Luce Ben Aben School of Arab Embroidery, Algeria
In the interests of evenhandedness, following my post the other day about being self-taught, today I thought I would ask people who have undertaken formal study at a needlework school to tell us what it was like, and what they loved or did not love about it.
Apart from anything you may wish to tell us, I have some questions because I am curious! Did you do it for the qualification you would gain at the end, or just for the knowledge you would acquire? If you gained a formal qualification, has that been useful to you? Was the curriculum delivered onsite or online?
I’ve looked at the Royal School of Needlework and assessed that they don’t teach what I want to learn, so I have found that learning elsewhere for myself. However, I greatly admire some of their graduates.
I know that the Japanese Embroidery Center is *the* place to learn Japanese embroidery, with a well structured and rigorous program of study. I am in awe of some of the work their students produce.
I know that the San Francisco School of Needlework and Design exists, but not much else about it.
There are probably others that I do not know of. I’d love to hear about them, and your experiences there, if you’ve been to one! If you’d like to post anonymously, you can send your reflections to my email address (please do not send them to me via messenger) and ask me to post them anonymously for you. I will post them in each of the three locations I post to (FB, Insta and my blog) unless you specify which one you’d like me to post to. yvette at vetty creations dot com dot au
Please note, if you’re from the marketing department from a needlework school, I request that you do not take this as an invitation to advertise here. I am asking for personal reflections from current or past students only.
Image: This gorgeous, public domain image is of the Luce Ben Aben School of Arab Embroidery in Algeria. It dates from the early 1900s. I wonder what learning there was like for their young students?
White Threads is the blog of Yvette Stanton, the author, designer, publisher behind Vetty Creations' quality needlework books and embroidery products.
I’ve taken one-off classes with the Japanese Embroidery Center, regular (monthly?) classes with a JEC-certified teacher and their Japanese parent/sister organization at Kutenai-kai (I lived in Japan a year). Why? To learn new skills — silk and metal thread embroidery while exploring another aspect of Japanese culture. The qualification isn’t a focus, as I don’t plan to teach, but some advanced classes, including JEC trips to Japan, are restricted to advanced students. Originally, everything was in person, but now a mix of online and in person is available.
I’ve also taken one-off classes with RSN and the SF school. No intention of a formal qualification.
Unfortunately, the San Francisco School of Needlework and Design is closing (https://www.sfsnad.org); they’re finishing up their last classes now.
Thanks for sharing, Sandy. If I was to want to learn Japanese embroidery, JEC would be a great way to do it. I have a friend who has been slowly working his way through the levels for years now.
Someone else also told me this morning that the SF school has closed. That’s very sad.