The University Chapel Project - January 2016 update

The latest meeting of the Chapel Stitchers took place on Friday. Most of us were able to attend and Peter Jenner, the University Chaplain, joined us to see how the project is coming along and offer advice on some practical points.

When last seen, my contribution to the hands for the altar frontal consisted of one child's hand, embroidered but not cut out.

The first hand, embroidered on silk twill

Since then I've completed three more hands, and forgot to take progress pictures of any of them! I've used different techniques, but carried on the flower theme throughout.

Adult and child hands (from the University crêche) completed

All the hands, completed or in-progress, were split into left and right and laid out on the altar frontal following the colour placement of Christine's original design.

Initial placement, with Christine's design at the top

Christine had also brought the cross with her, so that was placed in position as well.

With the cross added

We then moved some of the hands around, to give a more symmetrical look and to make the wording embroidered on some of the hands more readable.We also wanted to make sure that all of the decoration remained visible.

Initial layout of the left side

And with some changes made

At present there is a lot of white space between the hands. One possibility was to fill the gaps with scraps of toning fabrics, but this meant that there would be an obvious edge at the top where the hands and fabric ended. Instead Christine is going to paint the main fabric, with the colour fading out towards the top.

The hands which needed further work were returned to their owners, and then the frontal was carefully rolled up with the remaining hands in position, for Christine to take back to her studio. A few more hands are needed in certain colours; Kath, Anne, Pat and I are going to make these and get them to Kath by the end of the month.

With the completed frontal design in sight, we then discussed the rest of the project. Ros and Claire are going to come up with a design for the wedding kneelers for the next meeting. Christine is going to make smaller crosses for the stoles and lectern falls, and at the next meeting we can discuss these and the communion sets in more detail.

The next meeting is on Friday 5 February, at noon, in the usual room in Senate House.