Today, courtesy of Hedgehog Handworks, I’m giving away one copy of the out-of-print, highly coveted book on 17th century English embroidery, ‘Twixt Art and Nature: English Embroidery from The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1580-1700.
The book is a combination historical-treatises-museum-catalog, focusing on embroidered pieces from 17th century England. It was published in conjunction with the exhibit at the Met from December, 2008 – April, 2009.
There is an ardent interest these days in 17th century embroidery, so the book was really popular when it came out, serving as a vicarious visit to the museum for those of us who couldn’t make it to the exhibit. And the book still remains popular among enthusiasts of this short – but very vivid – period of English embroidery.
Because it is out of print and because it contains much sought-after information (not to mention fantastic photos!), prices for the book, when you can find it, soar into the upper hundreds of dollars.
Throughout the book, you’ll find incredible images of 17th century embroidered clothing, caskets, gloves, mirrors, and whatnot, featuring a variety of techniques, from petit point, to goldwork, to stumpwork, blackwork… and more. The pieces featured in the book are a feast for the eyes!
But more than that, the written content of the book makes compelling reading for historical embroidery buffs or for those interested in the history of art or the history of textiles in general.
‘Twixt Art and Nature is not a technique book – though much inspiration and even insight into techniques can be gleaned from perusing the photos and reading the text – but rather a scholarly work on the period and the influences on the art of embroidery during the period.
Hedgehog Handworks has a limited number of new copies of ‘Twixt Art and Nature still available, and they have generously donated one to Needle ‘n Thread for a give-away! So, if you’d like a chance to add this tome on 17th century English embroidery to your library, please follow these guidelines for the give-away:
Give-Away Guidelines
The give-away is now ended. Thanks for participating!
1. Leave a comment below, on this article on Needle ‘n Thread (not via e-mail and not on any other article on Needle ‘n Thread – just follow this link directly to the comment box to get to the right place, if you’re unsure).
2. In your comment, tell us a bit about your interest in the book, using the following prompts:
Are you a specifically-17th-Century-Embroidery Enthusiast? Or just an Embroidery Enthusiast in general? or a Textile History Buff? What makes you desire the book? Is your desire more along the lines of Pictures, or Print? (Or Both?) What interests you most about this book – are you eager to see photos of the 17th century embroidered items within, or are you eager to read about the era and the items? Or both? Tell us something about your interests in a book on 17th century embroidery!
3. Please make sure you leave a recognizable name in the comment area, either in the name line on the comment form or in the comment box. Names like Sue, Barbara, Mary, Bob, Kathy, etc., are often duplicated in the comments and can lead to confusion when the winner is announced, so adding a last name or initial (Sue S.) or a location (Barb in Texas) helps to allay confusion.
4. Leave your comment by Monday, May 20, 2013, at 5:00 am Central Daylight Time (Kansas, USA). I’ll announce the winner on Monday!
Thanks to Joady at Hedgehog Handworks for the special opportunity to offer this chance to you!
I was hoping that you would post this giveaway before I had to go to work! I learned my lesson with this one. I saw you review it and waited a few months before trying to buy it–when I then couldn’t afford it. I immediately bought Women’s Work when you reviewed that and actually bought 2 copies of Russian Elegance (one for a friend finishing up a degree in history and costuming). I have gotten Twixt Art and Nature out of the library via interlibrary loan. The photos are breathtaking, but I want to READ it and 2 weeks just isn’t enough time! I want to know everything I can about the history of embroidery and this is probably the period I am most interested in . I’ve been reading a lot of history books on the early 17th century–what was going on in England and in New England. Populating those history with images of existing objects makes that history come alive. My degrees are in archeology, so you can imagine how objects from the past get me excited!
I am fascinated by stumpwork. I saw some beautiful examples in British museums, including a fabulous casket at the V&A. I would love to read more about this topic.
Love your website!
Penny
I think my biggest interest would actually be the history — like why did someone embroider a hanged man on that lovely box you have a photo of?? I want to know!
Hello Mary!
I have been studying embroidery in this time period both on my own and through the Thistle Threads classes, and would love to win this book. I’ve been putting the money I can on classes, and there are quite a few books left I’d like to have for research that I simply can’t afford and this is one of them. So many of my friends have it, and rave about it! So, fingers crossed – I would absolutely treasure this book and it would mean a lot to me to have it.
17th century embroidery fascinates me. I recreate the 18th century and have been studying how to create an “heirloom” from my grandmother or great-grandmother. The embroideries are so gorgeous. I would love to be able to actually interact with these wonderful textiles, but the excellent pictures and the descriptive text are most likely the next best thing. With the ideas in the book, I would be able to create a cherished piece for Mrs. Adams (my reenacting name) to cherish. Since my “grandmother” is not here to teach me, hopefully this book will help me to fill in the gaps.
Oh! Oh! Oh! This would be wonderful. I have just started in the encore Course of Cabinet of Curiosities which is on the Thistlethreads website. We are busy studying and then making a replica 17th Century Casket. This would be a wonderful addition to my study. I remember reading some of the previous/present students mentioning this book from the MMA.
Oh, Mary!! I actually have a chest that I purchased several years ago and have been wanting to finish it, but I’m not sure what to do with it. I really love the 17th century embroidery style for these chests and would so love to do mine in that style. Maybe even with some stump-work (which I will have to learn to do)!
Thanks to you and Hedgehog for this opportunity!
Kelly Searles
klyns2
I am always looking for inspiration for my needlework and historical books on the craft are some of the best. I really enjoy taking old techniques and designs and applying them to something very contemporary. This book looks to be a trove of such things!
Another generous giveaway! Thanks! I am interested in the use of pets and children in art, including embroidery, during this time period. Our ideas of children and pets have changed dramatically through the centuries (indeed the notion of childhood is a rather recent invention) and the evolution of those ideas is reflected in embroideries. I would use this book to learn more … and to drool over the pictures … imagine done with no electricity!! Thanks Mary.
In 1963 I wrote my senior term paper for English class on the costumes of the 17th century. The beauty of the clothing has always fascinated me. This book would provide rich reading and rewarding inspiration beyond any other book in my collection.
I have just dabbled with embroidery throughout
the years and would like to try my hand at something fancy. I don’t have a particular century in mind–just something elaborate. I’d like to get a feel for what items they did embroider, what designs and what colors they used.
I would love to have this beautiful book for the pictures and the history. I am stitching a 17th century band sampler and this book would be a wonderful addition to learn the history and see all the beautiful
work from the needleworkers of that era. My fingers are crossed! Theresa
I have been eyeing this book on Amazon for at least a year. I just have not had that kind of money to spend on it. I want it for the text and the pictures. I would like to try to copy something in it. Thank you for the chancr.
