While digging through my bookshelves lately, trying to arrange books by “type,” I realized that one of my favorite types of needlework books are not necessarily needlework books at all. They are what I call “resource” books, usually dealing with design ideas. I’ve have quite a few of these types of books – books that struck me as useful sources of inspiration for embroidery designs.

Some of these books are not directly “design” books; they contain elements that can be converted into embroidery designs, or that inspire color combinations, or texture combinations and so forth – all useful stuff that can be interpreted or converted into elements in embroidery. And some of these books have designs that can be copied directly from the books and used in personal needlework projects. If the books are still under copyright, of course, the designs can’t be reproduced or sold, but they still make great designs for personal projects.

In the latter category falls the book Italian Renaissance Textile Designs by Dolores Andrew. This is a book that contains line drawings and interesting patterns that can be used directly as embroidery designs on their own, or as elements of larger embroidery projects.