A couple weeks ago, I mentioned that Embroidered Flowers for Elizabeth by Susan O'Connor, published by Country Bumpkin, was released, and today, I want to show you the book up close. It's a beautiful book featuring a beautiful project - but it's more than that!

The main project featured in the book Embroidered Flowers for Elizabeth is a gorgeous wool blanket divided in diamond-shaped panes, and displaying a selection of hand embroidered flowers that reflect the style of the Elizabethan era (the Renaissance in England). Susan O'Connor, whose embroidery designs always capture my eye, has really written a winner of a needlework book with this one! It is fantastic - the book is beautiful in every sense of the word, and the designs within are versatile.



While it is certainly a project book - a how-to book - it is so pretty that it deserves a nice spot in your home for display. It would look great on the coffee table! The quality of the book is Country Bumpkin quality - they do produce the most gorgeous needlework books!



The blanket itself is striking: diamond shaped panes reminiscent of Tudor windows, the black panes outlined with gold stitching on a cream ground speckled with the colorful flowers. It's a very sophisticated design.

The book begins with a short history of the Elizabethan era. There's not a whole lot "new" in this section - it's your typical text-book history that doesn't delve into primary sources. The section following the "history" moves into the textiles of the era, and this much more interesting. Here, you'll discover the significance of the flowers featured in the book.



After this brief introduction, instructions are given on setting up the blanket project, placing and embroidering the panes on the blanket.

But what if you're not really into making and embroidering blankets? Oh! Never fear! This book is a perfect multi-project book for anyone who loves embroidered floral designs, all of which are suitable for a variety of needlework techniques.



The book is broken down by floral motif. Each section on each floral arrangement begins with a clear color photo of the finished floral design.



The floral design is followed by a materials list and stitching instructions. Paternayan wool is used for the embroidery on the blanketl. But for those not interested so much in wool embroidery, never fear - there's a handy thread conversion chart in the back of the book.



Besides the general stitching instructions for the whole motif, there are step-by-step photos for the different stitches used in each motif. If you appreciate other Country Bumpkin publications (for example, the A-Z Series of Needlework books), you will certainly like these step-by-step photos.



Oooooooh. My Absolute Favorite in the Whole Book is this Pea & English Daisy design. I just love it! I love the greens, I love the peas, I love the daisies, I just love this motif! It's beautiful, isn't it?



After the larger floral motifs comes a section on smaller designs. These are like a little sampling taken from the larger floral designs - they're little, sweet, perfect designs that could be stitched individually (relatively quickly) for a variety of applications, such as needlebook covers, pin keeps (as shown in the book), or whatever your imagination can devise!



Following the embroidery instructions are the instructions for constructing the blanket. One reader mentioned that these instructions are a bit confusing. After reading through them, I think that someone who has constructed blankets or quilts before would find the assembly instructions clear enough. They aren't necessarily written for an absolute beginner, but I do think they are manageable.



The thread conversion chart towards the end of the book gives color numbers for DMC stranded cotton and Au Ver a Soie silk (Soie d'Alger). The author specifies the difference in stitching, should you choose a different thread to work with.



Some suggestions are given for individual projects with the small motifs. Very pretty! I love the addition of the gold spangles around the flowers.



And finally, the last section of the book is filled with all the line drawings, as well as drawings that indicate stitch direction.

All in all, the book is everything I was hoping it would be! The designs are so pretty, and oh, the possibilities! Silk shading, stumpwork, goldwork, whitework - the designs are versatile and easily adaptable to other techniques.

You can find Embroidered Flowers for Elizabeth at several places online:

Country Bumpkin Publications - located in Australia; the book costs AU$34.95. For those ordering outside Australia, be prepared to pay shipping costs and, where applicable, customs duty.

The Book Depository (Thanks, Irene!) - this is located in the UK, but shipping worldwide is free. I ordered a copy from here ($21.81) and had it within a week.

Amazon UK - Though not available on Amazon in the States yet, the book can be found on Amazon UK for £13.27 (US$20.22 right now).

And, finally, this weekend, I'll be giving away a free copy of Embroidered Flowers for Elizabeth, so keep an eye out for the give-away!

