Gold work day school with Hanny Newton

Following Hanny Newton's inspiring talk about her journey in embroidery, we enjoyed a lovely gold work day school with her.

Hanny Newton - Copper and tin on wool blend fabric

We were given everything we needed on arrival, so that we could get straight into our stitching: a ready-hooped piece of fabric, needles, scissors, and a generous selection of metal and embroidery threads with which to start on our gold work samples - brilliant!  After a short demonstration from Hanny, we embarked on couching our chosen metal thread with a variety of stitches, getting used to manipulating the threads and gradually building up our repertoire sample by sample.

After a bit of practice, we were able to start thinking about the combinations we preferred and how to develop them further.

It was an engrossing and very enjoyable day, and Hanny was helpful and encouraging.  Many of us had been wary of gold work, fearing it was going to be difficult and very exacting.  However, Hanny's contemporary approach, which is freer and more informal, gave us the confidence we needed to experiment and have fun.

We agreed that we had all learned a great deal and went away after a thoroughly satisfying and inspiring day.