This Single Bird Kit is based on part of a child's crewelwork bedcover in our collection.  The bedcover was stitched in the School in the 1930's and it, in turn, was inspired by an image we hold in the archive of a 17th century English embroidery which is held by the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.  Having seen the original piece in the V&A recently what became clear was that our bedcover was based on our black and white photograph as the original is on a much smaller scale and is worked in silks and cottons and incorporates many gold and silver threads.  Helen McCook (who used this piece as a teaching project for a class at The School) used a similar colour palette to that on our bedcover but changed the stitches used in order to provide a range of stitches to teach in her class.

Our Two Bird Kit is designed to work as a pair with the Single Bird.  Both kits use the same colour palette but different stitches and are available as a combined kit: Single and Two Birds.

The Lion and the Camel Kits, as well, are based on elements from the bedcover. They also use the same palette but with fewer colours and simpler stitches.