This week I’ve been on a five day course at Hand and Lock learning about artistic embellishment. The course was taught by Lucy Martin who is an experienced embroiderer and winner of the Hand and Lock Prize. We learnt about all sorts of decorative techniques for surface design, particularly three-dimensional textural techniques.

I found that a lot of the stitches were things I had already done before or had knowledge of how to do, but there were a few new bits in there that were fun to learn. The main focus for me was having the time to play around with all these stitches and experiment with using them and combining them in different ways. At the beginning of the course we were given a hoop and a piece of fabric which we slowly added to as the week went on creating a kind of collage of everything we learnt. The course was based off a piece that Lucy had created and all the materials we used were in the same colour palette. I found this really helpful for creating an intuitive piece because it took away a lot of decision making and stopped me heading into design territory rather than just going with the flow.

There were a mixture of techniques we used from stitching, to beadwork, to gold work. I really liked the pieces that gave it height and enjoyed all the different ways of combining beads and sequins to create different shapes and effects. I also liked experimenting with the placement of each technique, going from clustered together to spread out, and seeing how that changed the effect it had on the piece. 

For me, a large part of the appeal for this course was the tutor, Lucy Martin. I am familiar with her work from the Royal School of Needlework and Instagram and I was looking forward to learning from her. However, for the majority of the week we were taught by interns who were teaching for the first time or being trialled out for a job and Lucy was just there in an advisory capacity, and in fact not there at all on the Wednesday. This course was a big investment of time and money for me and I have had it booked since February, so I was left a little disappointed that we did not receive teaching from the artist as advertised on the website. That being said, I do want to support newcomers to the industry, especially those that have just finished their degree, and the three other ladies that taught us did do a great job. They were good at demonstrating each technique and describing what to do and were very patient, particularly Rosie who did most of the teaching and was very kind and helpful.

The course took place at their headquarters in London and cost £450. It was really nice to go and sew with other people who are as equally enthusiastic as me about embroidery and all the other people on the course were so lovely and very engaging. Hand and Lock do also offer most of their courses online as well, which is great for people who want to learn but can’t make it into London.