Throughout history, aristocratic women have spent large parts of their time making and embellishing beautiful textiles.
I'm speaking to Eleri Lynn to learn more about embroidery in the Elizabethan court.
So, Hilary, can you tell us a little bit about the importance of embroidery at court?
Yes, absolutely.
It was a very important part of a noblewoman's education and a very genteel pastime for the women at court.
And what about the queen herself, Elizabeth I?
Did she do embroidery, and do we know if she enjoyed it?
She certainly did do embroidery, so we have surviving examples of her own embroidery, which she created as a princess that sort of show quite amateur learning steps of embroidery.
And it would have been something that her ladies undertook, as they were in attendance on her.
I think the product of the embroidery, obviously, embellished the Tudor court, the rooms would have been absolutely adorned with textiles and embroidery, as would the bodies themselves.
