Learn the embroidery skills of medieval vestment makers

The Guild of St Clare is collaborating with the Royal School of Needlework to provide a special two day course, embroidering a sampler using the medieval techniques of Opus Anglicanum. 

Detail from the Jesse Cope, circa 1310-25

As many Guild of St Clare supporters will know, the High Middle Ages was a golden age for English embroidery, and English embroidery studios executed commissions for wealthy patrons all over Europe, in particular vestments for high-ranking prelates. During the Reformation a great number of these were destroyed here in England, but thanks to the enduring faith of neighbouring countries, many examples have survived, some of which formed a remarkable exhibition at the Victoria & Albert museum in 2016-2017.  This two day course is a unique opportunity to learn the ancient and highly-prized skills of medieval English embroiderers, in the beautiful setting of the RSN's teaching apartments at Hampton Court Palace. 

The tuition will be provided by RSN tutor Jessica Ingram.

The Violet sampler we will be working, designed by our tutor Jessica Ingram

The dates are the 29th-30th March 2025, and the course will run between 10am and 4pm on both days. Tea and coffee are provided; you will need to bring a packed lunch, or you can visit one of Hampton Court Palace's cafes. 

The Guild of St Clare burse making course at the RSN, March 2020

The cost, including the materials, is £329. As this course runs over a weekend, Fr Richard Biggerstaff, parish priest of St Barnabas Church, Molesey, has very kindly agreed to offer a special traditional Mass at 8am on Sunday morning for participants in the course.

For more information please email Lucy on guildofstclare@lms.org.uk, or book through the registration link on the LMS website.

Hampton Court Palace

Autumn Sewing Retreat: report

 Lucy writes: This year's Autumn Sewing Retreat, held at St Joseph's Centre, Ashurst between 8th-10th November, was a huge success, one of the best we've had. The numbers were the highest ever, and I was quite apprehensive about how we would manage, especially as the rooms we use for sewing aren't all that large. However, by deploying the collapsible tables used by the Walsingham Pilgrimage Cooking Team, we managed to provide enough space for everyone. 

There were 25 participants (including our chaplain, Fr Stephen Morrison OPraem and our server). Four of the retreatants were children, and it was very edifying to see them joining in wholeheartedly with the vestment mending. Two babies also accompanied their mothers. 

We dealt with a wide variety of repairs including replacing braid on a beautiful goldwork chasuble belonging to Fr Gabriel Diaz, re-attaching the hood to a black Cope belonging to the LMS, fixing the clasps on the morse of a second black Cope, putting a new orphrey into a green chasuble of Fr Vipers' of St Mary Moorfields, re-lining some pieces from a really fabulous gold lamé High Mass set, and replacing the front panel on a white chasuble belonging to the Guild of St Clare. We also had a number of new things to make, such as kneeler covers for Corpus Christi, Maiden Lane, a curtain and valance for the shrine of St Edmund at Withermarsh Green, and various small pieces for Low Mass sets.

Fr Stephen gave us three spiritual conferences concerning the Sequences, of which for the traditional Latin rite there are five left, the Dies Irae from the Requiem, and Lauda Sion from Corpus Christi, Veni Sancte Spiritus from Pentecost and the Victimae paschali laudes for Easter, as well as the Stabat Mater. In the Premonstratensian Rite, however, the Christmas one, Laetabundus, has also been retained, and Fr Stephen illustrated his reflections on it with a beautiful rendering of some of the chant. This was an unusual but very helpful way of exploring a part of the liturgy that we rarely see, and I was very struck by the remarkably devotional yet simultaneously catechetical nature of these beautiful prayers.

The liturgical highlight of the weekend was Compline in front of the Blessed Sacrament exposed, followed by Benediction. We were fortunate to have the use of a lovely red and gold Cope, property of the LMS, for the occasion; we repaired this Cope at our first ever Sewing Retreat in 2017 and it was wonderful to see it in use in this setting.

Our next Retreat is on 21-23 February at the same venue (St Joseph's Centre, Ashurst) and online registration is now open. Early booking is recommended to be sure of your place.

Recovering Opus Anglicanum

 

Ancilla writes: When I first started getting into vestment embroidery Opus Anglicanum, translated to ‘English Work’, was very much on my radar. The V&A Exhibition ‘Opus Anglicanum: Masterpieces of English Medieval Embroidery’ was about the same time so there was much hype around this ancient needle work.

The Opus Anglicanum Exhibition at the V& A Museum, London

 A decade passed from this first interest when Guild Mistress, Lucy Shaw, kindly enrolled us onto the 2 Day RSN course ‘Introduction to Opus Anglicanum’ conducted by Jessica Ingram. I was very interested and excited.

Our sampler kit

This medieval embroidery has a unique style to it, think illuminated manuscripts like the St Albans Psalters, and Tutor Jessica had designed a sample for us with a Violet flower to this style.

