Hawthorne & Heaney Experiments with Machine Ceremonial Military Embroidery

cad, fashion, goldwork, Hawthorne & Heaney, layers, light relief, London, machine, machine embroidery, military, military embroidery, padding, privy councillors coatie, raising, stitching

For quite some time now, we have been playing around with the idea of developing a machine embroidery that would communicate some similar ideas to traditional military style goldwork but in a crisper, more modern way. In true Hawthorne & Heaney style, we didnt just want to go in for a little sample that we could get to work on a small scale, but a big piece that would really hit you in the face, so we settled on a version of the Privy Councillors Coatie.Hawthorne & Heaney Experiments with Machine Ceremonial Military Embroidery London Hand Embroidery

We wanted the piece to not only have a rich gold look of the original piece , but also the different heights to the stitching and surface details that come with applying bullion individually.

Hawthorne & Heaney Experiments with Machine Ceremonial Military Embroidery London Hand Embroidery

The colours are worked in layers, adding layers of padding between colours to create light relief.

Hawthorne & Heaney Experiments with Machine Ceremonial Military Embroidery London Hand Embroidery

Following these processes, the machine then goes back into to add additional details :

Hawthorne & Heaney Experiments with Machine Ceremonial Military Embroidery London Hand Embroidery

Once all of that is done, we give it a little tidy up and it is complete. To give you a sense of scale this piece is 45 cm high which would be the left hand side of a mens jacket. It is really exciting for us to see a large scale outcome for this technique which has defiantely sparked some subsequent ideas, so stay tuned to see what we do next…

Hawthorne & Heaney Experiments with Machine Ceremonial Military Embroidery London Hand Embroidery

Sign up to our newsletter!

    Your Email (required)