Discover more about the RSN and find out why we’ve been the international centre of excellence for the Art of Hand Embroidery for more than 150 years. We’ll also introduce you to key guest speakers in our engaging live talks.
Easily accessed via Zoom, all of our talks are embellished by captivating images and are followed by live Q&A sessions.
| Please read the important information at the end of this page before booking a talk. Thank you. |
Divine and Mythical Creatures from the RSN Collection & Archive: Exhibition Preview
RSN Curator of Textiles, Dr Isabella Rosner. Wednesday 17 September 2025, 7pm UK
Our new intimate exhibition, Divine and Mythical Creatures from the RSN Collection & Archive, showcases fantastical pieces from Royal School of Needlework’s Collection & Archive with a focus on imaginary earthly and celestial beings, both human and animal. The display is situated in one of our Embroidery Studios at Hampton Court Palace and will run on selected dates from 24 September 2025 to June 2026.
Join RSN Curator of Textiles, Dr Isabella Rosner for a preview of the exhibits which span multiple centuries and continents, illustrating everything from dragons to heraldic beasts and ancient gods and goddesses.
Isabella says: ‘When we think of embroidery we often think about embellishing and rendering with thread the world we see around us, but so much of needlework throughout history has focused on embroidering the imaginary and making the fictional real. This desire to depict fantastical creatures has spanned continents and centuries, allowing us to track creatures like angels and unicorns around the world through stitch’.
Studying the Bayeux Tapestry
Textile Historian and RSN Tutor, Alexandra Makin. Wednesday 8 October 2025, 7pm UK
The Bayeux Tapestry will be displayed at the British Museum in autumn 2026 in a historic loan agreement between the UK and France. This will be the first time that the tapestry has been shown in the UK since it was made almost 1,000 years ago.
In 2020 textile archaeologist, Alexandra Makin was privileged to have been given access to the Bayeux Tapestry to analyze how it was embroidered and what this can tell us about the organization of its production.
In this talk Alexandra will give you insights into her work, including being the first researcher to be given access to images of the reverse of the embroidery, and the unexpected results of her microscopic work on one section of the front. She will also give an outline of her work studying the seams and castles, and what she deduced from the results.
Alexandra Makin is an RSN trained professional embroiderer and textile archaeologist specialising in the early medieval period (450-1100 CE).
Stitching in War and Peace: The Embroidery of WWII POW, Major Casdagli
RSN Curator, Dr Isabella Rosner and Alexia Penny Casdagli.
Wednesday 22 October 2025, 7pm UK
Embroidery is not just the work of women in the home or at school. Embroidery is also the work of men and those in spaces like prisons. One exceptional imprisoned stitcher was A.T. Casdagli, a British-Greek major who embroidered throughout his four years in German prisoner of war camps during the Second World War. Most striking is his subversive stitching, the samplers, bookmarks, and maps that spell out choice words for Hitler in Morse code and depict life in the camps.
Join RSN Curator Isabella Rosner and A.T. Casdagli’s daughter, Alexis Penny Casdagli, as they discuss her father’s life of embroidery. His stitching will be put into conversation with that of others in prison, such as Ray Materson and the work of Fine Cell Work, and that of other male embroiderers.
The House of Embroidered Paper: The Regency Wardrobe
Fine Artist, Stephanie Smart. Wednesday 12 November 2025, 7pm UK
Stephanie Smart is a fine artist who makes life-sized garments entirely from paper and thread. They are created using free-machine embroidery, hand-stitching, drawing and applied decoration. Every piece is accompanied by detailed research and is inspired by historical fashion and social and national history from different eras as well as the stories and memories of individuals.
Her most recent collection The Regency Wardrobe was exhibited at several British museums including the Royal Pavilion, Brighton and selected objects will be on display at Jane Austen’s house in Chawton from 9 September-18 November 2025.
In this talk Stephanie will describe the background to her work with paper textiles and her establishment of The House of Embroidered Paper, which she describes as part fashion house, part fine art studio. She will show images of pieces from The Regency Wardrobe and describe their inspiration and her working practice. Stephanie’s ambition for every piece of work is that it be: aesthetically beautiful, technically ambitious and intellectually interesting.
Stephanie is currently working with RSN degree students on Weaving Silk Stories a new project in partnership with the independent charity Historic Royal Palaces, which is due to launch in 2027.
A Royal Victorian Christmas
Royal Collection Trust, Curator of Paintings, Lucy Peter.
Wednesday 10 December 2025, 7pm UK
Join us this festive season as we delve into stories of how Christmas was celebrated during the reign of Queen Victoria.
From family traditions to some of the delightful gifts that still remain within the Royal Collection, the details of a Victorian Christmas will be brought to life by Royal Collection Trust, Curator of Paintings, Lucy Peter.
Image © Royal Collection Enterprises Limited 2025 | Royal Collection Trust
Important Booking Information
Please note that these Talks are live online events and are not available to watch immediately afterwards. If you cannot watch the live event — or if you want to watch again in the future — we usually re-release popular talks at a later date On Demand. Please note that there is a separate fee for Talks on Demand.
Bookings for live RSN Online Talks close at 3pm on the day of the event and are NON-REFUNDABLE. After booking, you will receive your unique Zoom invite by email 24-48 hours before each event (3 hours if booked on the day). The invite should arrive ‘from’ [email protected] – we strongly recommend that you add this address to your ‘Safe Senders’ list to ensure safe receipt.
If you do not receive your invite by the above deadline please first check your ‘junk/spam’ mail folder to ensure it hasn’t been routed there by mistake. If you still do not have the invite, please email [email protected] no later than one hour before the event is due to start. Please include your order reference number.
Each place booking and subsequent Zoom link is unique to ONE customer and ONE device only. If you wish to book multiple places on behalf of additional attendees please provide the name AND email address of any additional attendees in the ‘Additional information’ section of your order at checkout.
All RSN Live Online Talks are scheduled and advertised in UK local time (GMT or BST depending on the time of year). If you are outside of the UK please check your local time, particularly if your location changes to/from Daylight Savings Time on a different schedule to the UK during March/April or October/November. To check and convert times please visit TimeAndDate.com.
All RSN webinars include live Closed Captioning (subtitles). These can be disabled if not required.
If you require additional assistance, please refer to our FAQ page. Thank you.
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