Charlotte Edwards

Inspired by an 18th century embroidered apron fragment from the Roger Warner Textile Collection at Temple Newsam, Charlotte’s project reimagines a piece of domestic history into a theatrical garment. Drawing on her background in costume and textiles, she uses digital embroidery not just as surface decoration but as part of the construction process.

Each motif from the original apron was carefully digitised and sampled, with colour and placement tested to retain the spirit of the embroidery while expanding it into a full garment. This required each design element to be mapped precisely, accounting for curves, folds and joins across seam lines. Drawing on her experience working in theatre, Charlotte approached the pattern cutting with a practical mindset, drafting extended seam allowances for flexibility and hypothetical alternations, which in turn affected how the embroidery was designed. Charlotte worked with a stitch field of 25cm x 30cm, which created the additional challenge of matching up the designs within the individual pattern pieces.

The final piece draws inspiration from the robe à la française and robe à l’anglaise, silhouettes that defined 18th-century fashion. It demonstrates not only how a utilitarian piece of textiles can be transformed but also how embroidery can be used as both embellishment and as a tool to inform garment construction.