Hampton Court Palace, in high winds, found me, on 17 September 2025, with
Dr Isabella Rosner, the Curator of Textiles at the Royal School of Needlework.
This spectacular baroque palace was built for William III and Mary II, circa 1520, then
extended over the centuries. The RSN is based in buildings at the back of the Palace,
dating from the late 17th century. The palace is set in 60 acres of formal gardens and
750 acres of parkland. Its incredible beauty made me gasp, for this was my first visit.
Isabella and I decided, in preparation for our talk on 22 October,
Stitching in War and Peace The Embroidery of WW11 POW, Major A.T. Casdagli
to have a photograph taken that would be emblematic of the theme of our talk. Thanks
to Amy Gilbert, RSN’s Digital Marketing Officer, that’s why we’re in these stunning gardens,
holding on tightly to a life-size copy of the
world-famous Fuck Hitler Sampler to stop it blowing away!
I’m in an IMAGINE PEACE t-shirt by Yoko Ono. Isabella wears a gloriously appropriate
dress, patterned with scissors, thimbles, buttons, pin cushions, safety pins,
hanks of cotton and silks and tape measures.
Our talk includes comparison and discussion of Casdagli’s embroideries with the same
subject, firstly as a Prisoner of War, like this Swallowtail 1943, w175 x h110 mm:
and with this Swallowtail 1954, w620 x h480 mm, made in freedom:
I’ll be bringing 14 of Casdagli’s artefacts with me for the talk, many of which have never
been seen in public before, including an altar cloth to the God Jupiter, sewn as Prisoner
of War and a cushion cover to that same God Jupiter, sewn for the anniversary of my
christening, 21 September 1951.
Also with me will be Casdagli’s ‘pipe of peace’.
I’ve also just discovered a Greek pattern booklet, circa 1945, given out free during the
Greek Civil War, when almost everyone was broke, as an incentive to buy Elephant
Silks/Ελεφἀτος Μετάξια. At that time, Casdagli was British Consul to Volos, Thessaly. Its
few pages inspired Casdagli greatly, as you will see in our talk.
