Passementerie Weaving with Elizabeth Ashdown

Location: 86 Margaret Street, London W1W 8TE

Join us for a unique contemporary weaving workshop and explore the wonders of hand passementerie weaving with passementerie artist and heritage craft specialist Elizabeth Ashdown MA RCA. Passementerie is an 'endangered' craft in the UK and so this is a very special opportunity to learn how to create passementerie from one of the last remaining passementerie artists.
One of the rarest and most special of all textile crafts, passementerie is the art of creating decorative ribbons, trimmings, braids, cords and fringes. Whether you're interested in interior design, accessories, fashion design, or fine art, this workshop will teach you the introductory passementerie weaving skills you need to create your own fabulous hand woven designs bursting with colour, texture and pattern. You will create 4 different hand woven contemporary passementerie designs, each design exploring a different hand technique. You will also learn how to create your own hand spun cords using traditional techniques. No prior experience of weaving or of passementerie is required.

Each learner will create 4 hand woven passementerie designs of approximately 6" long per sample. Each design is based on a traditional passementerie weaving technique including creating picots, scallops, braid, fringe and Crete. You will also learn how to hand spin your own cords using a traditional passementerie cord spinner - these cords can be incorporated into your weaving, or you can take them home to use in other projects. You will also learn: how to set up the loom for passementerie weaving, how to remove your weaving from the loom and how to finish your weaving professionally.

All of the materials you need for this class will be provided for you as part of your course experience. You are more than welcome to bring your own embroidery equipment if you would rather use your own materials but everything will be provided for you.

Tutor Profile

Elizabeth Ashdown MA RCA is one of the last remaining Passementerie craftspeople working in the UK today. Working from her studio in London, she creates contemporary, hand woven artworks using the endangered craft of Passementerie. Elizabeth combines traditional craft skills with a contemporary aesthetic in order to create intriguing and playful art works for a variety of clients. Elizabeth's book 'Passementerie handcrafting contemporary trimmings, fringes, tassels and more' will be published by Schiffer in January 2024.

'My role as an artist is not only to respect my traditional craft of Passementerie, but to unleash its potential. One way I do this is through teaching others about this fascinating, rare and endangered craft.'

Location

You can find us at 86 Margaret Street, London W1W 8TE

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Accessibility

Our in person classes are taught in our school which is located upstairs in our studio. Unfortunately the building does not have lift access, so use of the stairs would be necessary.

Testimonials

If you would like to hear from some of our past students you can read our testimonials here.

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