Ohhh were to start…. I have allway been into history, and as I grew older I taught myself more and more different handcrafts. Today My big hobby is Historic embroidery. Living in a Little country, on a smaller Island, I get my info and inputs via my computer. Sometimes I strike Gold and can get an nother love in my life, books, combined with my hobby.
I love trying new forms of embroidery, and this book will clearly keep me busy for a long time. So for me it will be Pictures for inspiration and learning, text for filling out my big hole of knowledge of embroidery history, and the book it self for the sheer pleasure of holding a precious book in my hands.
I am so excited to understand this time of the arts! I will be studying Jacobean crewel work at RSW this summer!
Annie,
I’m so excited for you! It has been a dream of mine for a long time to add that class to my “what did you do on your summer vacation” list! I hope it is a joyful experience for you.
Debbie
Thank you Mary for one more beautiful book.
To be honest I am not in to much of reading but would love to see different embroidery techniques. I am much fascinated by the pictures. Since I am undergoing some medical treatments I can’t do much embroidery. so I can use this chance to read the book
Lakshmi Sadala
India
17th century embroidery photos? Be still, my beating heart! I love looking at pictures of old embroidery, but I also am fascinated by how it was done and who did it.
I am so in awe of the work of prior centuries, especially when there is some history involved. English history and literature are my lifelong pleasures (besides my own needlework). This sounds like the perfect chance to combine all of my passions.
Thanks for letting us participate in your efforts to educate and further the ancient pursuit of embroidery in a very modern and technological society.
I would dearly love to have this book to access all the wonderful text and pictures from the 17thc. As an avid Stumpwork embroideress I have studied many of the caskets, mirrors and other items in the museums and old houses in this country but have never managed to get to the Metropolitan Museum of Art and am unlikely ever to do so. I am an keen reader of any books on 17thc. work as that century was so full of wonderful embroideries often worked by young people. I would like to be able to study for a longer period the items embroidered on these works as they must reflect the life of those times in great detail. I hope that my own work reflects the same details of life in this centry.
Eu tenho muito interesse,neste livro porque estou na universidade de artes.E gosto de ler tudo que acontecia no século XVII e XVIII.Mas sou muito entusiasmada com bordados cresci com minha mãe bordando minha adorava bordados,a mão a maquina sempre colecionou historias sobre o bordado no mundo mas não teve uma chance de ver nada tão grande como um livro com história do século XVII,este gosto por bordados eu herdei de minha mãe por isso queria muito ter este livro.
Oh my, where to begin. I am a member of 3 embroidery Guilds in the Dayton/Cincinnati, OH area. I LOVE reproductions and have completed many repro samplers – walls are full. Now am working on c17th & 18th repro men’s wallets and have completed 5…more to come. Love needlework caskets and boxes. This is such a wonderful book and treasure and will be enjoyed by the lucky owner. Thanks for the great chance!!
ann
I’d love to have a copy of this book. I teach embroidery and am always looking for books to show my students a wide variety of embroidery examples. Most of my current books are contemporary or 20th century. A book on 17th century embroidery would be a great addition to my teaching collection!
Hello mary,
Thanx for this lovely giveaway. I’m from india. I’m not exactly a 17th century embroidery enthusiast, but i do like the embroideries of the 17th century. I’m sure that the 17th century embroideries would be very rich. It has a lot of culture and it is of heritage value. I’m an embroidery enthusiast in general. I love to see the photos and i’d equally love to read the print. From a book like this you can learn the designs used, the colours used, the stitchs prefered in the 17th century. It will have history and culture references. From the photos that you’ve displayed in your site im sure the other photos in the book will looks very beautiful too. I feel the book will answer the question if the 17th century embroidery is complicated when compared to today’s embroidery. I love books and the fact that every book is invaluable and special in its own way really makes you want to win the book. Congrats to who ever is going to win this giveaway. Love you mary for such wonderful and valuable giveaways.
Dear Mary,
Last week members of the Washington DC Chapter of EGA joined with members of the Richmond VA chapter for a tour of Agecroft Hall. This Tudor manor house was reconstructed in Richmond in the 1920s using materials shipped from its original site in England, where it was completed in the late 16th century. It contains many wonderful 16th and 17th century artifacts, among which are some fine embroidered pieces from that era. Our members lingered long over the embroideries and spoke so knowledgeably about them that I realized how valuable our collective knowledge is. I would love to win the book to donate to our chapter library, so that our members could continue to expand their knowledge and appreciation of such historic textiles.
Sandra L, Washington DC
Historical embroidery both intrigues and fascinates me. Most of the different techniques I have learned have focused on the historical aspects of the particular technique. I would love this book both for the history and for the eye candy of the pieces showcased. I am forever amazed at the craftsmanship and precision of the pieces all completed without the aid of the electric light let alone aids and accessories such as OTT lights and Craftoptics!
I love all embroidery, but historic embroidery has always been a passion of mine. I’ve been taking the Cabinet of Curiosities class at Thistle Threads and have been lusting for this book for several years. It’s always been just beyond my price reach. I want to read about the techniques (even though I’ve learned SO MUCH in the CoC class!), but mostly to drool over the photos and have them to hold in my hands. The web is great, but it just isn’t the same as holding a book in your hands, for me. Thanks for this great opportunity, Mary!
I am new to embroidery, and am finding all the techniques and stitches a lot of fun and relaxing to do. This book looks like a wonderful book.
Oh, Mary! What a lovely give away! Needless to say, I love embroidery. But beyond that is my love of history and books. While researching my genealogy, I became engrossed in the 17th century and the numerous reasons my ancestors possibly had for taking the leap of faith and crossing the ocean into the unknown. I love the decorative in 17th century embroidery but when a life story is told in stitches…well, I’m hooked. The embroidery of the hanged-man is certainly one of those truly amazing stories!
I am wildly enthusiastic over all forms of needlework, and the historical aspects of it have a tremendous appeal. I subscribe to Piecework Magazine and relish learning how embroidery has intertwined itself historically throughout time. I possess the exquisite book In Praise of the Needlewoman and several of Weldon’s books and pamphlets. It thrills me to learn details about needleart that link me to past artists…like Catherine of Aragon and her blackwork; the heartrending stories of Ukranian women and their whitework; young girls working on samplers…my list is endless! This book would be a gem in my collection, and I would treasure it.
I’m in love with embroidery and learning techniques and seeing all that others have created. but i love to learn the history and read the stories of how and why and what. there’s so much to learn in actually reading the books that have beautiful, beautiful embroidery in them. As I grow and learn in my embroidery endeavors I’m enthralled with all the information that i can soak up
Thank you for a fabulous opportunity! This book looks amazing. It combines my love of history, reading and embroidery. What could be better? I would be honored to give it a great home!
