Louisa Pesel

Louisa Pesel was an English embroidery designer, teacher and collector who studied historic needlework and promoted embroidery as both art and therapeutic occupation. During and after the First World War she organised stitching projects for wounded and disabled servicemen and later helped create the Winchester Cathedral altar frontal.

Louisa Pesel was born in Bradford and died in Winchester. Pesel became an authority on historical embroidery and served as the first president of the Embroiderers’ Guild; during and after the First World War she promoted needlework as occupational therapy and later helped create the Winchester Cathedral altar frontal.

In Tracy Chevalier’s A Single Thread, Violet discovers the Winchester Cathedral Broderers, a volunteer group led by the real textile designer Louisa Pesel, and begins stitching cushions and kneelers for the cathedral.