I’ve been working on the Altar and Lectern falls for St Peter’s Church in Stratford-Upon-Avon and wanted to talk about a couple of techniques I’ve used in this design, Appliqué and a special goldwork technique to add a 3D effect to the crossed keys of St Peter.
For those new to the world of embroidery, Appliqué is a style of ornamental needlework in which pieces of fabric, in this case the fish, are sewn onto a larger piece, the water.
Once the background was stitched and cut I moved on to the fish. Each fish was made as a separate piece & then stitched in place, again using the same tracing/stitching technique I used before.
Dominating the centre of the design are the crossed keys of St Peter. I used a goldwork technique to add a 3D effect here, firstly I cut out the shape of the keys in a layer of padded felt and tacked this down, then over the top of this i stitch a layer of gold kid leather, edged with couched green thread. The result is a smooth raised set of keys that adds an extra dimension to the design.
The lectern fall was created in the same way only on a smaller scale. When the panels were finished they were stitched to the background silk fabric. The final detail was the couched gold jap thread that represents the fishing net.
I loved working on this design, especially the crossed keys as I love how well they worked. If you’d like to commission me to produce an Altar Fall, Lectern Fall, Stole or another item for your church please click here to contact me.
