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Welcome to my newsletter.
After a dormant spell in my embroidery studio, the spring sunshine is now sparking some new activity and plans for the year ahead.
With no exhibitions scheduled for 2026, I'm working on two projects: first, a major edit of my studio archive that begins with a small sale of embellished accessories in early summer. View the Archive Collection Sale: Embroidered Bags. And secondly, I am looking forward to continuing the theme of ‘Glove Stories in Stitch’, with an embroidered glove inspired by the ancient Wychwood Forest. (see other embellished gloves in Embroidery Atelier).
A couturier who has always influenced my fashion embroidery is the amazing, inventive, provocative Elsa Schiaparelli (1890 – 1973), her stunning creations feature exquisite embroidery crafted by the Paris atelier Maison Lesage. Schiaparelli: Fashion Becomes Art opens at the Victoria & Albert Museum in London on 28th March. I am excited to visit this show, an inspiration for fashion embroidery. Read about Schiaparelli’s influences on my own creations in Inspired by Schiaparelli.
Although retired from giving embroidery workshops, last October I was pleased to accept an invitation to visit Oxford High School to talk to ‘A’ Textile Level students about my work and career. It was a pleasure seeing the artistic embroideries being created in the school, such talented students! I shall look forward to their summer exhibition. In 2025 lectures included a Zoom talk to an Edinburgh textile group and one in Marlborough, Wiltshire. Please get in touch if your textile group is interested in a talk; for overseas embroiderers, I can present lectures via Zoom.
A passion for gardening continues to stimulate my botanical paintings and embroideries. While I await the spring tulip buds to open their petals in my garden, I am content with a bunch of bright blooms from a florist! An ideal subject for a watercolour crayon sketch to inspire an embroidery project.
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Sketch of a Schiaparelli 1937 bolero. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. Sue Rangeley 1982. |
Inspired by Schiaparelli
I first saw Elsa Schiaparelli couture creations on the pages of the book: Inventive Paris Fashions 1909–1939 (Thames & Hudson 1977), A Photographic Essay by Irving Penn with text by Diana Vreeland.
Penn’s stunning images of Schiaparelli’s delicious, embroidered jackets and capes were captivating. Then in 1982 while visiting the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, I was fortunate to spend a day in the company of Schiaparelli’s wonderful garments, left alone to handle and sketch original pieces from the 1930s.
Inspired by Schiaparelli. Embroidered, quilted silk jacket 1988.
That encounter influenced a collection of my evening jackets (1983 -88). Later, I saw a retrospective of Elsa Schiaparelli ‘s work, 181 exhibits at Musee de la Mode, Paris in 2004, it was mind-blowing!
Elsa’s work has always been a passion of mine, and I cannot wait to be dazzled again at the exhibition: Schiaparelli: Fashion Becomes Art at the V&A Museum. www.vam.ac.uk.
Schiaparelli box of stockings ,1950s. An original pair of Schiaparelli stockings, wrapped in tissue paper, enclosed in a black lace pochette with Schiaparelli’s signature label. Packaged in a Schiaparelli ‘shocking pink’ box with her black signature emblazoned across the surface. (Sue's private collection) Postcard from 2004 Paris exhibition. |
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Silk quilted purse, embellished with rouleaux, organza flower, Swarovski crystals. 2017.
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Archive Collection Sale ~ Embroidered Bags & Accessories
Sue’s professional career began in 1975, her studio archive of embroidered works and designs is vast, spanning 50 years!
Sue is editing her studio work and will soon select items for purchase from her collection, commencing with embroidered bags. These petite embroidered accessories launched Sue’s international career, were exhibited in galleries and shops, such as the V&A Crafts Council Shop in the 1980s & 1990s. Many are now in private collections or held in museums.
This first sale will be launched in early summer 2026 and images will appear on Sue’s website. If you wish to preview on-line the pieces that will be available, or make an appointment to see the pieces in her Oxfordshire studio, please get in touch in early May sue.rangeley@btinternet.com.
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