Stitched exhibition star object: Kellie Castle bedcover
Stitched: Scotland’s Embroidered Art is a new exhibition, held in Edinburgh this autumn/winter, that explores 200 years of household embroidery in Scotland. Looking at themes of display and decoration, inspirations and design, skills and collaborations, it takes a comprehensive view across the textile collection of the National Trust for Scotland, bringing new research and stories into the light.
A star object in the exhibition is a bedcover from Kellie Castle, designed by Robert Lorimer and embroidered by his sister Louise. Robert Lorimer was a Scottish architect, but his area of interest extended to interior plasterwork, furniture and textiles. His designs were often inspired by the architecture and decorative art of the 17th century, which can be seen in his earlier textiles. Robert designed several bedcovers from the 1880s onwards, occasionally for clients but mostly for his family’s summer home at Kellie Castle in Fife.
The Lorimer family included in their ranks an architect and designer, painter, sculptor and embroiderers – this resulted in several artistic family collaborations. Robert’s mother Hannah and youngest sister Louise both created beautiful household textiles to adorn their renovated castle home. Louise regularly wrote to her married older sister Hannah, revealing an interest in design and embroidery in her letters, with references to embroidery projects starting or finishing, and the passing on of comments about embroideries displayed for visitors at Kellie Castle.
In one letter dated 14 October 1896, Louise refers to sewing ‘the Pelican bedcover’, designed by her brother Robert. Sewn in wool on linen, it appears to be inspired by crewel embroideries of the late 17th century, with carefully placed floral sprigs and an undulating border. Flat stitch and Cretan stitch have been used to create shaping and texture on the leaves and stems. However, the inclusion of written verse in the design owes more to the contemporary influence of the Arts and Crafts style, showing a fusion of ideas. The verse is taken from lines first published in 1884 by the English poet William Watson:
the ancient tanglement of night & day
enough to acknowledge Both & Both revere
they see not clearliest who see all things clear.”
The central motif, depicting the Pelican in her Piety (a symbolic religious image referring to Christ’s sacrifice), was a later addition to the design and replaced the simpler monogram that was indicated on Robert Lorimer’s initial sketch. A later drawing does include the pelican, which complements the two kneeling angels that flank the more secular verse. This drawing also shows a more detailed working of the flower sprigs and a more fluid variation of the border.
After many years of use at Kellie Castle, the bedcover was in poor condition. Extensive conservation treatment has brought it back to life, enabling it to be put on display by the National Trust for Scotland for the first time.
To see this bedcover and over 80 other inspirational embroidered textiles, visit Stitched: Scotland’s Embroidered Art at Dovecot Studios, Infirmary Street, Edinburgh from 25 October 2024–15 January 2025.