Labels: book review, crewel work, historical needlework, needlepainting, pictures

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Posted By: Mary Corbet on Friday, February 26, 2010
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Last August, I showed you a wonderful collection of Society Silk (aka Silk Art Embroidery or Needlepainting) pieces that I received from a reader, along with a bunch of threads that belong to this historical embroidery movement that spanned the end of the 1800's through the beginning of the 1900's. This morning, I found an informative comment from Donna Cardwell, author of the book Silk Art Embroidery and the website The Society Silk Embroidery Collectors Club.

The comment that Donna left on the original post about Society Silk Embroidery is well worth reading, so I wanted to highlight it here, since last year's August article is probably pretty obscure right now.



Society Silk (or Silk Art Embroidery) was an embroidery style popular from the mid 1880's into the second decade of the 1900's. On her website, Donna narrows the dates down to 1877-1912. The style featured typical Victorian designs, especially of flowers and vines and so forth, stitched with silk on linen in long and short stitch. The technique was taught to women in America in order to give them a source of income. You can read all about the history of the technique at the Society Silk Embroidery Collectors Club website. While you're there, do make sure you visit her picture gallery of Society Silk pieces - it is well worth a lingering browse!



In my original article on the Society Silk pieces I received, I wondered about a few things: the difference in types of linens, the types of threads, whether or not the linens would wash up. Donna was kind enough to supply the following extensive answer to my musings:

Hi Mary, what lovely pieces. I was just wondering what you decided to do with them as far as washing the spots out. My experience has been that the pre-printed designs were made to wash out in the first wash ~ I don't think they will still be there if you try to immerse them in anything resembling soap and water (or even just plain water).

In my research for my book (Silk Art Embroidery, A Woman's History of Ornament & Empowerment), I purchased many, many pieces just like this that had been worked but never washed, and you could still see the design under the floss. When soaked, the design comes right out.

As far as the patterns themselves, the ladies could purchase the linens to be worked with the design already stamped; buy a Stamping kit and either copy the patterns from the many embroidery books; or they could design their own pattern and stamp them on whatever type of linen they wished. Some of the companies also offered them for sale at a higher price with the embroidery already started, which could explain the partly done embroidery on some of your pieces.

You are correct that the pieces could be purchased with the drawnwork and/or hemstitching already done. This was especially true of the smaller fine white linen teacloths that were so popular for teatime. I have several catalogs from which dealers actually purchased their stock of items to sell, and there are many different types of pieces such as this.

Also, the difference in the fabric and the designs is because in the beginning of the silk art embroidery movement in America (in 1877), fine white linen was the norm for most of the table linens. Closer to the end of the approximately 33-year period (1877 to 1910-1912 or so), they began to use the coarser, heavier fabric. They called the different fabrics "ticking," "brown burlap,"� "grey crash," "Tan Art Cloth,"� to name a few. The designs also turned away from the pure realism of the beginning time period to include more abstract "Arts & Crafts" and "William Morris" type motifs. In many cases, these linens were also shaded so that the volume of embroidery necessary to finish the piece was much less then from years past. Often they only worked the edges of these designs.

Also, they offered MANY different types of floss and the motifs look totally different when worked with differnt types ~ Richardson's sold "Filo," "Sicilian," "Grecian," "Rope Silk," "Wash Embroidery Twist," "Honiton Silk" (especially for use in Honiton Lace work), or "Mountmellick Silk." There are also different sizes of silk floss for different types of items ~ something that was used on the table had to be more sturdy, while a piece made to frame (which came into popularity in 1901) could be a little less sturdy and therefore more delicate floss could be used.

Ecclesiastical embroidery was very popular as mentioned, and though I've seen many patterns in the embroidery books, I've only seen one piece in real life (which I found after my book was published, so it's not in the book). I'll post a picture of it on my website if you would be interested in seeing it. [It's on the home page and also in the photo gallery - a gorgeous piece! MC]

By the way, many of your pieces have the very popular motif of maidenhair ferns stamped on them. Also, all of these are table linens. It was very common to purchase them in sets for the whole table. They consisted of a centerpiece and matching doilies.

Hope some of this helps. If I can answer any more questions, please feel free to contact me. You can do so through my website, www.societysilkembroidery.com.

You'll find Donna's website, Society Silk Embroidery, an informative and beautiful resource for those interested in this period and type of embroidery. Do stop by there and visit! And thank you, Donna, for the informative comment!

