Preserving heritage through hand embroidery
We visited QEST Benefact Trust Emerging Maker, Grace Gatley, in her home studio, to learn about her journey into hand embroidery, the inspiration behind her work, and how, with the support of Benefact Trust funding, she is helping to preserve this important heritage craft and keep traditional heritage skills alive.
Read below or watch the full interview on YouTube [4mins].
Starting a career in traditional hand embroidery
Having studied textile design at Falmouth University, Grace was no stranger to a needle and thread. But she never thought a career in the creative arts could be attainable. It was only years after graduating when she took a short course in pattern cutting and dressmaking that she found a love for hand embroidery and realised that this is something she wanted to pursue.
"[Embroidery] gave me the energy to imagine what I could do creatively”
Fuelled by this energy, Grace entered the Hand & Lock international embroidery prize, a yearly competition held by Hand & Lock, Britain’s oldest embroidery atelier, showcasing exceptional talent and innovation within embroidery.
“I decided to enter just to give myself a deadline, and something to work towards. I designed a dress inspired by Gloucester Cathedral and it won a prize... It gave me the confidence to apply for other opportunities” Grace recalls.
Reimagining stained glass through embroidery
One of these opportunities included a year-long artist residency at the Wilson Art Gallery in Cheltenham, which gave Grace the space and time to develop a body of work resulting in her collection: reimagining stained glass through fabric and thread.
For this collection, Grace drew heavily from her faith. “My personal faith is such a huge part of my work. I think it's what draws me into these buildings that are inspiring the work that I'm making”, she explains. “Churches hold the most incredible collection of art that is so accessible for everyone. But I think we've fallen out of the habit of going into these places. And I love to think that my work might encourage people to go and see the things that have inspired the pieces that I'm making.”
Preserving heritage skills
Grace is also working to preserve the very buildings that inspire her as part of Gloucester Cathedral’s broderers. Alongside fellow broderers, Grace has repaired pieces such as a Victorian altar cloth and a gold cope*. “There's so much beautiful work that exists now and there's so much beautiful work that still needs to be made, and we need to have the skills to be able to preserve these things.”
Benefact Trust funding will help Grace do just that. As a QEST Benefact Trust Emerging Maker, Grace will undergo a Certificate in Technical Hand Embroidery at the Royal School of Needlework, and a bespoke natural dye programme with Kate Turnbull at The Secret Dyery. These will deepen her technical mastery, strengthen her studio practice, enhance her teaching, and support a future pathway into heritage restoration.
So, what does the future hold for Grace?
“I feel really passionately about heritage craft and preservation of embroidery and historical textiles, so I'm hoping that that will feature in the future of my career.”
In 2022, Benefact Trust awarded the Queen Elizabeth Scholarship Trust (QEST) a £144,000 grant from our Heritage Skills for Christian Buildings grants programme. This grant is providing funding to QEST scholars, apprentices, and emerging makers to further their education and training in heritage craft and traditional skills. Find out more about Benefact Trust’s grant programmes here.
*a cope is a long, cape-like liturgical vestment worn by clergy typically worn for processions, benedictions, and solemn functions, and characterised by heavy ornamentation, high-quality fabrics (like cloth of gold), and an embroidered hood.