Kris in northern Minnesota
Hello, I am not an avid fan of all textile techniques and construction more like a rabid fan. I am compelled to teach historic techniques to girls and women. I do not want these art forms to die. I find that teaching pushes me to learn and improve better then anything else. Currently I process wool from dirty fleece to beautiful yarn that I use to weave or knit. I also felt in a Norwegian style. I am trying more surface enhancements now and want to embroider a dress for a friend who plays baroque violin in Boston. I have studied the Bayreux hanging including hours of discription on audio books. I would like to spin the thread of silk to use in embroidery work and dye it using the dyes of the time so that the color ways are authentic. This book would be the cornerstone to my embroidery reference library and the information would be taught to others at two museums I volunteer at, Canterbury Shaker Village and the Poore Farm family Homestead museum both in New Hampshire. Thank you for considering me!!!! 🙂 hope Manseau, Canterbury NH
Hi – Thanks for the giveaway. How wonderful! I’m naturally a history enthusiast and also an embroidery enthusiast. So, a book like this satisfies both passions. I also like to look at old design for ideas for future designs of my own. Thanks again.
Judy
What a treasure – I have always been fascinated by the wonderful needlework of
so many, especially in other areas of our work. Thank you for offering this chance.
Arleen
This book has been on my wishlist for ages. I do historical reenactment and historical needlework has become a fascination. I’ve done some smaller pieces like coifs and cuffs from the late 16th century, and doing a Jacobean jacket is next on the agenda. The stumpwork caskets are so amazing as well. Thistle Threads class is on my bucket list, I’m just not sure I have the skills to do it justice– yet. I am a research junkie, so the text is probably what I’m most interested in, but I’m sure the pictures are more than droolworthy.
this would be for my daughter! she is a collector of books like this, is fascinated by historical embroidery, is trying out some of the techniques herself. if I won, I would give it to her because I know it would make her day!!
Elizabeth in Saskatoon
I got ahold of a copy through Inter-Library Loan and wow! As good as the pictures are, the descriptions are even better. This book provides a lot of good contextual information for the embroideries. I’ve been studying 17th c English embroidery and am impressed by the explosion of creative embroidery techniques that came into use at that time. I’d love to copy to keep both for the pictures and the text.
I would love to have this book in my collection. I am a research historian, and an active historical interpreter of the early 16th century and early 19th century. I use embroidery as examples of ladies work in both of these period. I also teach embroidery in my local area and at school education days (field trips).
I would read the book cover-to-cover and use to increase the accuracy of my needlework.
What a wonderful book. I am very interested in historical stitching and would so love to win this book.
I love anything that has to do with cross stitching and quilting. My dream is to incorporate the two,and make fun heirloom quilts. I want to learn about the history, to help me envision both the past and present. The more info that I can absorb in my overwhelmed brain, the better. I want to convey to the masses that cross stitching is certainly not a dead art but alive and “kickin”–it is fun, takes a lot of patience, and fulfills the heart with passion and when completed, a great feeling of success. Cross stitching calms the heart, the book is another vessel to teach you the past visions, but the saying “History repeats itself” is within the eye of the beholder!! Regards, Sandra from Point Pelee
I’m interested in this book because I’ve always had an interest in historical textiles. I’d love to spend time with it devouring the pictures and the text equally. I can never get enough of this sort of thing! I’m hoping I could use it to tie in the connections between needlearts and quilting. I’d be thrilled to be picked.
I am a bit of a history fan, my current by the loo book being on the Crusades, so while I would thoroughly enjoy petting the pretty pictures the thought of being able to learn more about the works being shown has to be the best part about the book. At least to me 😉
I love history and would love to read about the history of the pieces in this book! Of course, the gorgeous pictures don’t hurt, either. 🙂
What a fantastic giveway, Mary! I browsed through this book last year and was taken with its beautiful photos and illustrations. Sadly, it was out of my wallet range, so I didn’t purchase it. My interest lies in seeing how the art and craft of needlework has been used through the centuries to add beauty to people’s lives throughout the centuries – from the utilitarian to the extravagant, and the intermingling of both. Receiving this volume would certainly be a wonderful gift. Thank you for offering it.
I love to look at and read about old needlework. I usually find something I can try and sorry to say put my own spin on it. I know, I know – I should leave well enough alone but I just can’t.
I am working on a 17th Century casket project and am collecting as much reference material as possible to guide my design. This publication is one that has been on my list for ages! I am most interested in the photos, although I always find the text interesting as well. It would be a terrific addition to my “inspiration library” and I have my fingers and toes crossed that I will be the lucky winner! As always, Mary, thank you so much for engaging your readers in these fun contests!
I’ love historical embroidery and costume and will try to find some where ever I visit( and the man servant follows along with me!)
I would love to donate a copy of this book to our local embroiderers’ guild library(after I had read it!)
I am an embroidery enthusiast. I love photos. I love embroidery history and understanding the evolving nature of embroidery. So many ideas. I love the idea of living with embroidery decorating home.
Mary, I would love to win this book I am interested in the pictures and also the text. I am in the Cabinet Of Curiosities class. I am trying to learn as much as possible before I start my casket (cabinet). I am thinking that I would like to do stumpwork on mine. Love to win such a rare book.
I am an embroidery enthusiast in general and I love the picture on the cover of this book! I often wish I could have seen the work done in Victorian times.
My love of embroidery and its history started in childhood, when I would go to exhibitions in the UK with my mother.
The embroidery in this book is a feast for the eyes and I should love to own this beautiful volume.
Thank you, Mary, for another great give-away!
I love embroidery of all periods, the more rich and complex the better. I also love embroidery on actual surviving objects and clear, quality photographs are a good thing. This looks like a wonderful book with inspiration for future projects!
I would love to own this book. The pictures would be the most valuable to me, to be able to see such beautiful artistry and craftsmanship, the colors and materials used, would be delightful. It’s a challenge to us modern-day needle artists to raise our sights higher and employ more skill and patience to our craft.
Mary, this book has been on my wish list for a long time, of course I do my embroidery in mini scale for collector dollhouses, but I find a lot of inspiration in real life antique embroideries. I just love the stories and history that 17th Century embroidery tells us.
I generally like books both for the pictures and the printed information that gives us insight into the techniques used and the designs they used, I however do like embroidery from Tudor to Victorian times.
If ever I wanted to win a give away this is the one, especially as I am busy stitching the design of the casket on the book cover on 90 count silk gauze for my miniature casket in petit point with a few French knots for detail like hair and cuffs.
When my husband and I were much younger, we spent a school-year in England. This was before I became passionate about stitchery…and I was learning about counted thread, cut-work, crewel and other types of hand embroidery. I was completely oblivious to the fact that we lived very close to the Royal School of Embroidery in London. But during the time we were in England, we learned a lot about the rich history of the country, mainly from visiting museums. We also worshiped at their Anglican churches and discovered and learned about the monumental brasses in the churches. That began a wonderful journey of brass rubbing. We were able to visit many rural churches and make rubbings of these brass plates. We made over fifty rubbings and to this day these rubbings are treasures to us. I often use them to learn about clerical vestments that were shown on the rubbings we made. So this beautiful book would serve to expand my knowledge of history of England….the country we learned to love. Thanks for offering a chance to win this amazing treasure!