Jessica's completed sampler

We began with the flower itself using silk threads to block shade the colours in using a split stitch. Then the really cool bit: underside couching. This way of using gold threads maximises all its glittering potential with minimal waste. I ended up wasting alot more than your medieval embroiderer would have but it really is a stunning way to use gold threads. There is a wonderful rhythm you can get into when sewing which I am sure would be very good for inserting prayers.  

Lucy's sampler

 

The sample also included the technique of Or Nue using silver threads and stem stitch in silk. I found the classes to be a really good taster and it left me wanting more.

RSN tutor Jessica Ingram

My hope is that we can reclaim this technique and style back for God, His Church and Britain. May Our Lady of Walsingham and St Clare help us in this endeavour!

The Virgin Mary embroidering, detail from a manuscript illumination from the Klosterneuburger Evangelienwerk

Happy Feast of St Clare!

In honour of our great heavenly Patron, all our Sewing Kits are available today at a 20% discount from the Latin Mass Society shop.

The Memorare Tote Bag, the latest addition to our range of kits

Buona festa! - e buoni acquisti!

Winners of the Annual Sponsorship Scheme

I'm delighted to announce that we have made our annual Sponsorship Award to the Royal School of Needlework Certificate Course. This scheme provides 50% of the fees to the successful candidates, enabling them to pursue at their own pace this prestigious and rigorous qualification. 

This year we were able to make several awards, and of a strong field of candidates we chose three, whose natural gifts and commitment to the Guild of St Clare's charitable objects very much impressed the panel.

Julija Bigataite is a regular supporter of both the Sewing Retreat and the vestment mending workshops at St Mary Moorfields. She has mended several chasubles belonging to the Latin Mass Society to a very high standard.

Maya Breen is a home educator and member of the Guild of St Clare Birmingham & Black Country Chapter.

Gerrie Serpell is the leader of the East Kent Chapter, and has made and mended several vestments alongside her more pressing duties as a home educating mother of many sons.

The Guild of St Clare is already greatly enriched by the contribution each of these candidates makes, and we are very happy to be able to give them the opportunity to improve their skills and increase their knowledge of traditional hand embroidery. Many congratulations and thanks to all three!

We will be inviting applications for next year's Sponsorship Award in late spring next year.

Launch of the St Mary Magdalen Chapter

 Lucy writes: It was a great pleasure to attend the launch of the St Mary Magdalen Chapter yesterday, at the invitation of Chapter Leader Ola Smalley, and there were several friends of the Guild of St Clare also there including recent Sponsorship award winner Julija Bigataite.

The Chapter is entrusted with the care of the vestment collection at St Mary Magdalen, which under the supervision of Fr Martin Edwards has grown into a magnificent and eclectic collection. As the interiors of the church is Arts & Crafts, Fr Martin has successfully acquired many vestments of the same period, and they are extremely unusual in design, and beautifully made. 

We made a tentative start on a violet High Mass Set, the lining of which is damaged.

We also took our courage in our hands and tackled an ombrellino cover.

The church's most useful black Cope urgently needed a new morse and new clasps, and this task was nearly completed by the end of the afternoon.

I was very impressed by the enthusiasm and commitment of the new Chapter, and they are fortunate to have a couple of skilled supporters, so that they will be equal to the demands made of them.

The next meeting is scheduled for September, and will meet at regular monthly intervals thereafter. To find out more or to join the group, email Ola on gosc.wandsworth@lms.org.uk .

Welcome to our newest supporter!

I'm delighted to be able to announce the arrival of our newest and youngest member, little Marita Beatrice Ulrike Windsor, daughter to Vreni, our London (St Bede's) Chapter Leader and her husband Tom. Marita is their tenth child. 

Marita was born at 4.31pm yesterday (Friday 19th July). I'm sure she was hoping to be in time for our quarterly Chapter Leader's meeting, which bodes very well for the future! 

Vreni and Tom have been stalwart supporters of the Traditional Mass for twenty years, and have been particularly active at St Bede's, Clapham Park, where there is a large and long-standing community. Their ten children are among their great gifts to the traditional movement; the oldest of them have already become, in their turn, of invaluable assistance, helping at many local and national events.  We thank the whole Windsor family and send them our congratulations on this auspicious arrival.

A Response to Casual Contempt

Lucy writes: A photograph published on Twitter last weekend, of a female Church of England ordinand wearing a Borromean chasuble, gave rise to considerable debate, much of it too disedifying to warrant special notice. But one comment, directed towards me as a representative of the Guild of St Clare, does require a response, if only a brief one, especially since it manifests a common attitude. Here it is.

Women in the Catholic Church fill many roles, and Joseph Shaw, in his own response to this tweet, drew attention to Diane Montagna, one of our most influential journalists, Clare McCullough of the Good Counsel Network whose unstinting efforts have saved hundreds of unborn babies from abortion, Gwyneth Thompson-Briggs, noted sacred artist, in addition to women from past decades such as Sue Coot and Iris Roper, to whom the movement for the Traditional Mass owes so much. These women are an inspiration to all, a witness to the many ways in which women can serve the Church with distinction and true femininity.

