New Flexible Format

Atelier Box

Everything you need to begin Lunéville embroidery.

The Atelier Box is your complete toolkit for starting and practising Lunéville embroidery. Beautifully assembled with the essential tools and materials, it gives you a considered foundation for creating your own embroidery projects.

Design Packs are sold separately and include the threads, beads, crystals, sequins and pattern for each design. They are for embroiderers who already know the technique and do not include instructions.

Already have the original Initiation Box? Simply choose a Design Pack and keep creating.

Welcome to Embroideress Couture
Welcome to Embroideress Couture
Welcome to Embroideress Couture
Welcome to Embroideress Couture

discover

The collection

This collection originates from the workroom of Norman Hartnell, dressmaker to Queen Elizabeth II, Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother and the British aristocracy. It descends from the archive of tambour embroiderer Mollie Welch, who worked on Hartnell gowns in the 1930s, 1950s and 1960s, including coronation and state‑visit ensembles.

discover

Mollie's story

Mollie began her career at the prestigious Hartnell couture house on Bruton Street, London, where she contributed to royal and aristocratic gowns embellished with intricate beadwork and embroidery. Her early diary entries mention work on the Queen’s Coronation gowns, including the iconic feather bodice created for Queen Elizabeth (later the Queen Mother) in 1937, and she later assisted with the Coronation ensembles of Queen Elizabeth II in 1953.

Discover

Colours and Textures

The pieces include original mid‑20th‑century beads and sequins. Together, these materials offer a rare, tactile insight into the techniques, colours and textures used to realise Hartnell’s elaborate couture designs for the British court, and were acquired at auction in February 2026.