The seventeenth century (and those prior) is of special interest to me because of the creativity and ingenuity of artists who learned to use whatever materials were available or invent new ones, all before industrialization and technology. I’m interested in the different projects created by women of different classes, and it’s wonderful how all of them chose to set aside time to indulge in their passion for needlework. I’m always fascinated with how art, and especially the needle arts, reflected class, society, religion and how people always strived to add beauty as well as function to their environments. Without access to the internet, t.v., libraries or other sources of visual inspiration, people (and women especially) were able to imagine and bring forth the most exquisite designs, embellishing their clothing and furniture and leaving traces of their personalities in their world. The fact that these treasures have been saved and documented is amazing. They give us a real window on the history of the period. When I was a child (before I could read) I would spend hours sitting on the library floor and looking at the picture books, and my favorites were fairy tales with their amazing, outrageous castles and I would stare at the tapestries, not knowing how they were invented but awed nonetheless. This has not changed! I can sit for hours gazing at one book on antique textiles. I would very much treasure this book, study it and use it as an inspiration to make do with what little I might have on hand. And if I couldn’t “do” it, I could still enjoy it through the book. Thank you for the opportunity of entering the drawing.
(All of the comments on here are so amazing. It’s delightful just to read about everyone’s passion for needlework and wonderful to know that there are still ladies everywhere who share this interest. To have seen or studied at the Royal School of Needlework! I salute all of you, I wish there was a book for everyone, and I am so happy for whoever will win because obviously this beautiful book will be cherished.)
Over the past year I have become more interested in historical embroidery. Caskets tell stories and I enjoy finding out the story behind a piece art. I will be taking a class this Fall 2013 through Thistle-Threads and this would make the perfect companion book.
How fun! I have always been fasinated by English history(even with a full Swedish heriatge).I have a friend who would like me to search out ideas for church panels etc. What better source than this. Thanks for such a fun give-away.
grayce
Thanks to Mary and Joady for offering such a great give-away!
I have been interested in this book ever since I saw the review on this website. It looks absolutely beautiful. I am interested in embroidery in general and historical embroidery in particular, and my desire for the book has to do with seeing the pictures inside AND reading about the items.
Don’t know much about the history of embroidery and that book looks like as good a spot as any to start!
I just love looking at the photos of the work and I love to read about the history. What a wonderful book to have a chance to own. Thanks to everyone for the wonderful giv-a-way.
I enjoy embroidery of all kinds, having learned it from my mother. As an amateur history buff, this naturally led to learning how embroidery came to be and its evolution through the centuries. I don’t know very much about the 17th century, so I would enjoy this book–both the text and the pictures–to learn more about it. I am intrigued by the cover picture of the embroidered box–how cunning! It’s amazing what women (and men) through the centuries have been able to accomplish with thread, nature’s materials for dyeing, and a needle and cloth. I’m sure this book would be an inspiration to me. Please enter me to win! Thank you for hosting this generous giveaway, and for your blog in general. I am learning so much!
I am very interested in this book for multiple reasons. I am a history buff in general to start with, I love to see the wonderful designs that those before us came up with. I belong to multiple historical needlework groups where we share that interest with each other. Another reason I really am interested in this book is because I am taking the Thistle Threads casket class. I am still looking at designs for my needlework casket and possibly a mirror surround as well. Maybe some of the photos will help me find elements to add to my seasonal garden theme for it.
Playing Bess of Hardwick at Ren Faires has also given me a great respect for the complexity and beauty of stumpwork which is frequently featured on caskets and other items done in the 17th century even though it is past the time period that I portray. The artistry that goes into creating the tiny little fingers on people and delicate petals on flowers is something to be admired.
I’ve been an embroidery enthusiast since I was a little girl and my mother first introduced me to the craft. I became interested in needlework history after she died and I began reading some of the books she had collected. When I got married that interest grew because my husband was a major history nut. We have become involved in historical re-enactments (mostly 17th & 18h century) and my research of embroidery of that era has intensified.
My interest in needlework/embroidery history isn’t just one of hobby but is also one of perpetuating the craft in the hopes that it will never die out. The biggest thrill I get when doing embroidery, quilting, etc. is the feeling that I am doing it alongside my forebears. I don’t want to do it a new way or an “easy and modern” way but the way they did and in the spirit of that era of history.
I love needlework in general, and other to say that I don’t care to do cross stitch (but love the results), I haven’t found my calling yet. I’d love this book for the photos, and to read about the items. And to read about the history of the times when they were done, I’m guessing that the embroidery with the hanged man was a comment about the royalty and politics at the time. As with eclesiastical needlework, so many messages hidden in the stitches!
Interested in all things embroidery… this book has been on my list for far too long now… a friend offered to give me her copy but am still waiting… would love to ‘win’ this esp. after the stressful times we’ve had recently; would be nice to have some good luck! This period of time incorporates so many techniques that are intriguing… having examples compiled into a book would be a treat.
Hi Mary,
I am facinated with 17th century embroidery and needlework caskets. I have collected over 150 pictures of caskets from the internet. I also purchased several out of print books on making fabric boxes. I know making a needlework casket will be a huge undertaking, but I keep telling myself, if an 11 or 12 year old girl can do it, so can I! This book would provide so many inspirational pictures for my own design. Thank you for the opportunity to win one.
I am a embroidery history buff and 17th century embroidery has a charm that fascinates me. I love — the way perspective has no relativity to actual size, people as tall as castles, birds half the size of people, the diversity of texture in raised work, the stylized flowers, the way flat worked silk on satin has a glow about it. I love goldwork on book covers, caskets, mirrors and in dress.
This is just the kind of embroidery history book I like to keep on my nightstand. One with wonderful pictures to inspire me, and a bit of reading. At the end of the day I want to read something just for me, my interests, something to fall asleep with that feeds my passion and makes me think about my own embroidery.
I absolutely love 17th Century Embroidery. The designs are usually quite detailed and the way in which they were used is always interesting to me. I’m especially fond of designs used on caskets. There is so much to be learned from the past work of others. It never goes out of style IMO.
I would love to have this book in my collection and hope you pick me.
Karen in Canada
Hello Mary,
I am writing you from the Netherlands and I love your site.
And the book is so wonderful it is a real treasure and I love to have this book.
Thank you and Hedgehog for the opportunity and my fingers are crossed,Mabel
What a beautiful book…what a fantastic addition this would be for any embroidery enthusiast.
I will be brief…this book is INCREDIBLE. Would I like to have it? Oh YES! Maybe I will be lucky this time.
I love embroidery and I love history, so this book would be wonderful to look at and read. I would first enjoy all the beautiful photographs and then I would read. I just wish I had more time to do embroidery.
