If you like to learn at your own pace, from the comfort of home, our Self-Paced Video Online Courses would be perfect for you.  With each course led by an RSN Tutor, there is a wide range of courses available from Introduction to Jacobean Crewelwork, Goldwork, Blackwork and Silk Shading to Next Steps courses to continue your learning journey.

This series of Video Online Courses have been produced in partnership with David and Charles, and give you the opportunity to:

• Study online from the comfort of home, led by an expert RSN Tutor in your chosen technique
• Work at your own pace and re-watch the videos as often as you like
• Stitch along, using the professional-grade materials that will be posted direct to your door
• Enjoy the wellness benefits of embarking on and completing a creative project
• Learn new skills, whatever your previous level of experience
• Immerse yourself in 90–180 minutes of high-definition video, delivered in step by step lessons
• Access supplementary downloadable content and clearly written steps to success

You can view and purchase these courses from a dedicated website – rsnonlinecourses.com

For a limited time only, David & Charles is giving 10% off two of the recently launched courses – Introduction to Stumpwork and Introduction to Appliqué.  Use the coupon code “10OFF” to receive 10% off the RRP.   NB: This offer is only valid on rsnonlinecourses.com website and until 30 June 2022.

To view all the RSN Self-Paced Video Online Courses, please visit rsnonlinecourses.com

Terms and Conditions of the 10% discount:

• This offer is only available from the rsnonlinecourses.com
• It is only available until 30 June 2022.
• Offer is applicable to the ‘Introduction to Stumpwork‘ & ‘Introduction to Appliqué’ on the rsnonlinecourses.com website
• David & Charles is the promotor of this offer.

Our Degree Students have been very busy showcasing all their beautiful work at Hampton Court Palace.  Starting with a special celebration and awards evening with friends and family, followed by a spectacular showcase of the Third Years’ Final Major Projects at our Degree Show.

Thank you to international artists, Neil Musson and Jono Retallick, who made the celebration evening extra special by presenting the awards to our First and Second Year Students.  RSN Degree Students have recently worked with musson+retallick on a project called ‘Fields of EveryWhen’ which is a unique artwork, bringing stories of a local community to life through needlework and a hot air balloon!

Congratulations to:

• First Year Degree Student Rosie Sykes, winner of Most Promising First Year, sponsored by RSN Friends
• First Year Degree Student Millie Darnell-Hayes, winner of Raised Embroidery Award, sponsored by The Worshipful Company of Haberdashers
• Second Year Degree Student Kirsty Farrer, winner of Contextual Essay Award, sponsored by The Arts Society
• Second Year Degree Student Lizzy Gray, winner of Contextual Essay Award, sponsored by The Arts Society
• Second Year Degree Student Jenna Riddell, winner of Most Developing Second Year, sponsored by RSN Friends
• Second Year Degree Student Chloe Rogers, winner of Best Technical Stitch, sponsored by The Worshipful Company of Needlemakers

More awards will be presented to our Third Year Degree Students at New Designers. Come and meet our students on stand T32 at the Business Design Centre in London from 30 June – 2 July.

For more information on our BA (Hons) Hand Embroidery, visit our Degree website here.

Images: 

1. Jono Retallick, Dr Susan Kay-Williams Neil Musson, Livia Papiernik and Chloé Rochefort
2. First Year Degree Student Fleur Webb
3. First Year Degree Student Amelia Merrick
4. Third Year Degree Graduate Linnea Lyndon
5. Third Year Degree Graduate Sabina Lima
6. First Year Degree Student Imogen Campbell
7. Second Year Degree Students Elizabeth Gray and Jessica Wilkinson
8. Second Year Degree Student Anfaal Hussain

RSN seeks new trustees to replace important experience and expertise on its Board

We may be celebrating 150 years of history but we are also passionate about continued growth and development. As with many arts and crafts, embroidery is experiencing a revival following the pandemic and the RSN is ensuring that traditional skills and techniques are preserved for future generations while also remaining relevant today.

While similar organisations struggled to survive and/or continue operations during the pandemic, we transferred activity online within two days of lockdown, ensuring teaching continued. We introduced lectures and talks and created a global community and a lifeline for many in enforced isolation as well as providing significant health and wellbeing benefits.

