Journal

Inspiration: Arts and Crafts embroidery, Kellie Castle Daffodils

This beautiful, pared back embroidery was made for Kellie Castle in Fife, summer home of the Lorimer family, and now in the care of the National Trust of Scotland.  It is one of the pieces that is currently on exhibition in Stitched at The Dovecot Studios in Edinburgh.

I chose to highlight it as it show how elegant a pared back colour scheme can be - this was originally pale yellow, now cream, on natural linen.  The shading and form is all done via the angle of the stitching.  Look at the top flower and you can see the outlining and filling in - there are no complicated stitches.

This cloth shows off the variety of daffodils that bloomed at Kellie - their flowering coincided with the family returning there each Spring.  It is a kind of personalised decoration that was central to the architect Robert Lorimer’s idea of home. The cloth would have been part of an interior that also has carved stone and wood, bespoke furniture, carefully chosen pottery and glass.

The writing underneath the flowers reads “Daffodils that come before the swallow dares take the winds of March with beauty”

The design is likely to have been drawn out by Robert Lorimer and, though the Lorimer women were very productive embroiderers, this piece was stitched by Jeannie Black (later Skinner), a young local Fife embroiderer who was employed by Robert Lorimer on many projects. 

In the course Stitched we explore hand embroidery, how it was used to decorate the home and what inspiration we can take from old examples.

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