Catherine Hill – The Unstitched Coif Project

Embroidery is such a timeless craft that intricately weaves stories of tradition and innovation. Today we are thrilled to share Catherine Hill’s remarkable journey with the Unstitched Coif Project. Catherine’s background is steeped in creativity, from her childhood fascination with stitching to her award-winning textile artwork. However, it was her involvement in the Coif Project, spearheaded by Toni Buckby, that truly ignited her passion for historical embroidery.

We had the opportunity to connect with Catherine and delve into her rich background in textile art, as well as her significant role in the Coif Project. We’re excited to share her insights and experiences with you, and we hope you find her story as captivating as we did.

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Hi Catherine! Thanks so much for taking the time to chat with us today. We would love to learn a little more about you and your background in embroidery and textile arts. 

I’m very excited to be chatting with fellow stitchers today. I’m Catherine @catherine_hill_textile_artist and I’ve had a love of cloth and stitch most of my life. As a child I tackled the traditional tapestry kits and then 30 years ago my journey into textiles was really sparked when I was introduced to patchwork quilts. For a time, I worked and tutored in a patchwork and quilting shop, designed my own patterns, and made so many quilts, that my spare bedroom is full to bursting.

In recent years my focus has changed to making smaller slow-stitched textile artwork that centers around hand embroidered text. Each piece narrates one of my childhood memories growing up in Lancashire in the 1970’s as well as recording contemporary stories like the UK Covid-19 pandemic in 2020 and the UK drought of 2022. These pieces are stitched by hand in vintage Sylko red thread (as a nod to the red rose of Lancashire) onto cotton cloth.

In 2019 I exhibited my first piece of embroidery with the Embroiderers’ Guild UK and was awarded Artistic Director’s Award for Innovation. Since then, I’ve exhibited my work across the UK, New York, Germany, Ukraine, Switzerland, Bulgaria, Brazil and Australia.

Could you tell us a little bit more about The Unstitched Coif Project and how you first learned about it? What motivated you to participate in it? 

The Project is the brainchild of PhD student Toni Buckby @tonibuckby, who was exploring traditional Elizabethan blackwork embroidery designs.  Her research took her to the V&A archives and a chat with the archivists. They shared that they rarely exhibit or show original pieces of Elizabethan blackwork because the embroidery is so fragile. The embroidery thread was dyed black with iron that has caused it to become brittle over the years and disintegrate when the garments are unfolded. On some garments, all that is left is a series of holes where the stitches once existed. 

This led onto a conversation about an Elizabethan coif panel in the archives that had been drafted out with a design but had never been stitched. (A coif is a shaped panel of cloth that is pleated and stitched to create a cap worn by Elizabethan women when they were relaxed in their homes). What if this panel could be reproduced and stitched by contemporary embroiderers so they could be exhibited?

Toni took the challenge and started looking for embroiderers in early 2023.

“Artist and needleworker @tonibuckby is looking for 40 experienced embroiderers to take part in a co-created art project as part of her PhD on the Blackwork Embroidery collection at the Victoria & Albert Museum…. One of the main goals of the project is to capture a part of your embroidery-making experience, which is entirely missing from the historical Blackwork embroideries I have been working with.”  Toni Buckby. 

I heard about the project on Instagram and immediately knew I wanted to be involved. There was something very special and unique about the project. The V&A were collaborating on the project and wanted to take the stitched panels into their archives. 

Could you describe your initial reaction when you saw the linen coif panel for the first time during your meeting at the V&A London? 

I was a little scared and bit daunted at the printed panel in front of me. 

At our first meeting in April 2023, Toni explained the project in detail and I was taken aback by the historical importance of the Unstitched Coif Project.  This was my first sight of the linen coif panel. Initial thoughts were that the printed panel was smaller in scale than I first imagined, and that the linen was very crisp, had a very high thread count and it was beautiful to handle. I think we were all stunned by the magnitude of what we were we were about to stitch.

What thought process went into deciding whether to recreate the coif in its original design or give it a contemporary twist? Can you share some insights into your creative process? 

It took me several months of thinking and playing with ideas before I even took a stitch to the panel. My mind was going in overdrive with the stitching possibilities. Toni had said that she wanted us to stitch the panel in any way we chose and I was torn between stitching the piece with traditional blackwork designs or taking the embroidery down a different route completely. 

I experimented with ideas and considered whether to recreate the work as it would have been when it was originally designed or to stitch it as a contemporary modern piece. 

In the end, I chose to stitch in a way that was very different to traditional black work. To treat the piece as if I’d received it in the 21st century and been asked to complete the piece as a contemporary embroiderer. Embroidering it with stitches I like to use in my own work.

The choice of thread seems to have played a significant role in your project. What led you to choose Aurifil and how did it impact your design choice? 

I researched the stitches, styles and techniques of traditional Elizabethan black work and my original idea was to create my own version of a monochromatic blackwork coif using vintage Sylko Turkey Red cotton thread (a thread I use in my own work).  My one concern was the conservation quality of using vintage thread. 

