Our February Speaker was Liz Tapper, a Royal School of Needlework graduate and tutor who described a recent goldwork commission to recreate a Napoleonic era military dress coat. Liz had been approached by a re-enactor who wanted an exact replica of the uniform of an aide-de-camp to a Napoleonic Marshal for an event at Chateau Malmaison in France.. Apparently such things can be made in Pakistan but they tend not to be historically completely accurate as they do not always use the traditional techniques that would have been used in the 19th century.
One surviving original coat still exists in a museum in France so Liz was able to see the details and Ben, the man who commissioned the piece, had accurate paper patterns for the coat. Having done an enormous amount of research Liz set about designing the goldwork patterns for the collar, cuffs and lapels based on the traditional oakleaf and acorn pattern that appeared on the original coat. She had very narrow margins so very little leeway to fit the designs into the allotted space. First came a lot of thread sampling to ensure the correct look and having done the detailed scale drawings she embarked on making samples to show the process. Liz described the techniques used in this wok from the prick and pounce method of transferring the pattern onto the fabric to the use of household string for some of the padding! The coat was to be manufactured in Pakistan with precise instructions as to which threads and methods were to be used at every stage.
Liz then sourced the metal threads and arranged for them to be delivered to Ben in Italy where he lives. The cost of the threads alone was about £6000 and the overall cost for the completed garment approximately £18000! Unfortunately one of the two boxes Liz despatched to Italy never arrived in spite of being sent via recorded delivery but fortunately the one containing the threads did arrive and Liz & Ben had duplicates of the contents of the missing box. Eventually everything got to the studios in Pakistan and Liz and Ben embarked on long distance supervision at every stage to make sure the work was completed as instructed. And mostly it was, there were a few glitches which was inevitable but the finished garment looked very splendid!
Liz has been a lifelong stitcher, encouraged by her mother and grandmother and she embarked on the RSN Apprenticeship course when she left school. She graduated after three years and set up her own business and now teaches for the RSN as well as working on restoration projects and accepting commissions such as the one described.
Photographs by Annie Fellows and published with permission for Liz Tapper







