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It's embroidery, but not as we know itNovember 2000
It all began the day I told a friend that I was unable to meet her for lunch as I was assisting at a hanging. 'I thought hanging had been abolished', was her rejoinder, 'or are you some sort of latter-day tricoteuse?'
On reflection, the wonderful world of embroidery is a strange sub-culture, more reminiscent of the underworld than a legitimate activity. Embroidery is perceived by the layman as a lady-like occupation but we, the cognoscenti, know differently. Otherwise, why would I be going to college armed with a hammer, pliers, soldering iron, blow-torch, nails, scalpel and various instruments of torture?
Once in class, the real fun begins. We've done blackwork and whitework. Are we being trained in witchcraft according to the Aleister Crowley manual or is this only a lead-up to the really crewel things to follow? We have stabbed, slashed and whipped with enough enthusiasm to shame the Kray brothers. In this environment, even the feed dog begins to appear as menacing as the Hound of the Baskervilles. To cries of 'what's that horrible smell?' comes a plaintive reply 'it's only me, I'm burning' from the student hunched over a candle flame while, in a distant corner, someone is dyeing quietly.
After all this, our nerves are as frayed as our fabrics and 'distressed' has reverted to its pre-City & Guilds meaning. Physically, too, we have suffered, as most of us appear to have acquired clip on and off feet and tend to drop our teeth with alarming frequency. Even the humble French knot has taken on connotations of some form of Gallic bondage and, as for prick and pounce, it sounds like an activity undertaken by two consenting adults behind closed doors, or a magazine found only on the top shelf of a dubious newsagent.
Will somebody please tell me whatever happened to Lazy Daisy? Did she die of neglect or did she just take off her walking foot?
However, after experiencing the communal crewelties of a City & Guilds course, lots of bonding has occurred and we have become a close knit little group appreciative of the support and encouragement given by our long-suffering tutors, Rosemary Hill, Kim Gourlay and Rose Campbell.
Catherine Skelton
Part 2 City & Guilds student at Telford College, Edinburgh