At the Guild of St Clare Sewing Retreat, February 2021

The Church has need of more than leaders, however. The fabric of her buildings must be maintained, and her furnishings also. For those of us - most of us - not able to take the lead in public life, the care of vestments and Church furnishings has come to represent a significant part of our devotional life. "Every stitch an Ave," Fr Stephen Morrison OPraem, one of our strongest supporters, is fond of saying - and it is true. Handling the garments that are used in the highest prayer of the Church draws one into a kind of prayer that is at once a meditation and an alms.

Repairs to the goldwork on a Humeral Veil

St Joseph was a carpenter, a skilled craftsman. Our Lord himself washed the feet of the apostles, warning them: "If I wash thee not, thou shalt have no part with me." The true Christian life lies not only in the ability to value the most menial task, and to understand that its very lowliness gives glory to God in a way that is particularly precious - but also to be able to accept a menial offering with humility and gratitude. 

The Guild of St Clare at our annual class at the Royal School of Needlework

It is true that much of the sewing involved in the mending of vestments is simple and unexciting. But there is much more to it than setting the stitches. The woman with the issue of blood understood well the power of the clothing of the Lord: "If I shall but touch his garment, I shall be whole." Those of us who do reverently touch and care for His garments, do indeed experience the consolation and healing power of Christ.

Painstaking repairs to a beautiful and fragile chasuble

I do not suggest that it is the task of every woman to undertake this work. (I certainly don't think that it is a task that should be limited to women either - at the Guild of St Clare we have welcomed the assistance of many men over the years, and count them amongst some of our most enthusiastic and skilled helpers.) Those who do join us, however, both men and women, in a spirit of prayerful generosity, can be sure that the Lord does not despise our efforts; more than that, that they have an honoured place in the mission of the Church Militant.

Fr Stephen Morrison OPraem repairing the cassock of one of his servers

Sewing Kits for Sale

The Guild of St Clare is excited to announce the launch of a new venture: the sale of our exclusive Sewing Kits online, through the Latin Mass Society shop.

Pocket Shrine kits featuring the Sacred Heart and the Madonna & Child

The Guild has been producing and selling kits for a few years, but only at our workshops and retreats, or by special request. Now for the first time they are available to a wider audience.

Our perennially popular Embroidered Scapular kits

At the moment, the LMS is stocking five of our kits: the Embroidered Scapular kits, the Pocket Shrine kits, the Rosary Purse kits, the Travelling Stole kits and the Vestment Mender's Sewing kit. As our range expands, we hope that the LMS will continue to stock the full range.

The Vestment Mender's Sewing kit: everything you need to get started

More kits are under development already, and by Christmas we hope that an even larger number of our kits will be on offer.

The Travelling Stole kit, including damask from world famous Papal outfitters Gammarelli

All our kits come with all the materials you need to make each item, and full instructions. For further information email Lucy on guildofstclare@lms.org.uk .

Chapter Leaders' Outing

 Lucy writes: Guild of St Clare Chapter Leaders convened at the office of the Latin Mass Society yesterday, to enjoy a light lunch and a chat before embarking on a tour of some of London's best sewing shops.

Lucy and the Guild Chapter Leaders, next to the LMS Vestment presses

This is the first occasion on which we have all met together in person. Our Northern Chapter Leaders had the furthest to come, travelling from Durham and Manchester to be with us. The prize for the longest journey went to Clare Megarity, also one of the leaders of the Northern Chapter, who came straight to the meeting from a conference in Sweden.

The Northern Chapter leads the way in commitment both to work and recreation

One of the biggest challenges in vestment mending is finding appropriate materials. The braids, damasks and trimmings aren't widely available and can't easily be found using internet searches. However they are stocked in some places in London, and I was thrilled to be able to share the fruits of my researches with the other Guild of St Clare volunteers.

Buttons at Macculloch & Wallis

I was pleased to have the opportunity to buy some of the materials I will need for the sewing project for the St Catherine's Trust Summer School: a special Marian bag, which I hope also to sell as Guild of St Clare kits once I have completed the preparations.

Shopping was of course followed by cream tea, and readers will be delighted to hear that we have settled the vexed question of whether to put the jam or the cream first on to the scones. The answer is, of course, jam first, but we experimented exhaustively in order to verify our data.

Cream tea at the Ivy Café, Marylebone Lane

I am so grateful to the Guild's Chapter Leaders who pour so much of their precious time, skill and resources into organising the vestment mending effort, helping to build a prayerful community around the traditional Mass.

Chapter Leaders at Liberty of London

N.B. We keep an updated list of suppliers on our website, to help others find the materials needed for vestment mending.