I would truly love to own this book. I have seen that cover picture in a needlework class that I took at Greenfield Village in Michigan. The lady that taught the class was a textile conservator with the Museum and has documented a silk embroidery kit from the oldest sampler at the Plymouth Plantation.
I collect old and new embroidery books and do 18th century re-enacting. This would truly be a gem for my collection.
Can’t tell you how you have inspired me. I hadn’t embroidered in 30 yrs and now I am so enjoying it. Thank you a million times over!!!! Big Hugs”
I’d love to learn more about the history of needlework and the pictures look amazing. What a fascinating peek into the art!
Our branch of the Embroiderers’ Guild currently has a major projectwhich started as Jacobean embroidery, but has now been expanded to cover the whole of C17. I am sure our members would love to peruse this book!
I am 62 years old and have studied art and history, and have a personal and renewed passion for embroidery. This book has all of my passions rolled into one amazing volume and has my embroiderers’ juices flowing! I have two sons so embroidery didn’t tend to pass along my direct family, but now I have two granddaughters who are 5 years and 18 months old. My eldest granddaughter is keen on my teaching her the “sewing ” pieces I have shown her and she is also interested in how people lived a long time ago. This book would be a terrific heirloom to pass onto my granddaughters too.
As the founder of Paraclete Designs, my mission is the preservation of the art of hand made needlework to the next generation through personal expression and custom design. At present, I am working on the beginning stages to being an accomplished certified needlework appraiser. I have a true passion for needle art and want it preserved for the future. In this techno age, I believe that hands-on is still the way to go and the only way to go in the needlework we so treasure and create with our hands. There is such education and peace as well in the flow of needle, thread, fabric and mind together. I currently teach several classes to young people in different phases of their lives (smaller aged children through orphanage donation work and support in school art programs with donations; teen girls in a recovery program; a group of women working through abusive situations looking for a relief of stress and anxiety). I am also working on designing, but this education realm seems to be going to the fore front over and over. I know the designs will come as they are penciled, they are in my head, but the passion for educating myself further and teaching others is so “right there – right now” that is taking first spot. My true desire is to have this book for my reference library that I am building slowly but surely as I further educate myself in reading and getting my hands on everything I can to study. I love books! I love needles and threads and fabrics! My studio is full of them all and there is still room for one more book!!! (or three or ten…) Its all good and I would so love to be the winner of this cherished piece of history and work. I believe it will aide greatly in my education as well as my teaching of this beautiful art form to others. I do so hope I win!!!
I’m a total historical costume junkie, I would love this book to help document the myriad of embroidery projects I want to do someday. I’ve already dipped my feet in the water with making an embroidered coif a few years ago, and now I’m considering my next project as possibly a set of late 16th century/early 17th century embroidered gloves. This book would be a huge help!
Whilst my passion is embroidery, with silk threads and gold work, far from being accomplished, I try everything and have bought some books on the history of embroidery, which are amazing and to think that they did this magnificent work without the tools we have to work with today. The work done is only something to dream about. I try to do things that will hopefully last as long as some of the treasures that I would love to see, even if it is only in a book. I don’t have this book but if I did it would be another to add to the pile by my bed that I read and pour over every night before sleep takes me. Thank you Mary for the opportunity and your wonderful site and lessons. I have become addicted to your stitching.
This books is a trifecta of nice things. It’s a book, it contains pictures of beautiful embroidery, it has a box on the cover. Perfect!
History of Textiles is a love of mine. I go to every museum that I can that has a textile collection and am on several website about history of textiles. I am finishing working on Gay Ann Rogers Elizabeth I and included reading several books about her. Currently I am working on a Thistle Threads cabinet. It is another learning experience. I would love to have this book for the pictures and content.
OMG! I went to this exhibit when in NYC. The detail of the surviving work and the variety of techniques was overwhelming. Made me wish one could time travel (and be rich enough) back to that period and experience it all in person.
I am always interested in pictures of needlework past and present. I use these pictures as motivation and inspiration to get my creative juices flowing and to drive me back to projects that would otherwise end up in my UFO pile.
Philly Mary
I have been an embroidery enthusiast since my mother taught me the basics as a child (about 25 years, but whose counting?). Recently I had some time off work and became bored with the same old patterns I find in craft stores. I discovered your website and realized just what I had been missing! I am eager to see and study the entire book and would be delighted to own it! I have a tough time reading online, so having a tangible copy I can refer back to over and over would be priceless. I think this book would help me take my own art to the next level.
What a beautiful book! I have not previously had much interest in historical needlework, but owning a book like that could change me. I would like my (5) daughters to have a chance to see what is possible to one skilled in plying a needle.
I took a train from here to the Bard Gallery in NYC to go see this exhibit. I went to that exhibit 3 times. The first time I went I took a train to NYC by myself. I spent the day. The train went into Penn Station (34th St). The Bard Gallery is in W 82nd (?) St. It was my first time in NYC,, alone and excited to explore without anyone else’s agenda to get in my way. I went first to the Bard Galley to see this exhibit. I walked. 50 blocks, Times Square, Broadway and Central Park were all on the way to stunning embroidery. How much better could a day get?? I spent hours at the exhibit, and on way out bought the book (it must weigh 30 pounds). It was still early before my return train home and The Met Museum of Art is “just” straight across Central Park from the Bard Gallery, so I went there. I spent more time in the book shop and bought another 20-25 pounds of books. Then it was time to walk back to Penn Station (about 50 blocks back down….) now carrying about 50-60 pounds of books in a messenger bag. By the time I got back to the station I was dragging, my feet and knees hurt and could hardly walk another step. A year and half after that I moved. This book got lost in the move. I used that book for a lot of research. I would LOVE LOVE to replace it. Any book that you drag all over NYC on a walking tour was meant to be in your life, not lost.
I’d love to see photos of the 17th century embroidered items, and read about the era.
I would describe myself as a general embroidery enthusiast with leanings towards specialising in stumpwork and raised work, thus the interest in this period. I’m interested in both text and photos and in learning more about the trends in stitchery over the centuries as well as more specifically about this period. Maybe I’ll get to do a City & Guilds stumpwork certificate one day and some background, historical info wouldn’t come amiss.=)
Hi Mary and Joady,
What a wonderful give-a way!
While I am not specifically a “17th-Century-Embroidery Enthusiast,” I am slightly more than a Textile History Buff. With a background in Costume/Fashion Design, and working as a volunteer at a Monastery, studying their collection of embroidered pieces, it becomes important to continue to study the entire realm of embroidery as it developed in its historical context. Looking at the photos of pieces from the past, and reading about techniques, the era and the history of the items becomes essential, so as to have a base to recognize elements of stitching, or to date a piece. Familiarity of techniques from the past can assist with the design of new pieces as well. The 17th Century was a very rich and opulent era in history of costume and design embellished with embroidery. The book would be a wonderful resource to further my study.
