The making of medieval embroidery

Medieval embroidery was a painstaking and precise art form, performed by skilled embroiderers both men and women mostly based in the city of London. This film shows contemporary embroiderer Rosie TaylorDavies recreating a detail from a 700yearold fragment of English embroidery. Working entirely by hand, she demonstrates the intricate process and skill of 14thcentury embroiderers, who created some of Englands most beautiful and elaborate textile art. First the design is drawn out on paper and transferred to the fabric with charcoal in a technique known as pouncing. The design is then embroidered using two techniques which were characteristic of English medieval embroidery: split stitch (shown here with white and coloured silk thread), and underside couching (usually silver or gold, as here). Opus Anglicanum: Masterpieces of English Medieval Embroidery 1 October 2016 5 February 2017