When members of the United Reform Church in Summertown, Oxford, were working on a project to create a montage of felt fabric illustrations of all the books of the Bible, there came a point when they had to call in the experts.

Where better to turn to than to the team at All Saints’ Convent in the city’s St Mary’s Road, which has generations of expertise?

Since 1989 the workshop has been run by lay people, and no longer by the sisters, but in a return to tradition, managers Suellen Pedley and Hélène Lister Cheese, have recruited a sister from St Mary’s Convent in Wantage who has joined them to learn goldwork.

The embroidery workshop is one of a group of activities based at the convent, together with Helen and Douglas House Hospice for children and young people, the Stepping Stones Centre for the homeless and St John’s residential home for the elderly.

Mrs Pedley explained: “The workshop at All Saints has been in continuous production of church textiles since the early 1850s, and the workers are very aware of the long tradition which they uphold.”

The workshop is run on a commercial basis, taking commissions for churches and cathedrals, colleges and other academic institutions far and wide, here and abroad. But this is not driven commercial production.

“Because we like to use the old handworked way of doing things, rather than by machine, and like to produce high quality, our work would not really be economically profitable due to the hours involved,” added Mrs Pedley.

“But something always seems to come in whenever we need it.”

The Anglican Community of All Saints, Sisters of the Poor, was founded in 1851 by Harriet Brownlee Byron. It was dedicated to the relief of sickness and suffering among the under-privileged of Victorian society — ideals which it continues to follow today.

Its foundation was at the time of the Oxford Movement in the Church of England when Anglican religious houses were being founded for the first time since the Reformation.

It saw a return to ritualistic forms of service involving the use of vestments worn by the clergy, and the enhancement of church furnishings using embroidered hangings.

Mrs Pedley said: “As the old skills had been lost when no vestments were worn in the Anglican church, the sisters had to learn to embroider the textiles they needed for their own chapels.

“An embroidery room was soon established at All Saints. Many members of the communities were sent abroad to Roman Catholic foundations to learn the techniques required for this specialist form of embroidery.”

The sisters continued this work at the convent until 1988 when Mrs Pedley, who had established the Cathedral Embroidery Centre at Christ Church, was approached by Sister Mary Estelle.

Because many of the sisters were elderly, there were fears for the future of needlecraft. Mrs Pedley was asked to take on its management and she agreed, in partnership with a fellow member of the cathedral team, Mrs Lister Cheese.

“We started in January 1989. Within a short time, just after Easter, Sister Mary Estelle died suddenly. It was as if she had felt that in handing over the embroidery workshop to us she had completed her life’s work,” said Mrs Pedley.

The building used by the present team is a converted schoolroom, to which a mezzanine floor has been added to create extra space.

When a new project is approached, they gather to discuss the design, each undertaking a section of the work, much of which is completed at home as well as at the workshop.

As well as commissions for new projects, they undertake restoration. The length of time a piece of work may take depends on many factors — the intricacy of the design, the types of thread and fabric used, and the techniques required. Embroidery is a much more time-demanding process than appliqué.

The altar frontal for Oxford’s Exeter College, for example, took two years. It has a rose motif, reflecting the dedication of the college chapel to St Mary. Other colleges where the skills of these embroiderers can be seen include St Edmund Hall, St Peter’s College and Queen’s College.

The embroidered panels for the ceremonial robe of the vice-chancellor of the university was a major project involving detailed goldwork.

The All Saints embroiderers and those at the cathedral collaborate when there is a tight deadline. One such was an embroidered box which Mrs Pedley was asked to create to present to the Emperor and Empress of Japan when they visited Helen and Douglas House.

Work also goes abroad. For example, the Diocese of Oxford is twinned with Växjö in Sweden, and the teams had just six weeks to produce a banner for the enthronement of a bishop in the cathedral there.

The colours of the altar frontals, falls for the lectern and other hangings are governed by the traditions of each diocese. In the Oxford diocese, and most in this country, these are white or gold for festivals, red for celebrations of martyrs and some other festivals, purple or violet for the more sombre periods of Lent and Advent, and green for Sundays other than these special times.

Some parishes may even have two separate sets of purple hangings — for St Mary’s Church, Upton, these have been made with gold embroidery for Advent and the more muted silver for Lent.

Current work at the convent is on a set of four altar frontals for a church in Hertfordshire.

Although the work on the illustrated panels for the Summertown United Reform Church was very different from their own, the team willingly gave advice and assistance which proved invaluable.

Church secretary Beryl Knotts said: “We wouldn’t have been able to complete it without their help — they kept us on an even keel.”

The project, which is displayed as a triptych, has come to fruition at exactly the right time, this year being the 400th anniversary of the publication of the King James’ Bible in 1611.

Two people from the church have also joined the embroiderers to learn the intricacies of their stitching.

Mrs Pedley said: “Everybody brings their own expertise, some with previous experience and some with enthusiasm and a good eye.

“One of the best things a person can have in the way of skills is the ability to stand back and see that a section of work is not good enough, and not be satisfied unless it is unpicked and reworked.”

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