I’m interested in all kind of embroidery techniques and in history too, because I like to know when and where and maybe why a technique was born, and to search for similarity between different types of embroidery. It it fascinating to see how a technique traveled across different countries, for example, gaining specific features depending on the different people who made it.
For this reason, I collect how-to books as well as historic books.
This one would be a great addition to my library!
I love to read about needlework and this book would be a great addition to my library. I feel books are very important and I will share it with my stitching group so others may enjoy it
I really love reading and learning about history. And I love embroidery of all types. I find it fascinating that it is so beautiful and so different at different time periods. I’m sure this is an incredible book to read and also to look at.
I am so excited that you chose this book for the giveaway. I have wanted it for years, but alas the prices were so high. I am absolutely passionate about all types of 17th and 18th century embroidery, so it would be very hard to narrow it down to my favorite. However, I have wanted to make a stumpwork casket for my favorite jewelry for some time now. This book would serve as tremendous inspiration for the stumpwork as well as providing scholarly history about all 17th century textiles and needle arts.
Thanks again to you and Hedgehog Handworks for this great giveaway. Love your website!
Oh my goodness! What a dizzying prospect! Seriously, I am practically hyperventilating here.
I definitely fall into the Textile History Buff category–“Women’s Work: the First 20,000 Years” and “The Age of Homespun” are two of the books on my deserted island list. I would read every bit of the text and pore over the pictures, and probably try to reproduce some of the techniques. Maybe in petit point…so, yes to all of those questions. I want to learn about the embroidery and the things they used, and see the pictures, and everything. 🙂
I am an ardent student of historical embroidery. I am currently enrolled in the Cabinet of curiosities Course. This book would be a lovely addition to Cabinet Texts.
Wow! What an amazing book and what a generous give-away. I am an embroidery enthusiast in general and a history buff in general, and when the two come together I’m in heaven! That’s what makes me desire the book! I’m interested in both pictures and print – pictures are a great source of inspiration for future work, and the history side is also absolutely fascinating. Perhaps I don’t deserve to win though as I’m based in the UK and get the chance to see pieces of 17th century embroidery in museums not too infrequently. (Would still love the book though! 😉 )
Good morning!! First, because I feel positive today, and senconly, because I like embroidery history, I hope I will win this time!!
For me 17th-Century-Embroidery is probably the key time that that help to develop embroidery to perfection. People at that time did not have as many tools and materials we do have nowadays. For me 17th-Century-Embroidery is a reference time. As a retiree and a history lover I think this book will give me a lot of enjoyment. Thank you Mary for all this wonderful thing you make possible for us.
I am most interested in the history and pictures this book has to offer.I want to learn all I can about needlework and it all starts with the past.
This would be an incredible addition to my book collection.
I have a great desire to own this book as I am very interested in 17th Century embroider. To have it would be a great opporunity to study the designs and techniques used in executing and producing these beautiful pieces. I hope to try embroidering some of the designs with the idea of putting them on a box such as the caskets that were made then. Jean F in PA
I would love to have this book to peruse through carefully and slowly. Savoring the text and pictures, being in wonder of the craftsmanship. It would be inspiring to me with my own embroidery projects, and I know other family members would enjoy looking through it also.
Maureen L. S.
I am enthralled with the visual pictures and the history. It is so fascinating to see how embroidery was an intrinsic part of their life. And it was all by hand!!!! Not the machine stuff we have today. Each embroidered piece was a special treasure. I am in awe of the artistry, details, everything. This is also the reason I love your website. I appreciate the fact that you are keeping this artform alive. Thanks!
When I was involved in spinning and weaving I worked with a group of reenactors who studied the clothing and fibers used during the 1800’s. Add in the fact that I am a genealogist who has traced my family back to the early 1600’s, and this book would be just the thing I need to continue my studies. Pictures are great but the printed word makes it so much easy to understand.
We live in a very small town and I must depend on books to learn about all the crafts I’m interested in. That is part of the reason I enjoy your e-mails so much.
Thank you,
Nelda Wagner
Oh, my goodness, this looks like a wonderful book! I have so many similar titles on my Amazon wishlist — all of them too expensive to justify at the moment. I love reading about antique needlework and examining the photos. I find many of the motifs and uses to be inspirational for my own needlework. Although it is hard to tell from the book synopsis whether women are emphasized, I also like reading about women’s achievements in times when they were considered second-class citizens. I love the thought of creativity and resourcefulness being rewarded by the judges of time.
The book sounds stunning. I would enjoy both the history and the photos of the 17th century portrayed in this beautiful book. I am aware of the painstaking detail that was put into fabric art that was created during the 17 century. The detail,material, and design all compose the elements of beauty. The history explains the story of it’s coexistence. I would be honored to be chosen to win this book.
Hi mary,
Well for me it is pretty simple. I am new to this wonderful new hobby and I am in the learning phase of a new art form which for me means devouring everything I can about it. Thankfully I found your site which has helped me tremendously in this endeavor. I am particularly interested in embroidered textiles so I would be very interested to learn more about them in a historical context. Thank you Mary for sharing your passion and expertise. k
I am an embroidery fan and while I’m no buff I would certainly consider myself an ardent student of historical textiles. I love to learn about the practical as well as aesthetic uses textiles had in the past and in so doing, learn more about the people who produced them and used them.
This book looks beautiful and fascinating! Thank you for hosting this give-away.
I love reading about historical embroidery. Surface embroidery is the only kind I do. I get some good ideas/inspiration from my history books.
Elaine in New Mexico
Wow! English embroidery has facinated me for years but never had the opportunity to study or learn about it. How I would love to have this book to learn more about it. I use embroidery in every quilt that I make but never anything from England. Rural gals do not get much exposure to this medium. I hope that I can be the winner in this give away. Thanks for exposinig us to embroidery around the world..And thanks to Hedgehog for sharing. Being a genealogy buff, lecturer, and teacher I wish I had thiis book to further my family history studies from England. Thank you again for all that you give of yourself.
The history of textile art is so intriguing. I enjoy the study of textile art and seeing the work being written about. I find the writings about the class of people working the embroidery and who the works were being made for interesting. The gold work for the wealthy or the church is beautiful. The tapestries so huge in a room and worked by a team of people are incredible. This book would be quite an addition to any textile student. Thank You for the opportunity.
I am an embroidery enthusiast all over,but this time period is really remarkable.Just think about that the embroiderers of this period did not have our high tech embroidery lamps,they stitched with the shine of a candle.No magnifier lamps and such.Mostly the rooms were cold,our rooms are warm and comfy.Then all the threads were handdyed and so,so colorful.Thinking about all that ,these embroiderers were the most talented artists.
I desire this book because I want to read and see all about historic embroidery and this book seems to be a wonderful resource of great old work.Spending hours and hours with it reading and just looking at the photos would be a real dream for me.So I am eager to see and read.