Labels: embroidery resources, historical needlework, needlework pictures, silk

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Posted By: Mary Corbet on Monday, February 08, 2010
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I'll tell you a secret. I'm nuts about the 16th - 17th century embroidered boxes (or caskets), and I've always had this deep-down-secret desire to make one. I toy with the idea in my head, when I should be thinking about other things. I contemplate acting on the idea. And then... I never do. If I could do as they did Back in The Day, and send my pieces of embroidery off to the cabinet maker to have him construct a box around it, I suppose the whole idea would be more feasible. Or if someone could come up with a design or a plan for the actual box and I could do the rest, maybe that would work. Construction has never quite been my forte, and getting my head around the construction of a casket with doors and drawers and trays inside it - well. The thought results in immediate inactivity.

As I was squizzing about online the other day, though, I came across a tutorial for an embroidered box. It isn't quite the same as the 16th century caskets, but I was thinking it might be a good start for any other embroidered box people out there who have a secret desire to make their own embroidered casket - replete with drawers, removable trays, cubby holes, etc.... This one is just a simple box - four sides and a lid. A good starting place for embroidered box construction, methinks.



This lesson for making an embroidered box can be found on the V&A website. The lesson is meant to supplement a textile course with museum research, so it's kind of a neat idea, if you happen to live in the vicinity of a museum with a decent textile display. If you don't, though, and if you just want the nitty-gritty of the construction process, take a look at the PDF that explains how the box goes together.

If you'd like to browse the collections at the V&A for embroidered boxes, you'll want to visit their search page, and type in "Embroidered Caskets" or something to that effect.

What will amaze you is reading the descriptions of some of these embroidered boxes. The box featured in the screen shot above is described thus:

The panels of the casket would have been worked by a young girl, of about the age of 11 or 12, as the culmination of her needlework education, which would have begun with samplers, and the decoration of small objects like pin cushions. She would embroider a series of small panels drawn or printed with pictorial scenes, which would then be sent to a cabinet maker to be made up into a casket, the edges bound with braid. The caskets were fitted with a variety of drawers and compartments, suitable for keeping jewellery, writing equipment and letters, needlework tools, tiny toys or keepsakes. They often had one or two secret drawers, for their young owners' most precious or private possessions; this casket has five, concealed with considerable ingenuity.

If I had worked one of these at age 11 or 12, at the culmination of my needlework education, maybe I'd have this longing to make one out of my system by now!

Enjoy the links, and have a terrific (!) Monday!

Labels: embroidery resources, historical needlework, needlework websites

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Posted By: Mary Corbet on Monday, January 18, 2010
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Were you one of the lucky ones that made it to the Metropolitan Museum of Art before the end of April, 2009, to see the exhibit "Twixt Art and Nature"? I am still kicking myself that I didn't make more of an effort to go, though in reality, I couldn't have. The exhibit was well-covered in the news, more so than any other needlework exhibit I've ever heard about, anyway. And sprouting from the exhibit came a book....

English Embroidery from The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1580 - 1700: 'Twixt Art and Nature is the name of the book. Despite the heavy title and the hefty size of the book, keep in mind that the era studied by the book is just slightly over 100 years of needlework! But what a fascinating era!



The book has been reviewed online on a number of needlework blogs and websites, so I'm not out to do a review here. I haven't actually finished reading it yet, and I always like to read the books I review from cover-to-cover. (It's a whole lot easier with stitch dictionaries and picture technique books - there isn't as much reading involved!) From what I've read so far, the book is fascinating - those interested in historical embroidery who like to read in-depth scholarly work will enjoy it. Those who are more interested in technique specifics and instruction might not enjoy it as well. Anyone interested in pictures of historical embroidery from this era will love it, but will want even more photos. The photos are beautiful.

I was reading the book the other day, and came upon part of a passage that brought to mind a good friend of mine, and made me think (with overwhelming enthusiasm!) that he would really enjoy this book. The passage was an insightful comment on history and art and I wish I had written it down. Anyway - a great wave of generosity swept over me, and I thought, "I am going to buy this book for him. He will like it."

Last year, I sent copies of this book out to a couple friends as gifts (hey, gals - I hope you Really Like It!). For me, I bought mine used last year, for about $35. And heck, it's been six months, right? Used ones will probably be less expensive now, right? But I was willing to spend $35. Really. I'm just that nice.

But I'm only that nice.

I checked this page on Amazon first, and after the initial heart attack, I moved on to ABE Books. (Though you can find a slightly "less expensive" copy on this page at Amazon - around $140).

Is it only me, or are the prices asked for these books just slightly a bit much? I mean, the book is good. But... but.... but...???!!!

