The Cape Town Panels

It's funny how a comment or a photo can remind you of something you haven't thought about for ages. The Eamont Tapestry I wrote about in my previous blog post here brought to mind an embroidery project, known as the Cape of Good Hope Hanging, that my daughters and I worked on in Cape Town.

In 1992 women's organizations and craft groups were challenged by the South African National Gallery (an Iziko art museum) to contribute soft hangings for display on International Museums Day. The theme of the exhibition was Cape Town - Where We Live. The panels were designed and stitched by the Cape Embroiderers' Guild members and, as my friend Penny Cornell reminded me, around a third of the members took part, including seven junior members - with some of the work taking place in Penny's studio as seen here:

The panels were planned to showcase as many embroidery techniques as possible. The side panels included several traditional whitework techniques, as well as both needle painted, and machine embroidered birds native to the Cape. The free style central panels depicted a display of indigenous spring flowers at the Kirstenbosch National Botanical Gardens that nestle on the slopes of Table Mountain. 

The group project generated much interest and enthusiasm among the guild members both while it was being stitched and also when it went on display for public at the art museum in Cape Town. 

It was interesting to take part working on this group project with so many other embroiderers. Afterwards it was fun to stand with friends to identify and point out the stitches that you had added to the hanging. Following the exhibition, the hanging was acquired by Madeira Threads where it graced their headquarters in the UK.

'Till next time, happy stitching!