Stitches in time
As the three-year Discover Christ Church! project draws to a close, there are still treasures being unearthed, says project co-ordinator Gillian Ellis-King
Our project title has turned out to be very apt, with fresh discoveries being made at every stage. We’ve found a stained glass window in the cellar, currently being restored, orchid colonies in the churchyard and, most recently, the beautiful piece of embroidery pictured above.
When sorting through a huge Victorian wardrobe in the corner of the nave, a yellowing old pillowcase was found – and inside was an absolutely exquisite piece of ‘work in progress’: appliqué embroidery on velvet, stretched on to an old picture frame and complete with a rusting needle, pins, and gold and silk threads waiting to be worked.
A graduate of the Royal School of Needlework was consulted and told us that the main embroidery demonstrates 19th century techniques. Closer examination by the Wednesday morning coffee group found that part of the appliqué had ragged edges – it is presumed to have been cut from an earlier altar frontal. Other sections of the work show the ragged edges hidden by fine ropework-type stitching.
The lengths of silk thread waiting to be used for that edging were wrapped around an old piece of card, so we carefully unwound the thread and used Google Lens to find that it was part of a buckle card dating from the 1970s.
It seems therefore we have beautiful embroidery cut from an earlier (presumed 19th century) piece that was being reworked into a new altar superfrontal. We have no idea who the talented embroiderer was, or why their project remained unfinished – but we feel that the mystery adds to the beauty of the piece.
The embroidery now hangs in the nave, complete with its needle, pins and card. It was framed to museum standards by Penney, of Right Angle Framing in Corsham, who used it as a project for her conservation framing qualification – a lovely and fitting end to this story!
