Chawton in Stitches promises a captivating journey through the creative process of award-winning graduate of the Royal School of Needlework, Emily Barnett. Her degree project, takes influence from the rich tapestries of our Gardens and Collection.
Her project culminated in three exquisitely hand embroidered panels, each a testament to the combination of beauty in nature, skilled artistry and intellectual endeavour that characterise the Gardens, the artworks and the women writers at Chawton House.
One panel takes influence from the Orchard at Chawton House, depicting the seasonal change from blossom to apples, alongside embroidered text from the Knight cookbook, passed down through generations of the family’s women. One recreates the Rose Garden alongside early eighteenth-century botanist Elizabeth Blackwell’s Curious Herbal, written and illustrated by Blackwell to educate on the medicinal uses of plants. The final panel illustrates the Library Terrace draped in wisteria, with the names of women writers beneath, some well-known and others now almost forgotten.
Visitors to the exhibition will have the unique opportunity to follow Emily’s creative journey, from early inspiration photographs to experimentations with different materials. Historic items from our Collection are placed alongside Emily’s work, including a unique sampler from 1830 stitched by a 10-year-old girl, women’s scrapbooks containing botanical studies in watercolour and snippets of poetry, and advice manuals written to encourage the pursuit of feminine accomplishments, or to suggest why those accomplishments might be damaging. These items will illuminate the differences in practices and attitudes over two centuries, but also draw a thread from then to now.
Location: Chawton House, Chawton, Hampshire
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