This month Dovecot has completed its latest tapestry in a series of three designed by Clare Woods RA. The Smotherers, explores the contradictory place that weeds occupy in our cultural imagination. Each of the series depicts a different plant: The Take Over explores passion flower, The Volunteers depicts bindweed, and The Smotherers focuses on wild peas. The tapestry will be cut from the loom in August 2026 and is available to purchase. All three tapestries will be exhibited at The Garden Museum London from 9 October - 5 November 2026.
The Smotherers tapestry is woven in wool and cotton and the structure of warp and weft mirrors the interlacing stems of the plants themselves. Dovecot's Master Weavers Louise Trotter, Naomi Robertson and Elaine Wilson worked over many months to select an exceptional range of green shades, with each blend subtly different from the next. Achieving the right colours required extensive mixing and sampling, with the weavers carefully balancing the depth of the image against the delicate, muted character of Clare Woods' original watercolour design. Subtle tonal shifts create a sense of depth, while the blended yarns suggest the softness and transparency associated with watercolour.
Translating a watercolour painting into tapestry is a technically demanding process. Unlike paint, which can be layered and blended directly on paper, tapestry relies on the careful selection and combination of individual yarns. Dovecot's expert team must recreate subtle shifts between colours by mixing different yarns, building up the image strand by strand.
Woods also has an exhibition of paintings at Pitzhanger Manor from 29 July – 8 November 2026.
