A Picture of Health panel

Consultation for this began in 1996 and the panel was finally unveiled in April 2002. Unlike all the other panels there is no back cloth, all of the work was drawn and painted on silk and the quilted pieces patched together.

Kate invited Paddy Killer to design the panel and teach volunteers to do the actual work. The first workshop was chaotic with many people trying to learn the very precise techniques used in Paddy's work, but as the months passed a small core of embroiderers formed to make the whole panel.

Before making the actual panel, the volunteers had to practice drawing and painting on silk and fortunately we still have photographs of the series of figures made by Anne Cove.

Sporting Life panel

Made between 1995 and January 2002, the Sporting panel was designed with the help of the students of Intake School and represents a colorful comic newspaper. The base is a sports net, screen printed at Leeds College of Art, with the Leeds United colours in the background.

Many students at Intake were involved with the project designing graffiti-style logos, cartoon rugby players, gymnasts and skateboarders. These included Angela Lambert, Leon Barham, Lisa Dickinson, Natalie Gains, Tana Massey and Gemma Stocks.

Some of the people on the panel were chosen by guests at fundraising events, others were chosen by the volunteers working on the project.

When visitors come to see the sixteen panels on display at the Central Library some ask why some of the sportsmen and women of Leeds are absent from the panel (similarly omissions on other panels). The answer is usually as simple as no-one putting a particular name forward when the panel was being planned, or that no suitable image could be found. The most commonly suggested people for this panel were Len Hutton and John Charles. Some sportsmen also appear on the Local Faces panel.

There is always scope for others to be included in "the forgotten ones" if anyone takes up the challenge.

Textile and Industrial Heritage panel

Started in 1995 and unveiled 13 July 2000.

Originally there were going to be two panels. Textiles with a background of decoupage screening and Industry with engineering drawings and blue prints. They were amalgamated when the final number of sponsors was known. At this stage Kate realised the background was too busy so it was changed to lightweight, more domestic and feminine fabrics at the top, gradually moving to masculine and more industrial fabrics at the bottom.

Civic Pride Panel

The Civic Pride panel was begun in 1993 and unveiled 26th February 1999. It represents the Lord Mayor's parade, centred around the Civic Hall and Mandela Gardens.

The fourth panel to be made, it was designed at the time when more and more people were aware of the project, and volunteered not only to sponsor pieces but also to embroider them. The crowd scene allowed for this and included are many people and flags sewn in a variety of techniques.

The volunteers also came with differing sewing experience, so it was the beginning of a series of skill-sharing and workshop sessions. One of the first and simplest was the balloon workshop. Interspersed in the crowd these give colour to the scene and were useful in filling in awkward gaps when the individual pieces were stitched to the background.

Originally the project was based in Kate's kitchen but as it progressed and acquired a larger workspace she booked a wide variety of professional embroiderers to teach at workshops, including goldwork, machine embroidery, rag rugging, needleweaving, computerized machine embroidery and raised work. This also allowed the volunteers to meet regularly and many lasting friendships were made. Some of them still meet once a month at the Tiled Hall. If you would like more details of this and were one of the stitchers please email via 'about me'

Community Spirit Panel

This panel represents The Leeds Festival, instigated by Arthur France and originating in Chapeltown. The colorful procession winds down the road with fireworks in the distance and on either side of the road are many and varied community groups looking on.

Collecting images was probably more time consuming than on any of the other panels. Unlike the Civic Pride panel the people here are real and even when groups had expressed interest in being represented (over 1,000 community groups were approached by letter), there was then the lengthy process of getting suitable photographs of their members at events.

Jan Wells, free-lance photographer and video maker, worked with many individuals and groups to produce images of themselves authentically. Martin Banks and Paul Wilkinson were also hired to attend and record other community events. Other photographs were given by the groups themselves or by volunteers already with the Tapestry.

Enterprise Panel

When the Enterprise panel was started, in 1993, along with the Legal and Financial Panels, the project had a series of empty shops or office buildings in the recently refurbished Victoria Quarter to use as a showroom for the work.

Originally this panel was to represent Leeds as a great shopping centre and a 24 hour city, the design concentrating on the Victoria Quarter. Unfortunately not many of the retailers were willing to sponsor pieces, the exceptions being Samuel Taylors, Burton Group (Arcadia) and Harvey Nichols.

