[3] In 1946 she left the Eastbourne School of Art, where she was lecturer for seven years, to join King's College, Newcastle upon Tyne.

[3] In 1969, with funding that included the descendants of the Knights of the Garter, Dean set out on a five-year task to create five embroidered panels to hang in the Rutland chantry of St George's Chapel at Windsor Castle.

The five panels represent the annunciation, the visitation, the adoration of the magi, the temptation of Christ in the wilderness, and the miracle at Cana.

[5] Dean designed a cope for the Silver Jubilee of Elizabeth II in 1977, depicting churches in the diocese of London including St. Paul's Cathedral.

The embroidery, which uses a difficult technique, was inspired not by a commission, but by Dean's imperative to give good use to some remaining skeins of Japanese gold thread.