Some of the patterns from the book can be found on a 17th-century smock in the V&A’s collections, including the pair of snails entwined around a sweet pea pod. We wondered how much we could learn from trying out this process ourselves, using some designs from a facsimile edition of Richard Shorleyker’s A Schole-House for the Needle, first published in 1624. Afterwards, these are joined up to recreate the pattern. A small pouch of powdered charcoal (known as pounce) is then pressed over the design so that a black outline of dots remains on the fabric. The pattern, or a traced copy of it, is pricked out and then placed on to the fabric to be embroidered.

Transferring the pattern from the printed page on to fabric involves several stages, in a process usually called ‘pricking and pouncing’. V&A/RCA History of Design students try their hands at pattern design transfer Sometimes the same patterns were repeated across different editions by various publishers, showing how designs circulated and enjoyed popularity over an extended period of time. During the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, numerous pattern books were printed with a mix of designs for lace and embroidery. Inspired by the histories of replication revealed in the newly opened Cast Courts, students on the V&A/RCA History of Design MA programme took part in a pattern transfer workshop to explore ideas about copies and authorship.

Sweetpea embroidery