My very first stumpwork piece I saw in the internet was a casket from about 1660.I never saw something like that before and so I looked all over and found more and more about historical embroideries.When I was a child I loved to visit a small castle not far from our home.It has a small room with embroidered dresses and wallhangings and this room was always my favorite,the dresses were so small and the embroideries so gorgeous,that I was addicted to embroidery ever since.
It is incredibly generous of Hedgehog Handwerks
to donate this beautiful book for the lucky winner of the give-away. This is the kind of
book to savor slowly, over and over again;
looking at the photos with a magnifying glass
to try and imagine what sort of person stitched
with such precision and detail. What a treasure to own!
Pat from Lebanon
Great giveaway thankd
I am not specifically a 17th century embroidery enthusiast. What makes me desire this book is that it does have both pictures and print. I enjoy reading about an era, looking at the pieces and imagining what life was like for the people who created them. I think about what was going on in the world when they were working on the items and whether embroidery was an economic necessity or an escape or artistic endeavor. Many of the techniques are the same. How many things are the same as they were hundreds of years ago?! And especially thinking about women, how were their desires the same as mine? I don’t want to go to work; I want to stay home and sew.
I have always had an interest in embroidery and in fact taught and designed counted thread work for several years. I have always been fascinated by the Tudor/Elizabethan eras and have several books on the subject, some of them older and rare. I just find that period to be very relevant in terms of technique and design. There was such demand for embroidery in household decoration and clothing embellishment and most of the items still in existence speak to the mastery of the craft. I would love to win this book, it would be a wonderful addition to my library.
I would love to win this book because I love embroidery, all kinds. I am a Jane Austen buff and because I love that time period, I am sure this book would be a treasure to cherish.
Hope I am the lucky winner!
Mary,
Thank you to you and Hedgehog Handiworks for this beautiful book. I am a textile history buff as well as a student of historical family and religious life with a heart for hand made craft items including embroidery, quilting and laces. I often purchase these items as gifts and occasionally make ecclesiastical garments. My other reason for desiring this book is that my father’s family emigrated from Lincolnshire, England and my foremothers would have likely created embroidery items during this era. It is always interesting to share the historical significance of stitched items in class while teaching, and studying embroidery work or other historical sewing techniques allows me to add that to my teaching. And even if all I do is daydream about what it would have been like to live in that time when all we had was a needle and thread and no modern machinery, it would be an enjoyable book to have on my library shelves.
Wow!!! I started learning embroidery because of a love of history, antiques and art–I feel that needlework of the kind that is represented in the book is being slowly lost. I was recently inspired by the textiles of the Pre-Raphaelites (on display at the Smithsonian), and while this book represents an earlier historical period, the ideas would be such an inspiration as I work on new techniques and ideas for patterns!
How could you not want a copy of this book! I am mesmerized by the pictures and amazed at the skill of these embroiderers. I am drawn to their use of color and the scenes they depict. This book sounds like a fantastic way to learn about 17th century embroidery. Thanks Mary and Hedgehog Handworks for another terrific giveaway.
Thank you so much for this oppportunty Mary. I am a history buff & my passion is embroidery. The two make wonderful twins in my world so I would really love to have this book!!! Thx to Joady at Hedgehog for this generous gift also.
Missy Palmer
I graduated (many years ago) in fashion design and spent much time on historic fashion. I’ve always loved history (and was a history major at one time). Personally I always find myself drawn back to ‘the olden days’, I learned to tat, I hand applique.
In the fast paced world I live in I find a balance in going back and savouring the beauties of the past. I find that textiles seem to be my link
Why would I like this book, why not, To actually be able to sit and study the gorgeous needle work and be able at the same time to follow the history of the period is amazing. I have done a small amount of stumpwork and have always been fascinated with the shading and stitch techniques used by these women. I feel so connected to the past stitchers. Thank you for the chance to win this book even that has me smiling and dreaming.
Geri
Hi there, I’m not particularly a 17 th century embroidery enthusiast, but I have studied 17 th century art and architecture. It’s a period I find fascinating. I would consider myself an ecclesiastical embroidery enthusiast and I would love to win this fabulous book because it’s inspirational for the embroidery I do. Often I go online to are examples of historical embroidery to get ideas and to try to figure out how a certain piece was embroidered. I’m definitely interested in the photos because it is like training and educating the eye. Thank you so much for this give away!
Candice from Barcelona
Oh Mary! This is the Big Fish! I am focused on 17th c. needlework and stumpwork as the culmination of a lifetime of embroidery practice. These techniques are the Holy Grail of embroiderers and this would be a treasured addition to my library of needlework books if I am so lucky to be the winner. Here’s to hope and here’s to you and Hedgehog Handworks!
“Twixt Art and Nature” came to my attention when researching for a Jacobean embroidery project. For a researcher, the book was amazing for its detailed listings of materials and techniques used for the items. As a stitcher, I could see myself painstakingly trying to reproduce a few beautifully intricate pieces. One of my future stitching projects will be a small stumpwork casket and what a great resource this would be.
what a wonderful book, I love to read about the history of needlework, and about how important it was in the lives of women and men who did not have access to all of the things we have now..historically the works that were produced are so amazing and beautiful that it makes me happy to know that I can do just a little of what they did..I love the reading and the pictures..thanks for the give away.
My interest in this gorgeous book on 17th century stems from the first time I saw it featured in your selection of recommended books. I can truthfully say I long to have this book, both to study the amazing embroideries and to learn more -about the lives of the embroiderers and their families.
My interest in the book mirrors two hobbies that have fascinated me since I was a girl-embroidery and history. I am always eager to learn more about the folkways of the past and it is especially hard to learn about artisans, particularly women. I can find only slight glimpses, such as when I read somewhere that Charlemagne requested cloth embroidered “in the English manner”. I like to think of all those anonymous embroiderers as kin to those of us who want to make beautiful embroidered works today. The religious themes and the classical mythological references all intrigue me: I want to learn, in addition to the “how” of the embroideries’ makers, as in “how did they do that?”, the “who” created these beautiful scenes, “why” did they choose the images they embroidered, and “what” did their creations say to their contemporaries, and, as all true art manages to do, “what” do the artists say to our hearts today.
The Seventeenth Century was a period of great upheaval and change in several directions in English life, beginning with end of Elizabeth I’s reign, continuing through those of James I, Charles I, Cromwell and the followers of the Reformation, and then the return to the monarchy. Each of those rulers exerted some influence over fashion, art and therefore embroidery. I’d like to study this book to see those transformations expressed in needlework. For example, did the Reformers create such a new standard in English society that needlework changed immediately to reflect that? Did the artists and housewives rush to their stashes of lavish fabric and threads the minute the Revolution was overthrown? Or relatively the same minute 8-)? One of my favorite areas of study is the sociology of religion and its impact on the lives of individuals.