Needless to say, those momentary warm fuzzy feelings of generosity sapped right out of me!

If you're looking for the book at a more reasonable price, Hedgehog Handworks does carry it, and right now, it's $55.25 (on sale through January). I don't know how many they have in stock, but at least you know they are available through booksellers besides used book sources for ridiculous prices! You can also find it at The Mad Samplar for $65 right now.

If you aren't quite ready to invest that type of money in a book, you can get a glimpse of some of the pieces in the exhibit in this nice little promotional video from last year:



Though I didn't make it to the exhibit, I'm happy I have my book.

And I'm happy I got it used.

For $35.

Labels: book review, embroidery resources, historical needlework, miscellaneous embroidery musings

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Posted By: Mary Corbet on Saturday, January 09, 2010
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Keeping with the crewel embroidery theme, if you're looking for source books for designs or inspiration for your own designs, I thought I'd show you a couple books currently available that focus on crewel designs. Keep in mind, though, that the designs are not necessarily only for crewel work. They'd all be equally adaptable to surface embroidery of various types. You'll see what I mean....

Frances Bradbury has written (or rather, drawn) several design books in different needlework techniques, but the two I'm focusing on here are specifically crewel: English Crewel Designs: 16th to 18th Centuries and Early American Crewel Design.



English Crewel Designs: 16th to 18th Centuries is a design source book. As such, you won't find a lot of text herein. There are a couple pages at the beginning of the book that serve as introductory information, but that's it. The rest of the book is devoted to designs - black and white drawings of crewel patterns taken from historical pieces.



While there are no stitch suggestions in the book (and no stitch instructions), it isn't hard to imagine what types of stitches would look good on the various designs. The designs have a good amount of shading and filling - they aren't merely line drawings.



Some of the designs in the book are given as negative images, with black backgrounds and white lines. I suppose this is to indicate pieces that were worked on dark fabric? I don't know! (And I haven't read the introduction to the book!) The majority of the designs, though, are delivered on white paper with black ink.



The designs are adaptable to other forms of embroidery. For example, this panel brings to mind stumpwork embroidery. Now, wouldn't that be fun?!



I did have a laugh at this fellow. This is such a simple treatment of the bird's body. I probably should've looked at this before I marked up my rooster yesterday! I added scallops all over the main part of the rooster's body - in pen, so I don't really have a choice in embroidering them! Ah, well - live and learn!



The second sourcebook for crewel designs by the same author is Early American Crewel Design.



The designs in this book are noticeably different from the designs in the previous book. They're not quite as elaborate. I like these four designs here - they're very much like the "smalls" I've been working on recently.



Even the more elaborate designs in the book are relatively simple - and I think I like them this way. Both books definitely present a different "look" of crewel work, though the designs have obvious things in common - stylized flowers and leaves, woodland animals, etc.

The books are not huge, extensive sourcebooks, but for the price (less than $6.00 new, from Amazon), they're nice design books and good to have on hand for inspiration and ideas. The Early American design book is not currently in stock through Amazon, but it's available through other used book sources. English Crewel Designs is currently available.

Labels: book review, crewel work, embroidery design, historical needlework

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Posted By: Mary Corbet on Wednesday, January 06, 2010
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I've (finally!) finished the first in the series of French Maid Needlebook kits by Access Commodities. This kit is the one called "Nichole" and it features a monogram and fancy stripes that match the reproduction fabric that lines the inside of the needlebook. I'm excited to show you the finished needlebook - I like it a lot, and, of course, it's always great to see a project completely through to the end!

There are heaps of things I like about these embroidery kits from Access Commodities. In previous articles showing the progress on this particular needlebook, I've mentioned the supplies especially - good linen, nice lining fabric, beautiful threads. Other aspects worthy of mentioning about this kit: the detailed instructions are easy to follow and clear, the finishing touches on the needlebook are nice, and .... well, this is a big deal for me.... it came out the way it was supposed to!



Once I finished the outside of the needlebook, it was time to prepare the lining so that it could be sewn in. All the work on the needlebook is completely done by hand, by the way - there's no need of a sewing machine for the finishing. I was glad of that. Believe it or not, I don't have a sewing machine. I'd like a sewing machine. I have my eyes on a particular sewing machine (a Bernina!), but I don't actually have my own machine. The fact that I didn't have to high-ho-hither myself to my sister's house to use her machine was a huge plus for me!