I thought through several design choices and tested threads of varying textures and thickness on a sample of the linen and settled on a brand-new modern replacement of similar weight – Aurifil 12 weight cotton thread. 

The Aurifil thread was available to purchase in a rainbow of colours which swayed me to rethink the design completely as a multicoloured piece, incorporating tones from light to dark. 

What challenges did you face during the stitching process and how did you overcome them? 

The panel was more daunting to start than I thought it would be and a huge learning curve for me. It felt like a commission piece, and I felt myself doubting and second guessing my design choices, feeling like I had to please the recipient rather than myself – a bit like being faced with a white piece of paper and making your first mark. This feeling slowly dissipated after my first few hours of hand stitching.

How did the piece evolve as you worked on it?

I chose to complete all the red flowers first and then move onto the blue. I found it easier to infill the flowers and leaves with colour before I stitched the outer lines and stems. As the piece evolved I felt that some areas needed extra touches of colour – seed stitch or long stitch – to balance the colours across the panel. Some of the stem colours felt too solid and needed softening with whipped running stitch. 

Can you walk us through the experience of delivering your completed coif to the V&A Museum? What emotions were you feeling on that day?

My handing in day at the V&A was on Saturday 4th November 2023.  

I was so anxious travelling down with the coif packed up in my bag, carefully layered in acid free tissue and calico and wound around a cardboard tube, and when I got off the tube at South Kensington I saw a few other people carrying similar shaped bags heading in the same direction as me.  

The meeting space at the V&A was hidden behind a mirrored door at the end of the Glass Gallery, and opening it was something I’ll never forget. The room was fille with tables filled with beautifully embroidered coifs all so very different and all being admired by fellow coif stitchers. 

Toni was busy cataloguing each coif individually and checking the our official V&A paperwork, before a curator from the museum carefully packed each coif away in acid free tissue paper. I felt a so happy that the piece was now safe and where it was meant to be.

How do you feel about your work being part of a larger project that will be studied by Toni Buckby for her PhD and eventually become a part of the V&A collection in 2024?

I feel honoured to be part of The Unfinished Coif Project 2023. Since the project’s inception the number of participants has grown from 40 to 130 embroiderers. We all received the same brief and ran with it in their own way creating such diverse results. 

As part of my participation, I completed a narrative on my own life as a textile artist and added images and documentation on my experiences stitching the coif. The idea is that in years to come, researchers can look at the panel and know the story behind the embroiderer who created it. 

On the panel I stitched my name and date of completion, and I knew my choice of thread was an important part of the story too, so on the other side of the panel I stitched a rainbow sample of each thread, the name of the threads ‘Aurifil cotton 12 wt’ and added a small hank of loose threads, attached with a safety pin. In years to come, anyone studying the piece can see and touch the threads used in the embroidery. 

In December 2023 Toni curated a beautiful exhibition of all 130 coifs and published a project book of embroidered coifs and the story of the maker.  Later this year the V&A will take ownership of the coifs. They’ll be photographed and catalogued with a unique number and then be  accepted into the museum’s collection.

What advice would you give to those who are aspiring to participate in similar collaborative embroidery projects or pursue their passion for embroidery and textile arts?

Do it!  Along the way I’ve met some wonderful new friends and learnt a great deal about myself. 

Stitching is something that originally started as an outlet for me – an escape. I’ve heard people describe it as mindfulness and I suppose it’s true. When I’m stitching the world stops and I’m in my own little bubble.

There is something about the rhythm of the needle and thread through cloth that I find so calming.  

I’d encourage anyone to have a go, experiment, and play. 

If you’d like to have a go and stitch your own coif, you can download the coif panel here http://blackworkembroidery.org/unstitched-coif-design/

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You can find Catherine on instagram as @catherine_hill_textile_artist

The Aurifil 12wt thread numbers and colours Catherine used: 4241 Very Dark Grey, 2630 Dark Pewter, 2390 Cinnamon Toast, 2395 Pumpkin Spice, 1103 Burgundy, 2260 Red Wine, 2250 Red, 2265 Lobster Red, 2230 Red Peony, 2235 Orange, 1133 Bright Orange, 2145 Yellow Orange, 2120 Canary, 2134 Spun Gold, 2860 Light Emerald, 2865 Emerald, 2870 Green, 2735 Medium Blue, 2725 Light Wedgewood, 2805 Light Grey Turquoise , 5005 Bright Turquoise, 2810 Turquoise, 4182 Dark Turquoise, 1125 Medium Teal, 2545 Medium Purple, 2540 Medium Lavender, 2520 Violet, 2535 Magenta,4020 Fushia.

Stitches: Hand embroidered in Seed stitch, Long and Short stitch, Couching, Daisy / Detached Chain stitch, Fly stitch, Cross-stitch and Whipped Running stitch.

http://blackworkembroidery.org/unstitched-coif-t-844-1974/