This week, we are delighted to support the Queen Elizabeth Scholarship Trust’s awareness campaign: ‘Investing in the Future of Craft.’ Our Technical Director, Anja, received a QEST scholarship that allowed her to specialise in traditional needlework; her expertise is vital to our vestment craft today.
The Queen Elizabeth Scholarship Trust (QEST) celebrates 35 years of championing excellence in craft. QEST transforms the careers of talented and aspiring makers by funding their training and education, creating pathways to excellence and strengthening the future of the UK’s craft sector.
A thriving craft industry is vital to the UK’s cultural and economic landscape as well as the future world of work. QEST is committed to empowering the next generation to see craft as a viable, fulfilling and sustainable career.
At Watts & Co., we keenly understand how important it is to preserve traditional techniques and crafting skills: our bespoke vestments are always made by hand to ensure that these garments can serve churches for generations with the right care. But there is no Watts & Co. instruction manual; instead, these skills are learned on-site with the guidance of Anja and her predecessors.
On the subject, Anja writes:
With the ever increasing development of machine based production and technology, craft and the concept of craft is becoming more important than ever before, and increasingly precious in our fast paced society.
Keeping traditional working methods alive and to preserve them for future generations lies at the heart of Watts & Co.
We are one of the few remaining manufacturers that still work in the same way as vestment makers did centuries ago.
To preserve and to pass on these unique skills is of the utmost importance. Therefore our emphasis is on training future vestment and church furnishing makers.
The process of making and an understanding of material and method requires skill and dedication; it establishes an intimate relationship with the vestment itself, and distinguishes our products from machine made production.
In recent years, we have been training a new generation of Watts vestment-makers here at Tufton Street, teaching them how to craft all manner of vestments from stoles to altar palls. Our young craftspeople have joined us from a variety of disciplines including theatre costumes and tailoring, adept at hand-sewing but with no specific experience in constructing vestments and furnishings.
As part of our celebration of QEST and the work they do, we thought we’d turn to Molly, one of our young vestment-makers, to find out more about what they’ve learned here.
We approach Molly while she’s stitching the orphreys of the large altar frontal she’s been working on for a few days. Though I’m hesitant to interrupt, Molly diligently sews the braid in place as we talk — since she’s certainly used to customers and colleagues admiring her work.
Why do you think it is important to preserve handcrafting skills today?
I think that hand-sewing skills are at risk of being lost and they're not really things that you can pass down written or even in a video — it's something that needs to be taught person to person. If it skips a generation then it is lost for good.
Do you think people appreciate these skills and the work you do?
I think there's a renewed interest in things that are tangible and handmade, and I do think people really appreciate the quality of what we make. When you see something in a museum or a gallery you can really admire the centuries of skill so it’s great to be able to continue making stuff like that today.
How have you found learning to craft vestments here at Watts? Were there any particular challenges?
I suppose there's been no definitive way [to learn], it's not like there's a single process that all seamstresses observe. There are always different interpretations of how something could be done – like when you're repairing something and realise the piece was made in a different way to what you’d expect. Figuring out what works best can sometimes involve experimentation — trying things out and learning from that for next time when you make something.
Being here is the first time I've actually been taught how to sew. I didn't study fashion at university, but I think that everyone here could speak to the fact that you don't really ever get taught to do something [like this]. A lot of it is self learning, as you find that hands-on teaching is something that's quite rare, so it's really nice to come in and just be told how it's done.
So much of this work is with silks and different or new fabrics, so there is a lot of learning with the fabric. Even if someone tells you how to do something, you still have to adapt how you work — how you hold things, how you lay things down — and it just takes a lot of repetition.
Would you say that natural ability or passion and a willingness to learn is more important for your craft?
It's definitely a willingness to learn, but I suppose it's just patience. A lot of people think ‘I wouldn't be able to do it because it requires a lot of patience’ and I feel like that's something you either have or you don't have.
Would you agree with that?
Here, Molly turns to fellow hand-sewer Karina.
K: When I started at university I was told I didn't have the lightness of touch to be a tailor — and then I had someone that actually sat down and had the patience to tell me you're pulling the bed too tight or you just need to do it slightly differently.
So, yes, you absolutely do need someone to teach you and pass on those skills, because just being told that something is not right isn't really helpful.
M: And so much of learning nowadays is through YouTube videos or step-by-step guides, but I don't think that there's a step-by-step guide for sewing that will work every time. You’re learning how to approach challenges and adapt, not just where to put the needle.
Finally, is there a favourite project that you’ve worked on here at Watts?
I think it has to be the embroidered Neri chasuble. I really love working with somebody else's work, with [the embroiderer’s] work — just being able to see that skill up close, I have so much appreciation for what she does. With a complex design like this, bringing all the pieces together, I love how it was like putting a puzzle together. It was so fun, and also a challenge — quite an absorbing challenge — because I’ve never done anything like this before. I was just learning through doing, and I had to troubleshoot some things while other things came together really nicely. So it was a really good challenge, and it turned out so beautifully.
Molly's favourite project: the All Saints Chasuble. Handcrafted in Cream 'Comper Cathedral' with fully hand-embroidered orphreys.
I let Molly return her full focus to the Black ‘Comper Cathedral’ silk orphreys. Our workroom is the absolute pride of the work we do here, and we’re always delighted to share the incredible work of our craftspeople. Of course, as much as we like to observe the stitches emerge and the vestments take shape, we remember how important their work and time is – so we better leave them to it.
You can read more about the hand-embroidered All Saints chasuble that Molly made here.
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