We are now seeking new trustees to help us continue to adapt and strengthen the impact we have on our many stakeholders. You can lend your own professional experience and expertise to help support our endeavours. We are particularly interested in applicants with any of the following expertise and experience to complement and expand the skills of our current trustees: Legal, HR, Fundraising, Diversity & Inclusion, Digital and Financial.

These roles come at a time when we are actively reviewing how we learn from and build on the experience of the last two years and successful applicants can be part of helping us emerge stronger as we look forward to our next 150 years. All trustees play a full role in leading our strategic direction and continued development as we re-establish face-to-face teaching and capitalise on the global online audience attracted during lockdown.

What will you be doing?
As one of our trustees you will provide leadership, develop policy and share the joint responsibility of the RSN’s board of Trustees (The RSN Council) for setting strategic direction, ensuring financial sustainability, overseeing the efficient and effective performance of the charity and complying with all legal and regulatory requirements.

Being a trustee can develop your strategic thinking, provide new experiences and perspectives, and can help you gain valuable governance experience. You will contribute to discussions and decisions on all aspects of our operation, get to know more about our history and royal heritage, and share your own professional expertise as appropriate.

We are based at Hampton Court Palace, but trustees are currently located throughout the UK. We have a mix of virtual and physical meetings and encourage you to get to know our onsite team of staff so you can better understand what makes us tick.

Reasonable expenses can be claimed, based on the RSNs expenses policy, for attendance at board meetings and other events necessary for the fulfilment of trustee duties. This is a voluntary role and trustees receive no remuneration.

To find out more about the role and apply, click here.

RSN Degree Students have created a unique hand embroidered dress for musician and poet, PJ Harvey. The dress was inspired by Harvey’s new book Orlam, a beautiful and profound narrative poem, set in a magic realist version of the West Country (south west England) and will be worn for her poetry recital tour.

Inspired by Harvey’s own drawings of insects and birds, our Degree Students have captured the essence of the book’s narrative and beautifully translated it through the art of hand embroidery. The specialist needlework was designed to connect with the embroidery heritage of the West Country and features a combination of traditional stiches, including Dorset Feather, Buttonhole, Chain and Fly Stitch. These are stitches which are known worldwide, but also have a distinctive connection to the locality.

Designer Todd Lynn and RSN Degree Course Leader Angie Wyman spearheaded the project. Angie said:

“To connect directly with an artist through their drawings is such a powerful experience. Hand embroidery was the perfect medium to translate the sensitivity of the drawn mark and bring the imagery to life. It not only captured the notion of the maker and the hand, but also a contemporary interpretation of a traditional process.”

RSN Degree Technician and Graduate, Jasmine Dawson, managed the project development through the hand embroidery sampling stages. Jasmine then worked directly with the students, who hand embroidered individual components. Each embroiderer worked to a defined colour palette which contributed to the overall composition whilst offering the artistic freedom to interpret the image through colour and stitch. The final garment was assembled by RSN Textile Technician, Emily Howse.

You can see PJ Harvey and listen to poems from Orlam on 2 June at Queen Elizabeth Hall in London. PJ Harvey was awarded an MBE for services to music as well as an Honorary Degree in Music from Goldsmith University. She is the only artist to have won the Mercury Prize twice. Harvey’s debut poetry collection was The Hollow of the Hand in 2015. Orlam is a coming of age tale and the first full length book written in the Dorset dialect for many decades.

View work from RSN Degree Graduates 2021

Watch PJ Harvey’s interview with Frank Skinner on YouTube where she acknowledges the embroidery created by the RSN (2.51 to 3.18mins).

If you would like to find out more about our Degree course, book your place on the forthcoming Open Day at Hampton Court Palace at 1pm on Thursday 16 June.

Photo of PJ Harvey © Sumit Bothra

The RSN Embroidery Studio is producing a series of NEW kits to celebrate our 150^th anniversary and we are launching the first one today. The kit is inspired from a design by artist Selwyn Image and can be made into a Tote Bag which is included in the pack as well as needles and threads.

Selwyn Image (1849–1930) was a leading British artist, designer, writer and poet with close links to the Arts and Crafts Movement. After an early career in the church, he studied with the architect and designer A. H. Mackmurdo and went on to produce many designs for stained glass and furniture as well as embroidery. The design featured in the kit is part of the RSN’s Collection and one of many that Selwyn Image created for us.