Unlike the Local Faces panel where the people are walking down a clearly identifiable street, Albion Place, the Enterprise panel has an amalgam of buildings from around the city. The Hotel Metropole, The Queens and the Market in the foreground; Samuel Taylors, Norwich Union and the Town Hall in the distance.

By the time the panel was ready for construction, the project had moved into the burling room at Armley Mills. Freda Copley, Sue and Sarah Hodgson were the three mainly responsible for putting all the pieces onto the background, finishing off the whole effect with silks and nets, bringing life to the panel.

The panel was unveiled 29 April 1997.

I'm not sure of the quality of images of the individual pieces on this and three other panels. We have huge high quality pre-digital photographs of the whole panels but they were made in the days before we had computers and each individual piece was not scanned.

Education -Panel and Leeds Grammar School

There were several false starts in the design of the Education Panel but the revised format was ready to go in 1999. The style of the panel reflects the more formal style of the Health Panel, monochrome buildings suggesting that they are the housing for education and the people in glorious technicolour the product and life of the education process.



Leeds Grammar School may have been founded as early as 1341 but it's foundation is usually taken as 6th July 1552, dating from the will of William Sheafield. In 1624 John Harrison provided a new building on North Street (near the site of the Grand Theatre) where the school stayed until 1859 and its move to the new building in Clarendon Road. Rev. Alfred Barry was headmaster at the time and the buildings were designed by his brother (Their father designed the Houses of Parliament). This embroidery shows the architects elevation of the new school built in the 1990s at Alwoodley Gates. Mr Collins was head at the time of that move. When the panel was made the school was for boys only. Now, with the name changed to The Grammar School at Leeds, the girls from Leeds Girl's High School have joined them.


The straight lines of the architect's elevation were very difficult to maintain in embroidery. Several attempts at hand and machine embroidery were thwarted by kinks and bends where none should be. Finally the effect was achieved using couching - lines of cotton perle across the surface of the printed fabric with tiny stitches holding them down.


The original plan for the Education Panel had been more in the style of the Community Spirit panel with crowds of students spilling from the buildings. These pieces were embroidered for the earlier design by Mary Mellor and Ann Barker. So far they have not been used but are beautiful, and ready when someone else takes up the challenge to create more panels.

Leeds in Bloom

The panel celebrates the open spaces of Leeds seen throughout the year. Kirkstall Abbey in spring, The Queen's Hotel in summer, Roundhay Tropical House in autumn and Harewood in winter. Around each of the main pieces are leaves and flowers made using many different embroidery techniques.
Hilary Thurlow's needleweaving workshops were a great success. She showed many of the volunteers how to tack wire onto card in a leaf shape and then needleweave across the shape. These projects were so small that they could be carried in handbags and brought out at any time to do a bit more.
The one illustrated above was done by Joan Holah but quite often we don't have a name attached to the individual pieces. If you recognise yours please let me know.

An oak leaf with no name attached. I'll slip a few of these in on the blog from time to time.

The Legal Sector

This was the first panel, started in 1992 and unveiled at a breakfast event in hosted by the Hotel Metropole on 26th September 1995. At the time many people from the legal sector in Leeds became involved in the project; not only with fundraising and research but also with the embroidery and design. Members of the Embroiderer's Guild @ Leeds also came on board after a talk at their monthly meeting. Quite a few of these original stitchers continued working throughout the whole project.

Arts for All

Arts for All was the final panel completed. It represents a decorative pin board with postcards of examples of arts in Leeds. I've added it today in celebration of the exhibition at the V & A.

When the first 15 panels had been made there was a difficult time finding a home for them all. At first they were displayed in the stable courtyard at Harewood, then they moved to The Royal Armouries. The latter was a more suitable venue because there was free access to them but this, again, was only a temporary home.

Leeds City Council offered another temporary display site in a first floor corridor of the Central Library and its here that the Arts Panel was unveiled. Finally, last year, the Council, Library and Tapestry Trustees agreed that the Library would be the permanent exhibition space; and after redecoration, re-hanging and interpretation boards were added there was a re-union for the volunteers and friends to celebrate.

The background patchwork was made, almost entirely, by Chris Richardson of Night Owls quilters group

Where are they now?

The Local Faces panel was made between 1995 and 2002. The great and good were chosen by a research team and by nomination by members of the public. Historical figures from the City were portrayed in black and white, while the living were stitched in glorious technicolour.
Would the same people have been nominated a mere eight years later?