed Jakob Lindsberg on a rare lute dating from the 1590s. On June 1 is a Study Day for adults “Courtly Style: Stuart and Tudor Dress”.

Topics include the use of embroidery, lace, jewellery, and armour, and the representation of clothing in portraiture, as well as Tudor and Stuart fashions. Speakers are drawn from the V&A, Royal Collection Trust and elsewhere and the day also includes a visit to the Royal Collection exhibition. This Study Day has been devised in partnership with, and takes place at, the Victoria and Albert Museum.

In Fine Style: The Art of Tudor and Stuart Fashion

For those of you who can’t get to London or would prefer to enjoy the exhibition through the printed page, there is a exhibition catalog available. I’ve ordered one and will review it as soon as it arrives. I thought for a moment about waiting until I visited the exhibition, but the thought of lugging a large volume (it’s 288 pages and weighs just under 5 pounds!!) all around London on the underground did not appeal to me at all.

The curator of the exhibition, Anna Reynolds, has given a very interesting TED lecture, Democratizing Fashion which can be found on the home page of the exhibition site.

This is just one of many things embroidery related happening in London this summer. The RSN is holding an exhibition “For Worship and Glory - exhibition of ecclesiastical embroidery” from May – December 2013 .

From the RSN website:

“We’ll be exhibiting examples of ecclesiastical embroidery worked by the RSN or which form part of our Collection. The starring role will be given to the 12 Litany of Loreto pieces which came to the RSN from a convent in Surrey. These date from the early 20th century and show just what can be achieved with accomplished design, exemplary stitching and a limited colour palette.  All 12 pieces have not been hung together in exhibition for a long time so this will be a rare opportunity to see them all”.

And of course, the highlight of the summer, will be the exhibition by Nicola Jarvis at the William Morris Gallery “The Art of Embroidery: Nicola Jarvis and May Morris“.

More about this exhibition soon!

Since I’ll be in London for the opening of Nicola’s show, I’ll be your eyes and try to visit all three exhibitions as well as the RSN teaching studios at Hampton Court so you can “be there” even if you don’t get onto an airplane, train, car or bus!

To work the tiny spider veins in the large maple leaf, I used a combination of back stitch whipped with Kreinik gold cord. The back stitch wasn’t difficult but the Kreinik cord slips out of the needle all the time! It’s a bit fiddly for me to work. However, I do love the effect it has on the look of the piece. The amount of sparkle is quite subtle and that’s just what I wanted.

The first thing I did was to put in all of the silk back stitch veins. That way I could make sure that the spaces were filled but not too crowded. If I was going to have to take stitching out I didn’t want to take out two different layers of stitches! The tiny thread-like veins look interesting especially in contrast to the very large and heavy s-ing done with the silk and gold purl.

After the back stitches were in I whipped them with the cord and then started to add the s-ing in the silk and gold purl. I’ll tell you more about the s-ing and how to do it next time. Until then, here’s a photo of the veins in the leaf completed.

The contrast between the light seeding, thin veins, heavy s-ing and the gold kid is quite stark. I’m not sure if I like it but I did want this piece to highlight texture so I suppose I am fulfilling my own brief.

What’s your opinion?

The palace is modest compared to Schloss Charlottenburg or Sanssouci or the Neue Palace but special nonetheless. It isn’t a large building and only the first floor is open to visitors. Here is a short history form the web site of the Palace:

“Each year in summer, Queen Luise and her family moved to Paretz. As an early Neoclassical synthesis of the arts, the ensemble of the palace and village formed a charming backdrop for the royal family’s annual summer stays from 1797–1805. David Gilly created the palace and the entire location as an ideal country estate, according to the wishes of the royal couple. The original wallpapers that are preserved at Paretz Palace are of extraordinary importance. Like few other places, Paretz is wonderfully suited to a country excursion. An attractive special exhibition of coaches, sleighs and sedan chairs that were used by the Prussian royal house has been on display in the coach house since the end of 2006″.

We saw all those thing and the wallpapers are truly wonderful. What the information on the web site didn’t tell us was that there was a very interesting embroidered box in one of the rooms. The box isn’t the focus of the little exhibit though. What’s inside the box is meant to be of interest to the visitor:  a piece of dark blue fabric (Tuche) with gold  lace on the edge that had belonged to Queen Luise. The box is encased in a glass case and the curtains in the room are partly closed and the lights dim – all the help preserve the paper on the walls and the fabric in the case. Honestly, I couldn’t see the piece of cloth in the box very well so I went around to look at the top and sides of the box and discovered that they were embroidered. Partly embroidered, actually. The faces and the hands and feet were painted but the body, the background scenery and the animals were embroidered.

I have just gotten a new camera and with it I can take photos in very low light. I decided to try and here are the results!

I just noticed…the man in the scene above is lying down and the one in the scene below is drinking – a lot! Hum….is this representative of men in the late 18th century? Surely not!

 This goat looks positively flirtatious!

The blue shading of the hills is so effective as is the stitching done to create the folds of the fabric of her dress. When I first looked at the box, I had to look a long time to make sure it was embroidered and not all painted. Each of the side panels from which these photos come is only 5 inches high so none of the work is done on a large scale.

What a lucky find it was for me! I just love to discover bits of beautiful, old embroidery when I visit someplace. Often the people who work as guides aren’t aware of how amazing the embroidery is and are pleased to learn something about the piece.

This room was my favorite. I like the colors and the theme of trees and birds in the wallpapers. Each paper is printed with carved wooden blocks. The paper had been pretty badly damaged and was meticulously restored beginning in 2000. To restore on of the smallest pieces of paper, 25 different pressing were made using 23 different colors and then hand touches were added. To show off the wallpapers, the furniture is kept simple. I find the combination of beautiful hand printed walls, simple furniture and huge windows so soothing. It was good for my soul to be there.

At the end of the self guided tour, there was a room full of busts of Princess Luise. She was a very popular royal, charming and a beauty.  She died when she was only 34 years old.

We then had a lovely walk through the woods to a gaststätte where we enjoyed more sunshine and lunch. Even the restaurant was beautiful.

I wish you could have come along with us as we discovered this quiet part of Germany and hope you feel as if you’ve been here with us for a few minutes in the sunshine. Hoping you have a lovely Mother’s Day Sunday wherever you are!