Today we welcomed quilt and embroidery designer Claire Player, better known as Ruby Seppings but she is far more than a catalogue of kits and patterns! Claire discovered her passion for embroidery when she moved to Moscow with her husband and young family. She joined and International Women's Club for ex-pat wives where she signed up for embroidery alongside conversational Russian and history.
She was taught by the fearsome Lydia, who spoke no English but knew everything about embroidery. Claire's samples of drawn thread work made under Lydia's critical eye were impressive but we were wowed by locally made household linens that were as beautiful on the back as they were on the front.
After four years in Russia, Claire's husband was posted first to Paris and then to Stockholm. In both cities, Claire immersed herself in the local culture and embroidery. She observed that certain colours are favoured by different nationalities: those of Asian heritage prefer to work in hot reds and golds, whilst Scandinavian's favour a blue/green/grey colour palette with accents of silver and Japanese like to work in pastel colours, with all their sewing threads neatly organised. She was amused to see that her fellow Brits arrived with a tangle of multicoloured threads not dissimilar to a Liberty pattern.
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| Claire holding one of her best selling patterns |
In Paris she met a Norwegian who taught her the basics of quilting and she was overjoyed to learn that she could combine her love of patchwork with embroidery. Claire honed her skills with an on-line City and Guilds course and when she eventually returned to the UK she set up her own business under the name Ruby Seppings, designing and selling kits for quilting and embroidery.
Locally made Russian table cloth
Russian embroidery showing that the back is as neat as the front
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| An example of Russian work |
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| A Ruby Seppings embroidery pattern |
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