Anyway, I thought the shot above really captured the coordination of the lining and the design on the needlebook.



The lining has a pocket in it. It's created by a simple fold, and it works out really well! Clever design, I thought. By the way, this obviously isn't a step-by-step tutorial on finishing a needlebook! The step-by-step instructions are available in each kit in this series.



I almost forgot the ties. That would've been a pleasant disaster. The ribbon for the ties is black. At first I was a little unsure of this color choice, thinking that a pink ribbon would be a lot prettier and would match the flowers. But the black looks terrific with the black needle lace around the edge, and pink doesn't look so great - I tried it!



I tacked the ribbon rather sloppily with backstitch. I almost took it out again, thinking it really should be neater. But it's going inside the lining, and no one will ever see it. So I left it!



Before sewing the lining in, I attached the felt, using the buttons and pink ribbon. Actually, I also used a bit of pink floss and sewed the buttons on first with the floss, then tied on the bows. That way, if the bows every come undone (or I get tired of them!), the buttons will still be secure.



Once the lining was in, I still had the spine to worry about. This was the last step. Through all the layers, down the middle of the spine of the needlebook, a line is supposed to be sewn in such a way that it looks decent on both the outside of the needlebook and the inside. I was faced with a dilemma: to use a natural colored sewing thread that matched the outside of the needlebook would've been really simple - but on the inside of the needlebook, one of the grey stripes on the fabric was lined up exactly with the spine. Darn. A natural colored thread would show up against the grey stripe. So first I tried the grey floss (Soie d'Alger) that came with the kit, but it looked pretty bad! Then, I decided to backstitch down the spine in black, using the Soie Perlee that came with the kit. On the outside of the needlebook, I ended up with a backstitch line, and on the inside, I ended up with a stem stitch.

I didn't much like the black backstitch line on the outside.



So I whipped the backstitching with the grey Soie d'Alger that came with the kit. I liked that better.



The black line on the inside of the needlebook is not very noticeable, which is nice.



The line down the spine serves as well to separate the long pocket inside the needlebook. The pocket can hold small scissors (in a sheath), or maybe flat bobbins of threads, or even more needles on cards.



Here's the needlebook, closed, from the front....



... and the needlebook, closed, from the back.



And here's a little detail of the needlelace around the outside edge!

I really enjoyed making this needlebook and I'm looking forward to starting the next one in the series soon! You can see the progress of this project at the following links:

Nichole Needlebook Kit Unboxed - kit contents
Setting Up the Needlebook Project
Satin Stitching on the Monogram - troubleshooting
The Monogram
The Front of the Needlebook
The Back of the Needlebook
Working with Linen Thread

If you're interested in purchasing this needlebook kit, I ordered mine from The Mad Samplar, and it looks as if they have them in stock right now, which is nice. If you want to see what's in the kit, you might want to take a look at my first post on this project, Nichole Needlebook Kit Unboxed.

Whew. One project done. I didn't quite meet my Christmas deadline, but I came pretty close! Now, onto the next project! See you tomorrow!

Labels: embroidery kits, Embroidery Projects, historical needlework, linen, needlework pictures, pictures, silk

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Posted By: Mary Corbet on Tuesday, December 29, 2009
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Last week, I mentioned the new needlebook kit in the series of French Maid Needlebook Kits from Access Commodities, and since it showed up in the mail, I figured I'd show you the insides of the kit.

Even though I'm not usually one for working things in a series - I'm just not a "collector" at heart - this particular needlebook series has really captured my fancy! These are the points that appeal to me about this series: the quality materials (Au Ver a Soie silks, Legacy Linen); the coordination of the needlework part of the kit (threads, fabric, stitching designs) with the reproduction fabric lining; the pretty finishing touches; and the fact that I can adapt the designs from counted work to surface embroidery if I want to.

Of course, if I don't get my you-know-what in gear and get the first needlebook done, I may end up with a stack of boxes on my shelf and no needlebooks to show for it! (More on that later!)



Here's the box the kit came in - you can see it's the third in this series, and it's produced by Access Commodities.



This is the cover design for the needlebook. The picture doesn't do it justice, really - the trim and finishing touches add so much to the needlebook! But still, you get the idea of the overall design of the book here as well as the color scheme.

In contemplating the design, I don't know if I could reasonably adapt the bird to surface work on this fabric. I'll have to think about that one a bit.



