Encyclopedia of Needlework - By Th De Dillmont

This wonderful book covers all aspects of needlework. It has about 800 pages, 1107 very clear engravings and 13 coloured plates.  There are different editions and naturally, the contents vary from edition to edition.

There are atleast 4 different editions that I personally know of. Here's the table of contents in the book I have.

1. Plain Sewing - The sewing and embroidering machine 
2. Machine sewing and embroidering
3. Mending
4. Embroidery upon white materials
5. Linen Embroidery
6. Embroidery upon silk and Velvet
7. Gold Embroidery
8. Applique work
9. Tapestry
10. Knitting
11. Crochet
12. Tatting
13. Macrame
14. Netting
15. Openwork on Linen
16. Embroidered laces
17. Needle-made laces
18. Pillow laces
19. Needlework trimmings
20. Miscellaneous directions
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    

The book takes you through the basics of all the different crafts. This is something like a stitch dictionary with plenty of projects for all levels of craft lovers. 

What I like best about this book is, it endeavors to teach the basics and the engravings or images are so clear that it is impossible not to learn from them. It's truly a treasure house created over a 100 years ago. All the designer has to do is, use this as a crutch and give free rein to the imagination.

This is not the edition I own. This book have fewer pages. This book was published in English, French, German, Italian and Spanish.

Monograms in Filet Crochet and Tatting

This book contains charts and instructions for working letters and monograms in Filet Crochet. Housed in the Antique Pattern Library, this is one of the numerous crochet books, for free download, the library and its has put up over the past several years.

Here are some pictures from the book. There are about 17 pages in total.

These pages give a general idea of how to chart letters both for filet and for cross stitch. There are a few charts for tiny birds and animals that you can combine with the letters for a more customized look.

I like the C and the E in the chart above.  There are general working instructions and an abbreviations and definitions chart.

Maybe I am wrong, but I think this is the first book I've come across that has cross meshes for the letters of the Alphabet. 

Some monograms in tatting - cursive capital letters Will look beautiful when combined with embroidered flowers with a lot of beads add either to the tatting or the embroidery. Must try.

A book definitely worth downloading.

Filet Crochet Design Book for Free Download

For more Filet Crochet monogram designs, pop over to my post on  Assissi Embroidery and download load the book from the link there.

This post is about a book on Netting designs (I wonder if anyone does netting anymore), that can be adapted for Filet crochet and Assissi. Take a look at some of the designs for yourself. My favourite is the one on the cover. Here it is. Click on the pictures to enlarge.

 Very elaborate, with plenty of details. Goes without saying, that the design will eat up a lot of yarn, and a huge chunk of time and money. But it will definitely be worth the effort. I've learnt over the years the hard way, not to scrimp on the quality of yarn, when working on elaborate projects. So no more buying supposedly good quality yarns, sold at very cheap prices.

This book has about 26 pages and over 60 designs. If you want it, you can download it from here.

Monograms for Embroidery, Cross-Stitch and Filet Crochet

Here are some more monograms from "The Antique Pattern Library". This book contains some really beautiful letters that can be used for both cross-stitch and Filet. The last few pages contain  Lets and borders for embroidery or fabric painting.

You can download this book from here.

Free Designs for Embroidery from The Antique Pattern Library

These lovely designs are from the book The Drew Portfolio in the Antique Pattern Library

For fabric painting, epoxy painting, stump work

Spanish Black work

IDEAL FOR LAID WORK

For Applique and Embellishment with Beads etc.

The entire book -  about 18 pages is filled with such designs.

There are no stitch descriptions - all the better. It would be interesting to see how different people interpret these designs. 

Anyone out there ready for the challenge?

Here's what you should do.

1. Choose any one of the 4 designs above - you may choose more than 1 design if you have the time for it.
2. While the basic design should be retained,  slight variations are allowed.
3. Use it to design an accessory - say cushion cover, a runner, a bag, a purse...
4. You can use anything for embellishing the embroidery - ribbons, beads, buttons, shells...
5. You have a month - the challenge ends on 3rd March.
6. You can blog the steps involved and the decision making process if you wish.

The challenge will be open even if there is going to be only 1 participant.

If you want to take it up, leave a comment .

This is not a competition - as I've already mentioned, it would be interesting to see all the variations diffferent people come up with.

Update: The link to the book is broken.  I'll update it when I rediscover it.

DMC Motifs For Embroidery Vth Series

DMC Motifs for Embroidery Vth Series is a book you'll find on 'Free Domain' - meaning - you can download it for free.
This post is a brief review of this lovely book.
Before I procede, please understand that though these books are copyright freed, they come from the private collection of generous people who have taken the time to painstaking scan and edit and digitize these books. The aim of The Antique Pattern Library is to make these books freely available so the wonderful art of needlework does not die.
What I am trying to say here is don't be crude enough to download and sell these on e-bay etc or pass them off as your own designs. It has happened before and will happen again... just let it not be you who is doing it.

Here are a few designs from the book - to help you decide if or not you want to download it.

As you can see, the designs are simple but the stitches employed gives them an exotic look.

What you will find:
1. A description of all the stitches used with diagrams.
2. 15 colour plates
3. The designs for tracing

The design on the left is my favourite - I just can't stop appreciating how the simple can also be exotic