The RSN’s Collection is rich in designs from leaders of the Arts and Crafts and Aesthetic Movements: Walter Crane, William Morris, Edward Burne-Jones, Selwyn Image, George Aitcheson, Gertrude Jekyll and many others. To mark our 150th Anniversary, the RSN Embroidery Studio searched through the RSN’s amazing design archive and rediscovered many treasures, including the design used in this kit. 

To purchase your kit, click here. 

Find out more about the RSN Embroidery Studio. 

We are very excited for The Queen’s Platinum Jubilee celebrations and, in anticipation, have produced a wonderful stitch design of a crown, so that everyone can celebrate, wherever they are! The design has been produced for RSN Sip & Stitch which launches next month, but we wanted to release this design early, so you can have fun with stitch and feel part of the festivities.

Download here: Crown Template

We feel very privileged to have designed and embroidered the Coronation Robe of Estate for Her Majesty and that she was our royal patron from 2002 – 2017. To create this stunning design, we hand embroidered 18 varieties of gold thread and used a technique known as Coronation Goldwork. Don’t worry, you don’t need to duplicate that technique for your crown! Just have fun and free style it. We would love to see your completed crowns, so please share them on social media and tag @royalneedlework.

If you would like to see the stunning ‘Wheat and Olive’ design that we created for The Queen’s Coronation Robe up close, a special Goldwork Sampler is on display at our Anniversary Exhibition at the Fashion and Textile Museum in London. The exhibition, ‘150 Years of the Royal School of Needlework: Crown to Catwalk’, runs until 4 September.

The crown stitch template has been designed by RSN Tutor Kate Pankhurst. Download here: Crown Template

Find out more about the  RSN Sip & Stitch

Photo of Her Majesty The Queen © Jacob King/PA Wire/PA Images

If you are looking for more ideas and inspiration to get ready for the Platinum Anniversary celebrations, you will love our special kits, scarves and classes.

• Jubilee Cupcake Class

Saturday 18 June, 10am – 4pm at Hampton Court Palace

Learn the Silk Shading technique to create your own cupcake topped with a cherry and a proudly positioned flag for the perfect memory of this iconic year.

Book your place

• Jubilee Scarves

We have selected three Jubilee themed scarves that beautifully reflect the lasting legacy of Her Majesty The Queen. Whether you choose the design featuring a central cameo portrait of The Queen or Corgis and Crowns, we are sure these scarves will make you feel like royalty and stand out from the crowd!

Shop here.

• Jubilee Inspired Kits

Coronation Goldwork – Peace and Plenty: A beautiful Goldwork kit, inspired by The Queen’s Coronation Robe design of ‘Wheat and Olive.’

Shop here.

Jubilee Crown – This needlepoint kit features a Jubilee Crown designed by the Flanders Tapestry Collection and created with pure British wools by Appletons.

Shop here.

View all RSN Online Shop Products Here.

Our International Summer School takes place during July and August and comprises a variety of wonderful classes and events, including a series of exclusive Online Talks. If you are not able to attend the Talks live, they will also be available on demand for International Summer School students.

3pm, Wednesday 13 July – Cultural History with Professor Dakers
Meet Professor Emerita Caroline Dakers, specialist in Cultural History, and find out more about England and the arts during the 1870s, when the RSN was founded. Learn about the start of Albertopolis in London, with the Royal Albert Hall, Royal College of Music, South Kensington Museum (now the V&A) all being built in the area. But these were not the only developments, it was also the opening of Alexandra Palace in north London with its park and theatre. Caroline will look at all these fascinating cultural and artistic developments.

5pm, Wednesday 13 July – Virtual Tour of our Anniversary Exhibition
Enjoy an exclusive virtual tour of our exhibition ‘150 Years of the Royal School of Needlework: Crown to Catwalk’. Dr Susan Kay-Williams will take you on a walking tour around the exhibition to look at key pieces and themes, including our links with the military, church, high end lingerie and runway partners as well as royalty and the Arts & Crafts movement.

6pm, Wednesday 20 July – A Girl’s Education in Stitch
Our first exhibition Onsite at Hampton Court Palace since Covid will have just opened! Dr Susan Kay-Williams will introduce you to the new exhibition, ‘Girls Education in Stitch’, highlighting many of the pieces and the wonderful stories behind them.

Book your place on our International Summer School. Choose from a wide range of designs, taught in different time zones to suit you. If you have any questions about the classes, please do not hesitate to contact [email protected]

For more information on the RSN International Summer School 2022 click here.