I love the creams, browns, and cranberry color scheme here! The silk threads are perfectly coordinated with the lining fabric. Very pretty!



This particular kit has four skeins of Soie d'Alger, one spool of Soie Perlee, ribbons and so forth for the finishing, as well as covered button hardware, lining fabric, Legacy linen for the outside fabric, interfacing for the construction of the book, felt for the needles (and three needles), and all the instructions.



It has a very clear chart for the back cover of the needlebook, too. The initial is again something you have to come up with, but there are plenty of online resources for these cross stitch initials, where you can find them for free. Well - you know me - I'll switch that to an embroidered monogram, anyway.

I purchased this kit (it's my own Christmas present - you know, any excuse!) from the Mad Samplar. It came very quickly, but at the time, they had it in stock. Now, I see it's a special order item, but I suspect that they can get it pretty quickly, if you're interested in the kit, too.

Now, what of the needlebook kit I'm supposed to have finished for Christmas? Um....

When is Christmas?

Labels: counted thread embroidery techniques, embroidery kits, Embroidery Projects, embroidery resources, historical needlework, pictures

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Posted By: Mary Corbet on Wednesday, December 23, 2009
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I've had time to embroider! Yippee! Though I was thinking I might have this whole needlebook finished by the end of the long weekend, and though I realize now that it probably won't happen, I'm still pretty excited about the progress I've made on this French Maid Needlebook kit from Access Commodities.

I've finished the monogram, added some bullion roses to it, and almost finished one of the "fancy stripes" down one side of the front. Now, I AM excited about the project so far, but I have made some mistakes, and I'll be pointing those out to you - not because I'm a negative person always looking for mistakes (!), but just so that you can see where I've run into some pitfalls. Maybe pointing out the pitfalls in my stitching will help you avoid similar pitfalls in your stitching.



Here's the finished monogram, and you can see that I've started adding the bullion roses to it. I would like the monogram, had I not made some little mistakes on it that bug me. The question is, do they bug me enough to pick out some of the stitching and re-do it? Ummmm.... maybe not!



This is the upwards swash where the main part of the T curls up and around. The circled areas indicate the points that bug me. The circled area on the right: I should not have made such a clear separation for the last little section of the curve. The circle on the left: there's a stitch in there that's too small, and it makes the curve there look pinched, so that it is just slightly angular, rather than smoothly curved.

The latter problem isn't that big of a deal - I don't find it that noticeable. But the former problem (the right circle) does bug me (a LOT), so I'm thinking I might pick that out eventually!



I added the bullion roses to the center, using the pinks that were supplied with the kit. I used two strands of Soie d'Alger for the bullions.



Once I finished the bullion roses, I used two strands of the brighter green to work in some straight-stitch greenery around the roses. Here, I should have worked in all three greens that were supplied in the kit. Later, I did go back and cut in some other green, but it isn't very effective.

I also should have reduced to one strand, when working the rest of the curl on that green branch. You can see this point better in the picture below:



Here's the completed monogram with the flowers.



In the original kit, the "fancy stripes" down the two sides of the front and back of the needlebook are bordered by a cross stitched edge, straight down the length of the stripe. Inside, are cross stitched roses. For my version of the surface embroidered needlebook, I wanted to keep the color and design scheme, but work in surface stitches. For the edges of the stripe, I chose Portuguese Knotted Stem Stitch. I like the little bit of texture this stitch provides, plus I like the somewhat wavy or scalloped look of the stitch.



After working the one edge of the stripe area, I realized that, if I were going to stitch bullions in the center, it would be easier to do so if I were not stitching between two embroidered lines! Otherwise, I risk running into the embroidered lines with the tip of my needle and snagging them. So I added the bullion rose buds before stitching up the other edge of the stripe area.



I added straight stitch leaves on each side of each rose bud, and worked a running stitch line down the center of the stripe area. The running stitch line is part of the original counted instructions.



In the photo above, you can get a sense of the design of the needlebook cover and the matching lining fabric. I think they look great together! I like the way the stripes on the cover mirror the stripes in the fabric. In fact, I think that's what sold me on the kit in the first place!

So, there's my progress so far. I'm enjoying this little project! Keep your fingers crossed for me - maybe I'll get the embroidery finished on it before Monday arrives again!

Enjoy the weekend!

Labels: embroidery kits, Embroidery Projects, historical needlework, needlework pictures, pictures

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Posted By: Mary Corbet on Saturday, November 28, 2009
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