Saturday 1 & Saturday 15 November 2025, 2-5pm GMT (Greenwich Mean Time)
BOOK THIS WORKSHOP DIRECTLY WITH SELVEDGE HERE:
This online workshop combines hand embroidery history, design and practice through Nadia Albertini’s extensive experience as a couture embroidery designer and historian.
With this workshop, Nadia pays homage to Jean François Bony, one of the most prolific and talented French embroiderers. Bony (24 February 1754 – 1825) was a French painter, draftsman, embroiderer, silk manufacturer, and flower painter. A talented artist, his designs include studies of a dress and mantle proposed for the wearing of Josephine de Beauharnais at the coronation of Napoleon. Bony was active before, during and after the French Revolution, also designing fabrics for Marie Antoinette, Empress Marie Louise and Napoleon himself. Through this workshop Nadia puts his name in the spotlight once again.
The floral motif is inspired by one of his embroidered samples originally thought for a court dress. This was most probably made in Lyon, circa 1800. The gros de Tours cream lamé silver base is embellished with sequins and polychrome silk. The border is decorated with garlands of flowers and leaves and enhanced with cabochons of moonstones and amethyst-colored glass set with cannetille. Nadia will take you on a journey to discover the Lyon embroidery industry, this beautiful work and how she has translated it to become a sequined embellished flower. This is perfect to be used as an appliqué or a brooch on an evening jacket or coat during the holiday season.
Saturday 1 & Saturday 15 November 2025, 2-5pm GMT (Greenwich Mean Time)
BOOK THIS WORKSHOP DIRECTLY WITH SELVEDGE HERE:
This online workshop combines hand embroidery history, design and practice through Nadia Albertini’s extensive experience as a couture embroidery designer and historian.
With this workshop, Nadia pays homage to Jean François Bony, one of the most prolific and talented French embroiderers. Bony (24 February 1754 – 1825) was a French painter, draftsman, embroiderer, silk manufacturer, and flower painter. A talented artist, his designs include studies of a dress and mantle proposed for the wearing of Josephine de Beauharnais at the coronation of Napoleon. Bony was active before, during and after the French Revolution, also designing fabrics for Marie Antoinette, Empress Marie Louise and Napoleon himself. Through this workshop Nadia puts his name in the spotlight once again.
The floral motif is inspired by one of his embroidered samples originally thought for a court dress. This was most probably made in Lyon, circa 1800. The gros de Tours cream lamé silver base is embellished with sequins and polychrome silk. The border is decorated with garlands of flowers and leaves and enhanced with cabochons of moonstones and amethyst-colored glass set with cannetille. Nadia will take you on a journey to discover the Lyon embroidery industry, this beautiful work and how she has translated it to become a sequined embellished flower. This is perfect to be used as an appliqué or a brooch on an evening jacket or coat during the holiday season.
