Margaret McQuillen - My Ecclesiastical Embroidery

Margaret started her embroidery journey when she completed her City & Guilds in 1995 and her first ecclesiastical embroidery was for her brother-in-law in Looe. Margaret made a stole for him and there were various technical logistics to work out, such as the sizing, the Celtic cross design, the threads to use, as well as the balance of colours and different fabrics needed.

This led to her first altar-piece for a church near Truro and again it was important to use the colours and designs that reflected the church itself. Margaret then started taking commissions for ministers and churches nearer home, a wedding stole for St Michael's in Tettenhall, as well as a larger piece for the church in memory of a friend's husband. Margaret has found silk dupion works well for altar cloths and the mixed silk packs for the details. St Cuthbert's Cross was not the easiest design to stitch!

 

The altar piece was sewn in three pieces and had to be hemmed in situ, as it was too big to be stitched anywhere else!

Lockdown meant that churches were closed and Margaret looked to other projects, many masks, lots of rabbits, a memory bear out of a uniform for her grandson, as well as indigo dyeing, lampshades, Japanese Boro work, and joining in with the Tags and the Flags on-line with Anne Brooke, who we are looking forward to welcoming to our group in May this year.

As lockdown ceased, more commissions came in from St Benedict's in Wombourne, St Paul's in Pendeford, as well as churches farther afield such as the Peak District. It has been a busy six months with 21 ecclesiastical items being finished during this time.

 You can see that Margaret often uses the shape of the dove design to reflect the shape of the flames to further enhance the balance and design of the pieces.

A clever use of an embroidery stitch on the machine produces a realistic text for the Bible design. 

 Celtic designs are beautiful but very complicated to make sure they are stitched the correct way. Many other biblical designs are used to reflect the communion table in her work, as you can see from the images here.

Margaret enjoys the challenge of this work, as well as making a significant contribution to many churches and minsters around this country and hopes to continue this work for many years to come. Please contact her for further details.