Roving Reporter at Summer School

Guild Scholar Elnaz Yazdani’s summer school ‘Embroider Your Future’ was advertised in a recent Keeping Contact email from the Embroiderer’s Guild. Targetted at young stitchers it looked really appealing, just the sort of think to stimulate my jaded senses after months of seclusion. Elnaz was very generous with her enrollment and was willing to ignore age restrictions, but at the last minute I had to be away from home, without a good connection. So I was deligthed to see that Marion McC took part:

The last week of July 2020 saw innovation on the part of the Embroiderers Guild. Linking with the University of Huddersfield and aimed at six formers, an online summer school ran from Monday 27 to Friday 31 for two hours each morning. Now, although I would not describe myself as a beginner I hold to the thesis that you can always learn something from someone who knows how to teach. This definitely proved the case here and I was so glad that I participated.

Each morning around 100 people signed online and were taught a wide range of skills from basic embroidery stitches to embellishing with beads, and from appliqué to manipulation of fabric which comprised both smocking and folding techniques. On the fifth morning a vast range of speakers from a variety of textile fields explained how they got started in their chosen profession, what they currently did and offered advice to the youngsters. The aim of this was to squash the notion that there is no career in studying textiles. From Karen Nicol, an Embroiderers’ Guild teacher of the year award holder and designer and embroiderer for Schiaparelli, Givenchy and a vast range of names, to Richard McVetis, an artist who is inspired by time, to embroiderers who had participated on headline TV shows and films including Game of Thrones, The Crown and many others, to students who had graduated in the last couple of years, one of whom had appeared on A Stitch in Time, supporting the making of historic costumes. It was truly inspiring.

This wonderful summer school was free! The original intention had been to operate on a face-to-face basis but intervening circumstances meant it went online, on zoom. For me -I suspect a lot of others – this actually was an advantage because, not only was there no travel involved, but you could see and try things in the privacy of your own home.

I sincerely hope that the Embroiderers Guild take the evidence from the summer school and its success as a prototype for future development. This was a programme from which anyone would have learned a lot. Whilst nothing can replace the social aspects of belonging to the Guild, in respect of education and information online is here to stay. Through the chat mechanism you were able to ask questions, ask for repetition and show what you had achieved. This must be the prototype for at least some future learning, not only because of social distancing but because of the lack of necessity for travelling and thereby polluting the planet even further.

My heartfelt congratulations to the organisers and best wishes to those about to start their textile careers.

Marion