The Broderers' Guild at Norwich Cathedral

In a recent post about Norwich Cathedral I promised to

expand further about an exhibition of embroidered church

vestments and the Broderers' Guild who look after them.

Established in 1997 the Guild is responsible for the upkeep and

repair of all ecclesiastical textiles, as well as designing and

making new items such as chasubles, stoles and frontals

They're all volunteers and are always looking for new members

to join their team.

They also offer workshop tours on which it's possible to go

behind the scenes and gain insight into the Guild's work with

textiles.  Tours currently cost £4 per person and early

booking is advisable due to limited space.  Then round

off the afternoon with tea and cakes in the Refectory.

What's not to like about that.

A real labour of love

When I met the ladies they were working on a conservation

piece which they had practically rebuilt from scratch.

Nearly all the mediaeval bugle beads had fallen off and needed

replacing and the actual fabric itself needed urgent repair and

attention too.

This whole piece was restored bead by bloody bead!

Apparently the ancient beads were so thin that not even the

finest of modern beading needles could be used and each one

had to be threaded by hand onto specially prepared

waxed thread.  And you thought cross stitch was fiddly?

But that's not the end of the story.  Once all the beads

are firmly secured in place, rather like thatching a roof,

a minutely thin layer of netting is stitched in place over the top

to catch any beads should they fall off again

sometime in the year 2500+.

To book a tour or for further information about volunteering

opportunities please contact Helen Jenkins on 01603 218326.

Or, alternatively, email broderers@cathedral.org.uk

for any questions or queries you may want to put to them.

And why not visit the website while you're at it:

www.cathedral.org.uk