If you have left Christmas shopping to the last minute, don’t panic.  We have put together a list of ideas to make sure everyone has a happy stitch-mas!

Whether you are looking for a special gift for someone new to embroidery or a seasoned stitcher who has everything already, we have the perfect present list.

 

RSN Gift Card

If you are unsure what to buy the stitcher in your life, an RSN Gift Card is the perfect gift as they can choose exactly what they would like.

 

Learn with the RSN from Home

Gift a RSN video online course which gives flexibility to learn at your own pace, anytime, anywhere.  Simply click on the ‘Gift this Course’ button, choose which date you wish the recipient to receive their gift email and add a special message.  Courses start from just £55, which includes video tuition and kit.

View the wide choice of courses available

 

Gift the January Blues away
We have a selection of live online and onsite classes in January for all levels. From a cute sea horse design for beginners to an advanced whitework class for the more experienced stitcher, there is something for everyone. We run online classes at different times to suit all time zones. Onsite day classes are taught at the magnificent Hampton Court Palace.

Browse our January and February embroidery classes here:

 

*Postal deadlines to receive the kits for RSN Video Online Courses before Christmas were Friday 6 December for international orders and Monday 16 December for UK orders.

 

 

 

 

 

The RSN is part of the BIG GIVE Christmas Challenge, 3—10 December 2024

The RSN is excited to announce that we have been selected to take part in the Big Give Christmas Challenge this December, aiming to raise £9,800 for RSN Stitch Bank, the world guide of stitches, free for everyone to use. The Christmas Challenge is the UK’s biggest collaborative fundraising campaign, and donations can be made by anyone across the world.

 

What is the Big Give Christmas Challenge?

Big Give is a registered charity (1136547) that runs match funded campaigns for charities and special causes at key moments across the year. By connecting charities to match funders and the public, Big Give helps them to double their donations. It’s a simple idea – when the public donates through a Big Give campaign, it asks funders to match their donation, so that £50 donated from the public becomes £100 for the charity.

The RSN’s Christmas Challenge 2024 will focus on RSN Stitch Bank, the free world guide to stitches which currently holds 450 stitches with more to be added on 20 December.

 

What is RSN Stitch Bank?

RSN Stich Bank is a free online resource that digitally conserves and showcases the wide variety of the world’s embroidery stitches.

Each stitch on RSN Stitch Bank comes with helpful videos, written instructions, illustrations and photographs for each stitch, giving stitchers a free, accessible way to learn embroidery and preserve stitches for generations to come.

RSN Stitch Bank receives no government funding, so we therefore rely on the generous donations of our users to keep it free for everyone.  From embroiderers to teachers, from researchers to curators, thousands access RSN Stitch Bank from around the world. The RSN wants RSN Stitch Bank to remain a free resource ensuring the future of hand embroidery.

Visit RSN Stitch Bank

How does the RSN’s Big Give Christmas Challenge work?

Every donation given between 3 – 10 December will be doubled! For example, a donation of £10, will be matched, meaning £20 will be given to RSN Stitch Bank. Donations from outside the UK are also accepted.

Donations to RSN Stitch Bank will be generously matched by our incredible supporters and our Big Give Champion, The Reed Foundation.

This year, we are looking to raise a total of £9,800. In order to access the £4,900 we already have in the matching pot, we need to raise another £4,900 in online donations.

 

How can you get involved?

The RSN’s Big Give Christmas Challenge starts on Giving Tuesday, 3 December and you will have 7 days to donate to our campaign.

To make a donation, simply visit our Big Give Challenge page and make a donation between Tuesday 3 (midday) – Tuesday 10 December (midday).

The RSN would really appreciate it if you could share our campaign with your friends who also use RSN Stitch Bank, and your wider social network – anyone who would be interested in having their donation doubled!

Donate HERE

Set a reminder and add our campaign page to it so that you don’t miss your chance to double your donation!

Save the date and double your donation!

The RSN Shop is thrilled to be part of Museum Shop Sunday on Sunday 1 December, when over 2,200 shops at arts, heritage and cultural venues worldwide will be putting on special events and promotions, celebrating the joy and value of cultural retail.

Many students and customers will have met Emily Cunliffe, Head of Retail, Tomas Asmelash, Retail Supervisor, and the team, when they have visited our Shop at Hampton Court Palace, South West London. The RSN Shop really is a box of delights and surprises – for the beginner to advanced embroiderer as well as for those who prefer an RSN souvenir, yummy treat or a Gift Card for a special friend.

Over the last few months, the RSN Shop has been building on our heritage by creating exclusive products inspired by the RSN Collection, particularly pieces which have been included in the first 100 digitised objects and displayed in our current exhibition, ‘Tales of Textiles: The RSN Collection in Focus’.

Explore these stunning pieces and benefit from 10% off all RSN Shop items bought both at Hampton Court Palace and online this Museum Shop Sunday, 1 December, from 12am – 11:59pm GMT.

Shop with purpose, and discover unique and meaningful gifts you love in order to support the RSN’s mission to ensure and support the future of hand embroidery this Museum Shop Sunday!

Browse the RSN Shop here 

See the RSN Collection up close and personal at our exhibition ‘Tales of Textiles: the RSN Collection in focus’ 

Museum Shop Sunday is brought to you by the Association for Cultural Enterprises in partnership with the Museum Store Association in the US and the Museum Shops Association of Australia and New Zealand.

Looking for the perfect Christmas present for the embroiderer in your life? Then look no further as the RSN has just launched its new, exclusive January to June Day & Evening classes, and there really is something for everyone. Whether you want historical, contemporary, technical, or just joyously creative experimentation, we have put together a carefully curated range of classes to appeal to everyone, from the new embroiderer all the way through to the advanced.

Take a moment to look through and plan your way into 2025 with the perfect class! If you can’t decide which class to buy, then purchase a Day Class Gift Voucher which allows the lucky recipient to choose their own. And don’t forget to treat yourself too!

Browse our NEW January – June Day & Evening Classes here

We are thrilled to share the news of the exciting recent collaborations between the RSN BA (Hons) Hand Embroidery Students and Graduates, and Lock & Co. Hatters, St James’s Street, London, the ‘home of hats’ since 1676 and the oldest hat shop in the world.

RSN Degree students have had the pleasure of working with Lock & Co. Hatters several times over the past few years. Starting in 2022, Degree students each year have created head adornments based on a floral theme and embroidered and embellished baseball caps based on their hometowns and villages, which have been exhibited in the windows of Lock & Co. Hatters shop.

Degree Student Internships

In August, we had our first internships with Lock & Co. Hatters. Students were interviewed for the two, two-week internship places. The successful students were second year student, Izzy Ager and first year student Harriet Hawtry-Coombs. They were awarded £1500 each for their internship and spent time learning the many facets of the Lock & Co. Hatters business, from millinery techniques, to marketing, social media, photo shoots and accounting, an amazing opportunity!

Graduate Collaboration

The most recent collaboration with Lock & Co. Hatters has been with two RSN Degree Graduates, Livia Papiernik and Claire de Waard. Both Livia and Claire now work at the RSN as alumni lecturers and hand embroiderers, respectively. Both were commissioned by Awon Golding, Head Milliner for Lock & Co. Hatters, to develop embroidery for headbands for the Autumn/Winter collection. This collection is currently showcased in store and on the Lock & Co. Hatters website.

If you are in London to see the Christmas lights, make sure you pop in to the ‘home of hats’ to see their beautiful creations!

 

See more RSN Degree Awards & Success stories

Join our next Open Day Online or at Hampton Court Palace

 

Take the first step to starting your new hobby in 2025 and join the RSN’s Certificate & Diploma in Technical Hand Embroidery course.

The RSN’s Certificate & Diploma (C&D) offers you a unique experience of learning hand embroidery to a high technical standard, wherever and whenever suits you.

The C&D course is taught both Onsite at various venues across the world, at Hampton Court Palace in South West London, Bristol, Rugby, Durham, Glasgow, Australia, the USA and Japan, as well as Online via Zoom, attended by both international and UK based students.

The course contains a wonderful variety of techniques and can be booked on a class-by-class basis to fit in with your schedule. It is therefore perfect for those who want to start a new hobby but need to find one that they can fit around their busy schedules – it really is the most flexible course.

Want to hear just how flexible the course is from one of our students?

Here is Tamsyn Thorpe who attends RSN Bristol:

“I first started hand embroidery as a child during school holidays as both my grandparents and my mum embroidered. My first ever stitches were done using old DMC threads on pieces of old brushed cotton sheet.

I found the RSN whilst looking online for more specialist embroidery training, as I had not long had my first child and needed something for me.

I started on the C&D course when the Bristol venue was first formed. I initially had a choice of Hampton Court Palace or Durham, but living in the Midlands, neither were a short drive away. However, Bristol worked for me because although it was a similar distance to the others, my parents live in Cornwall, and it was en route!

The teaching has been fantastic, learning lots of new skills to such a high level. I have made long term friends and have enjoyed meeting like-minded people. I also enjoy volunteering at The Knitting & Stitching shows and telling others about the RSN and sometimes having my work on display.

Everybody does courses for different reasons but, when I started, I needed something for me that I could do as a hobby around caring for my autistic son. This gave me my place of calm to escape to. For me, stitching is a journey not a race, I am not a fast stitcher and I do love detail. Completing my pieces, for me in amongst life’s challenges, gives me a great sense of achievement.”

Inspired by Tamsyn’s words?

Why not join our next C&D Online info session to find out more about the course, and to ask any questions.

Get ready for a month of Christmas fun and see our schedule full of festive treats this December.

 

Day & Evening Classes

A Tudor Christmas: Hampton Court Palace, Friday 6 December – 3 SPACES LEFT

A Christmas Wreath: Hampton Court Palace, Saturday 7 December

 

Events & Exhibitions

The RSN Big Give Christmas Challenge: One Donation, Twice the Impact: Tuesday 3 – Tuesday 10 December

 

Online Talks

‘Secrets and Codes: the embroidery of Mary, Queen of Scots’: with Eleri Lynn, Wednesday 11 December, 7pm, BST

 

BA (Hons) Hand Embroidery Degree Open Days

Online: Wednesday 4 December, 5pm BST

Hampton Court Palace: Wednesday 4 December, 2pm BST

 

Certificate & Diploma Online Information Session

Online: Thursday 5 December, 3pm BST

Have you ever wanted to pursue a career in the creative field, and think that hand embroidery could be for you?

The RSN offers a unique pathway for those seeking creative careers rooted in the rich tradition of hand embroidery, while embracing modern innovation.

With over 150 years of expertise, the RSN offers courses that open doors to diverse career opportunities. Graduates from the RSN’s BA (Hons) Hand Embroidery Degree, and the Professional Embroidery Tutor (Formally Future Tutors) Programme have gone on to work in high-profile fields such as Haute couture, costume production for film and theatre, bespoke embroidery for luxury brands, and many more.

 

View RSN Creative Careers Industry Spotlight Talk 

If you are a teacher or student looking for ways to discover creative career opportunities, Watch the RSN’s Online Industry Spotlight Talk with Speakers for Schools, where we discuss the different career paths available in the world of stitch. Watch here. 

 

Creative Careers Week with the RSN: 18 – 22 November

Want to find out more about what studying for a creative career looks like with the RSN? Follow us on Facebook and Instagram where during Discover Creative Careers week (18 – 22 November) we will be sharing work, day in the life videos and more from our Students and Graduates.

Follow us on Facebook

Follow us on Instagram

Register for the next Degree Open Day

Register for the next Professional Embroidery Tutor Programme Info Session

Have you considered applying for the RSN Certificate & Diploma in Technical hand embroidery?

If you have, but are not sure what to expect, here is what our lovely RSN Bristol student Sanchia Groves has to say about her experience on the course:

“I learnt some basic embroidery when I was a child, watching my mum embroider a duvet cover. I remember using iron on transfers and secretly embroidered some handkerchiefs for her birthday. I moved onto bigger cross stitch designs until I visited an RSN exhibition at one of the Stitch shows in Birmingham NEC, and I knew I wanted to learn more.  I asked the lady on the stand if I could attend a course in Stumpwork and she explained to me that it might be better to start with something less advanced! 

A couple of years later I took a day course in Jacobean Crewelwork with Tutor Deborah Wilding at the Fashion Museum in Bath, and she explained how the programme worked.  Not long after this the COVID pandemic hit and I had plenty of time at home to think about what I wanted to do, so as soon as I was able to, I enrolled on the C&D programme.

I have met many new friends at Bristol, and part of the pleasure of attending classes is to be able to talk with like-minded people about embroidery and share each other’s excitement about new threads and tools. But it’s also great to see others’ work and watch their designs progress – there are so many different modules being taken at one time, so there are lots of different techniques to see, and it starts to give you ideas for when you come to plan your work on that module. The teaching at Bristol is second-to-none and the Tutors are so talented and patient with the students.

It’s difficult to choose my favourite technique so far because there are things to enjoy about each of them.  However, Goldwork is probably the one I enjoyed most and it gave me the confidence and ability to be able to repair the Victorian altar frontals at my church. 

I’ve found that a couple of the techniques that I wasn’t looking forward to (Canvaswork and Blackwork) I’ve really enjoyed and have been planning further designs in these techniques – there just aren’t enough hours in the day!  I’m just starting the Advanced Silk Shading module and have chosen to work a tapestry shaded figure as I think this will give me a good foundation for more church embroidery.  Plus I’ve had a bit of a taster at this when working on my Appliqué piece, using tapestry shading for the figure’s face and hands, and I found it easier that ‘normal’ silk shading.

To anyone thinking of starting the C&D Programme I would say, just go ahead and do it.  You don’t have to be an amazing embroiderer already, all you really need to know is some basics, and they’ll teach you the rest.  It’s been an amazing journey so far and I’m looking forward to learning even more.”

Start your technical hand embroidery journey, and sign up for our next Certificate & Diploma Online Info Session here

The RSN Embroidery Studio team were honoured to work on nine pieces for the Coronation of Their Majesties King Charles III and Queen Camilla. One of the Coronation pieces, designed and hand embroidered by the RSN, was the Robe of Estate of Her Majesty Queen Camilla. The Coronation Robe was made with a rich purple velvet and embroidered using the technique of Goldwork.

The RSN Embroidery Studio has produced six embroidery kits from beginner to advanced levels, each inspired by the Robe of Estate. The kits have been worked onto purple cotton velvet using gold threads with each design featuring a flower and insect from the original design. These new designs were produced by the expert RSN professional embroiderers who were instrumental in designing the Robe.

The six kits are:

View all Coronation inspired kits

Read more about our work on the Coronation

The RSN is co-supervising a fully funded Collaborative Doctoral Award alongside De Montfort University. The project, entitled ‘Embroidering Empire: Women, Textiles, and Colonial Collecting, 1872-1950’, will be joint supervised by RSN Curator Dr Isabella Rosner, and Dr Serena Dyer, Dr Emily Baines, and Dr Laura Beltran-Rubio of De Montfort University.

