Five Day Passementerie Masterclass with Elizabeth Ashdown

Discover the art of Passementerie in this immersive five-day Masterclass with Passementerie artist and heritage craft specialist Elizabeth Ashdown. One of the rarest textile crafts practised in the UK today, Passementerie is the art of creating decorative braids, trimmings, tassels, fringes, rosettes and other embellishments traditionally used across interiors, fashion, millinery, jewellery and decorative arts. Now listed as an endangered craft in the UK, this course offers a rare opportunity to spend five days exploring its techniques with one of the country’s few remaining specialist makers. You will learn a range of traditional Passementerie skills and explore how they can be used to create colourful, contemporary pieces with texture, pattern and character. Across the five days, Elizabeth will introduce you to techniques including hand weaving, tassel making, rosette making, covered drops and traditional cord spinning, guiding you through the specialist tools, materials and processes involved in each. You will have time to develop your skills, experiment with colour and materials and understand how individual Passementerie elements are constructed and finished. Alongside learning the traditional methods behind the craft, you will explore how these techniques can be adapted and reimagined for contemporary textile work. By the end of the Masterclass, you will have created a collection of handmade Passementerie pieces and developed the knowledge and confidence to continue experimenting with these specialist techniques in your own creative practice.