ALISON LARKIN, Embroiderer, Author and Teacher
“That’s lovely, but I couldn’t do it: I only do cross stitch”.
How many times have I heard that?
Learn with me to develop embroidery skills and styles which will give you a lifetime of creative enjoyment.
Embroider a Georgian Sprig
This course is based on a sprig design which was published in 'The Lady's Magazine, or Entertaining Companion for the Fair Sex' in August 1816. It is typical of the stylised floral patterns which were used to decorate clothing and accessories during the Regency period.
The design provides a simple intoruction to surface embroidery which allows you to develop your skills beyond cross stitch and broaden the range of your hand embroidery techniques. It will introduce you to baisc stitches which you can use in a myriad of ways to decorate items for yourself and friends.
The sprig as a handkerchief
There are mnany ways that this motif could be used to decorate accessories, sewing items and other pieces
The original pattern from 1816
The original patterns were published without any instructions. One of my aims is to make these patterns available for modern stitchers!
The Sprig as a pincushion
There are mnany ways that this motif could be used to decorate accessories, sewing items and other pieces
Example Curriculum
Alison Larkin, Embroiderer
After 30 years teaching Biology, mostly to adults, I left teaching in 2013 to work full-time in embroidery and costume. (I still pinch myself sometimes!) I specialise in historical hand embroidery techniques: my particular interest is the use of embroidery on dress for both men and women in the Georgian period.
During 2014-15 I worked on a project to create a replica of a waistcoat made for Captain James Cook by his wife during the 1770s, which was unfinished due to Cook’s death in Hawai’i in 1779.
In 2020 I published Jane Austen Embroidery with Jennie Batchelor, published by Pavilion Books in UK and Dover Publications in USA.