Join us this June for fascinating Online Talks and a range of Online and Onsite classes covering a variety of techniques from Silk Shading to Appliqué. We are also opening the doors to our Degree Programme with an Onsite Open Day as well as an Online Open Day for our Certificate & Diploma Programme.

Onsite Class at The Fashion and Textile Museum, London

Introduction to Coronation Gold: Shamrock and Acorn inspired by the Queen Mother’s Coronation Robe The Fashion & Textile Museum, London: Fri 3 June, 10:45am – 4:45pm

Online Embroidery Classes

Advanced Appliqué, Silk Shading & Goldwork: ‘Matryoshka’: Mon 6 June – Mon 7 July, 3pm – 6pm

NEW Bargello Heart: Sat 11 June, 10am – 4pm

Drawing Basics for Beginners: Wed 15 June – Wed 22 June, 3pm – 5:30pm Only 4 Spaces Left

Introduction to Goldwork: ‘William Morris Inspired’: Wed 15 June – Wed 22 June, 6pm – 9pm Only 4 Spaces Left

Onsite Classes at Hampton Court Palace

Exclusive Silk Shaded Platinum Jubilee Cupcake: Sat 18 June, 10am – 4pm

Introduction to Canvas Stitches: ‘Mini Wool Rack Pincushion’: Sun 19 June, 10am – 4pm

Historical Stitch: ‘Exploring 17th Century Raised Embroidery’: Sat 25 June – Sun 26 June, 10am – 4pm

Online Talks

Wedding Embroidery with Amy Hare: Wed 8 June, 7pm – 8:30pm

Sewing the Self: The Threads of Being Human with Susan Aldworth: Wed 29 June, 7pm – 8:30pm

Open Days

Degree Open Day at Hampton Court Palace: Thurs 16 June, 1pm

C&D Online Open Day: Wed 22 June, 1pm

 

View all Day & Evening Classes

View all RSN Talks – Live and On Demand

Our Third Year Degree Students will be showcasing their exciting Final Major Projects in an exhibition at Hampton Court Palace.

The exhibition runs from Monday 13 June – Friday 17 June, with visiting times at 11am and 2pm.

The graduates will be on hand to discuss their projects and to inspire the next generation of hand embroiderers. The exhibition is free of charge to visit, but you must pre-book your place. Please click the link below to register:

Please note that you will not have access to visit the Palace itself without a Hampton Court Palace Visitor ticket.

RSN Degree Graduate Show 2022

RSN Degree Students will also be exhibiting on stand T32 at New Designers at the Business Design Centre in London from 29 June – 2 July.

Find out more about our BA (Hons) Hand Embroidery programme here.

We were delighted to welcome The Queen of Malaysia last week to our Anniversary Exhibition at the Fashion and Textile Museum. 

Her Majesty is an enthusiastic embroiderer and follower of the RSN. The Queen visited us in December 2019 at Hampton Court Palace, meeting students and viewing the Lost Dress of Elizabeth I that was also on display. 

Book your ticket to ‘150 Years of the Royal School of Needlework: Crown to Catwalk’, you never know who you might meet there!

A gift in your Will means so much to the RSN. Throughout our history gifts in Wills have helped RSN students and our courses. 

Just this week we heard that one of our Life Friends had died and generously left us £5,000. This is very much appreciated and really gives us something to remember her by so that her RSN connection can live on. This money will go to support our Future Tutor Students, but a gift could support any of our future projects.

It is now much simpler to make an amendment to your Will, although it should always be undertaken by a professional to ensure it is legally binding and truly represents your wishes. 

There are three main ways you can support the RSN through your Will.

1. You can give a residuary gift. This is all or a share of the residue of your estate after any specific gifts have been dispersed. This can help you offset any tax that would otherwise be due on the estate and give it to a good cause.

2. A pecuniary gift. This is a specific named amount. However, the value of this will diminish over time.

3. A specific item. While the RSN might accept threads/materials and embroidered works, the money they raise for the RSN is usually very small.  Only high quality or unusual items can be added to the RSN Collection.

For more information on the benefits of gifts in Wills to the RSN, please see our website which also provides the information your adviser would need to make a gift in favour to the RSN. Click here.

To discuss how we might use your gift, please contact our Chief Executive, Dr Susan Kay-Williams here.

A gift in your Will is a great way to witness your life and interests and make a significant contribution to the future of RSN Students.