Subversive stitches, the History of Embroidery

Stump work box with lid depicting Charles I as a lion - from Montacute House

Bed hanging from c 1710

Bed hanging c 1690 Embroiderers' Guild of UK collection - typical tree of life with mythical beasts, exotic plants.

Adam and Eve altar frontal with King Charles I featured with Queen Henrietta - from Embroiderers' Guild collection (this is Phillipa's recreation of the original)

Recreation of HRH the Queen Mother's Bedhead and Bedspread at Glamis Castle

The Woolsack for the Mace which was made for the HRH Queen Elizabeth's Golden Jubilee

Lady Anne's Flowers

Rabbits

The Jacobean Idyll

The Jacobean Wild Wood

The Mellerstain Firescreen

The Rowan Tree

Phillipa Turnbull is an historic British embroidery specialist. She is in New Zealand to share her passion for crewel embroidery (embroidery worked in wool)  with a series of lectures and workshops around the country. Her Crewel Work Company was set up 25 years ago to promote, celebrate and re-create designs and rarely seen stitches from the past. 

A lifetime's enthusiasm for historic needlework has led to a number of milestone projects including the recreation of H.M. The Queen Mother's Bedhead and Bedspread at Glamis Castle in Scotland, managing the Woolsack (the seat of the Lord Speaker in the House of Lords) for the Queen's Golden Jubilee, to launching a textile museum at Muncaster Castle in the Lake District, England.

Philipa Turnbull talks with Lynn Freeman: