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