About a year ago, I wrote a post about Colbert Embroidery, which is a technique that combines surface embroidery, counted stitches, and voided areas on even-weave fabric. The technique interests me, because it provides a nice balance of color with bold, voided (blank) areas. As I mentioned in the last article on the subject, it seems like it would be a great technique to combine with Wessex-style stitchery.
The technique keeps floating about in my head, and one of these days, I’m actually going to sit down with the book on Colbert Embroidery and the book on Wessex Stitchery, to see what I can come up with!
In the meantime, though, I thought I would point you to a great online resource – the very same book on Colbert Embroidery, available for free online at Antique Pattern Library. The catalog at APL is absolutely stuffed with terrific resources, but for those who are interested in Colbert embroidery in particular, you might want to download the PDF:
DMC Borderies Colbert, edited by Therese Dillmont (PDF)
Had I only known at the time I bought the book…!
I hope you get a chance to take a look at it, and that you can indulge my fancy to do some Colbert embroidery by doing some yourself. I think it would be fun to try out!
It’s great to find these works online. Thank goodness for resources like Antique Pattern Library, eh?!
I love the Antique Pattern Library! They had a gap in adding to the collection over the past couple of years. Not a complaint by any means, I know how life gets in the way of projects like this sometimes! They’ve been adding more again this year.
To be fair, I really appreciate all the sites that make out-of-copyright books available on-line for free. I just have a soft spot for Antique Pattern Library, because it was the first one I knew about. These sites are the reason I’m considering purchasing an e-reader.
Sadly, the PDF file for Dillmont’s DMC Broideries Colbert is locked and requires a password. I can download it, but I can’t read it. Do you know how to get the password for this? I can’t find any information on passwords on the Antique Pattern Library website.
I’ve gotten a couple e-mails about not being able to access the PDF. This is what I’ve discovered in working with the PDFs on APL:
1. You need Adobe Acrobat to view it. It helps to have the most recent version. You can download Acrobat free online – just google “Adobe Acrobat download.”
2. If you are working on a Mac, and you are accessing APL through Safari, when you click on the link, usually the PDF tries to open in “Preview” – which doesn’t work for me. So I access APL through Google Chrome and click on the book links, and they download automatically to my downloads, where I right click on them and choose Acrobat to open them. They come up fine that way. The key is to download them, regardless of what computer you’re on, then to open them using Acrobat.
3. If you’re on a PC, and you have Acrobat set as your default PDF reader, they should come up right when you click on the file.
Nothing in APL requires a password to my knowledge, so I’m not sure why you’re getting a request for a password. I suggest maybe going straight to APL and searching for “colbert”. Though the website itself doesn’t have a search feature, you can go to “Edit” in your toolbar, then “Find” and then type in the search term. This will help you find whatever key word you’re looking for. Maybe if you access the book straight through the website, it will come up?
I hope these tips work! I’d hate to think there’s anyone out there who isn’t able to take advantage of this valuable free resource! If you still have problems, e-mail me and I’ll see if I can help out.
~MC
hello that’s beautifull blog and embroidery ! your work is so great ! thanks you for this pattern !
QUEL BEAU SITE, JE N’EN REVIENS PAS UNE SOURCE INNEPUISABLE DE THECNIQUE ET DE POINTS.dES HEURES ET DES HEURES DE PLAISIR. MERCI POUR VOTRE GÉNÉROSITE. ET EN PLUS IL EST TRADUIT QUEL BONNE IDEE.
Thanks Mary for pointing out the free online resource. I would love to see how you combine Wessex and Colbert embroidery.
Hello, thank you for this article, I had not heard of Colbert embroidery today but I love the effect and would love to give it a go some time. I will check out those liks too, thank you again.
I was wondering if you could inform me of a a book on Colbert Embroidery. I visited the Antique Library and down loaded the file but I’m unable to read it as I believe it’s in French. Are you able to help?
Cheers,
Dina
You might try lacis.com – they might have the reprint in English!