This project will investigate the relationship between embroidery and Empire. It interrogates the role of embroidery in mediating understandings of and creative engagements with Empire. The RSN’s Grove Book, a volume filled with hundreds of textiles collected from all corners of the world, will form the central starting point for the project. Collected by Georgina Annie Grove, the wife of a brigadier-general who served in British India, this volume represents a millennium of textile history, which Grove placed in conversation with snippets of contemporary domestic interior magazines.

This example of women’s colonial collecting will be contextualised against textiles given to the RSN by Queen Mary of Teck and British and Indian textiles connected to Queen Victoria’s jubilees and role as Empress of India. The examination of these objects will help to untangle the complicated relationship between women and textile collecting and production in the British Empire.

The successful PhD student will spend approximately 12 weeks per year working at the RSN to catalogue and research within our collections. Applicants should have completed an MA and have a background in material culture, fashion or textile history, gender history, or colonial histories. An interest in museums and curatorial work would also be an advantage.

Individuals with a material culture or fashion and textile history background do not need to have knowledge of colonial histories; similarly, applicants with a background in gender or colonial history do not need to have knowledge of material culture or fashion and textile history. No specialist knowledge of embroidery is required.

Click here to apply

View the RSN Collection & Archive here

Join us this month for Day & Evening Classes, unique exhibitions and two fascinating Live Online Talks.

 

Online Classes

Crewelwork Owl: Online, Weekly, from Saturday 2 – Saturday 23 November

Learn to Draw for Embroiderers 2: Get Confident with Using Colour: Online, Wednesday 6 November – ONLY 3 SPACES LEFT

Introduction to Embroidery: ‘Stylised Flower Sampler’: Online, Weekly, from Wednesday 6 – Wednesday 27 November

Jacobean Crewelwork: ‘Autumn’: Online, Weekly, from Saturday 09 – Saturday 16 November

Stumpwork Acorns & Oak Leaves: Online, Weekly, Sunday 17 – Sunday 24 November

Rockpool Embroidered Brooch: Online, Weekly, from Friday 29 November – Friday 6 December

 

Classes at Hampton Court Palace, South West London

Goldwork Map Making: Hampton Court Palace, Saturday 2 and Sunday 2 November

Designing for Blackwork: Hampton Court Palace, Tuesday 12 November – 1 SPACE LEFT

Experimental Embroidery: Hampton Court Palace, Sunday 17 November

Experimental Goldwork: Hampton Court Palace, Saturday 30 November- Sunday 1 December

 

See our Christmas Day & Evening Classes here

 

Experience Classes

17th Century Silk Flora inspired by Tales of Textiles exhibition: Hampton Court Palace, Wednesday 13 November

Pilgrims’ Christmas Stockings inspired by 12th century stained-glass windows at Canterbury Cathedral, Canterbury Cathedral, Saturday 16 November1 SPACE LEFT

 

Events & Exhibitions

RSN Sip & Stitch Week, Friday 1 – Friday 8 November

Tales of Textiles: The RSN Collection in Focus’: Hampton Court Palace, 25 September 2024 to June 2025

‘Embroidered Excellence: Treasures from the RSN Collection’: FREE Entry, Stirling Smith Art Gallery & Museum, Stirling, Scotland, open until Sunday 10 November

The Knitting & Stitching Show: Harrogate Convention Centre, Harrogate, Stand TG640, 21 – 24 November Join our 90-minute workshop

 

Online Talks

‘Sunflowers, ‘Souls’ and Stitches: Early designs from the RSN’: with RSN Archivist Vicky Bevan, Wednesday 13 November, 7pm BST

‘Anne Boleyn & Elizabeth I: The Mother and Daughter Who Changed History’ with Dr Tracy Borman OBE, Wednesday 27 November, 7pm BST

 

Open Days & Information Sessions

BA (Hons) Hand Embroidery Open Day, Hampton Court Palace, Wednesday 13 November, 2pm BST

Certificate & Diploma Online Info Session, Online, Tuesday 12 November, 8:30am BST