My background of study is English Literature, History, and Theatre-Costume Design. I love working with textiles and developed a strong interest in the embroidery work. Studying the history behind 17th century textiles, fashion, needlework, and social norms has always been a key factor in my work as a Costume Designer. I’ve learned about stump work embroidery, caskets (how and why they were made), the imagery and the stitches. All are fascinating and beautiful. I discovered that YouTube has a video about the “Twixt Art and Nature” exhibit which shares some of the details. Having this book would be an awesome opportunity to experience this historical needlework and, hopefully, someday I will be able to go to the V&A to see the pieces in person. Thanks for sharing this with us, Mary!
I’m not in to any particular time period of embroidery, but I do love to look at it in various forms. While it is still spectacular in it’s faded state, I like to imagine it when it was fresh and new. I like to see the way the stitchers use different stitches for fillers and outlines that I wouldn’t have thought of using! I also like it when you deconstruct pieces, it’s so enlightening!
Dear Mary,
Thank you for ALL the opportunities you offer to promote needlework.
This is the one I had to enter. I take groups to Europe and the museums of America to study embroideries. This would help me expand my knowledge….to share in my adventures. Still Stitching, Susan
I’m a novice. I found your site a few weeks ago and have been here every day since finding something new. I can’t begin to thank you for all the hints and tips I’ve gotten from this site. I don’t expect to win the book, others deserve it much more than I do. I am just in awe, slack-jawed when I look at the detail and the vibrant colors of the thread. Just the curls in one of the men’s hair is beyond my comprehension. Thanks for all the help and ideas you have given me!!
Hi Mary. My knowledge about any embroidery is very limited but I do love learning! The history of needle work fascinates me & it would be a pleasure to read about & to see the beautiful works done in the 17th Century. What a wonderful give-a-way!
Cheers,
Linda A
Ontario, Canada
I began a love affair with textiles as a child. That love merged with my love of history. I teach history and use all mediums of art to enhance lectures. I began adding Medieval and Renaissance costumes to my lessons. Every time I add another form of textile I bring reality to the classroom.
I believe this book would add both to my passion and my teaching. I promise the book will be used and love.
It would be great to win this book. What interests me is the colors used, the concepts and the layouts. Who were the people involved in finding this information and where the information came from. History and the History of Color always intrigues me.
Thank you for all you do to enlighten your fellow embroiderers. Lots of fun on your website.
Sincerely, Lorraine
I have been hooked on doing the houses sewing boxes from a previous emial I have made three. Two of them from my own designs. I love the look of the cover of this book and would be very excited to see what other usefull items were hand stitched. I am most interested in the pictures and the stories bout the items. I am considering designing a fire screen next. I plan on using the heat resistant fabric for the back. This book looks like insparation that can be found no where else. I love looking at older books because they take my imagination in entirely new directions. I would love to take it to my crazy quilt friends in my bee to enjoy. what an oppertunity thanks for the chance for this lovely book.
I have always been interested in History. I have in fact many books on different aspects from eating, clothing and writing.
I would love to add this wonderful book to my collection.
My heart is standing still!!! What a feast for the eyes and mind. I missed the exhibit at the Met and “Twixt Art and Nature” would soothe that missed opportunity. The 17th century was the time of great Jacobean crewel masterpieces and this scholarly work with pictures and text will certainly be an inspiration for my first love,crewel, in designing and completing a four sided wood casket that sits forlorn on my table,unadorned!Historical embroidery and implements have always intrigued me. How did these early embroiderers mange to embroider with such expertise
with out our gadgets, lights and magnification?…and the crewel designs and awesome scale of these pieces take your breath away.I would be so happy to “adopt” this wonderful “give away “and smother this text with love!!!
Carolyn,Freehold,NJ
Mary, I’m sure this book is really wonderful and I would love to have it. My embroidery is simple and workmanlike, but my dreams of embroidery are really complex. Being an artist, at my core, I always want to know what the most beautiful is, in every genre, so that is why I would love to have the book you’re offering. You have been such an inspiration to me, truly. Thanks for offering this spectacular prize.
Years ago when I ventured into the mechanics of embroidery I read a piece on the frugality of the Colonial women when they embroidered (it might have been an Erika Wilson book) – each inch of thread was treasured because the dyes and thread were imported. This has remained in my thought as I whip through sewing projects and needle work. Knowing the resources are relatively easy to obtain today but keeping in mind this was not always true AND the artistry of that simpler time was inspired by limited resources.
So in this context I am eager to see photos of the 17th century embroidered items and read about the era and the items.
Mary,
Oh, what a glorious giveaway. Embrodiery fascinates me. For years I did cross stitch. Now, I am finding the world of embrodiery. I subscribe to your newsletter and see your beautiful work. I find pictures to be worth volumes and volumes. I can spend hours looking at pictures. Pictures open up a worlds which I do not have an opportunity to visit. Thanks for the chance to enter.
I’ve always been a history geek, and that colors everything else I love, especially embroidery. Both the photos and texts in big lush books like this would be a delight and fuel for my imagination as I transport myself into the past. Embroidery is such a very old art that even when I’m using modern tools, materials, and designs I can feel the connection to the generations of needleworkers who came before me.
How generous of you and of Hedgehog Handworks. I can see from your review that this is a beautiful work. I have long had an interest in the late middle ages, and especially in women’s daily lives. I own a number of books about the period. How lovely it would be to learn more through studying the embroidery of the times in this amazing book. Thank you for offering this giveaway.
I love books like this. I love looking at the pictures and seeing what they did hundreds of years ago and what is still similar to today. I love getting ideas from the work done and learning the histories of them. Older embroideries are so interesting, who wouldn’t want this book?
I am so very busy with work and family that it is a rare moment that I can sit down and stitch in. Books, such as this, enable me to indulge my love of needlework . I can have my morning coffe and look at the pictures, study the techniques, and imagine the life of the woman who created the piece. It would be a wonderful indulgence to have a copy. Thank you for the opportunity to win it. Kind regards and happy stitching!
I am an embroidery enthusiast — not limited to the 17th century — but I do so love the older works and methods. I use designs from long, long ago in crafting my own pieces. Looks like a fantastic book. Thanks again Mary,
Shelia in Oklahoma
I simply love needlework of any and all types.Your web site brings oh so many insights on the craft.I have tried many techniques over the years and will continue to try winning one of your many generous offers.thank you Mary for tempting us all to try something new each day.Judy(on the lake).
I have several very nice books from the Metropolitan Museum of Art (the latest I purchased is “Byzantium: Faith and Power”), and their books are always impeccably photographed, a veritable feast for the eyes. I have no doubt that this book will be just as grand, with the added bonus of being on embroidery! I am a history buff in general, but any history on embroidered textiles from eras other than our own intrigue me–from how they dyed the threads, to the workspaces, to the communal aspect of creating a work of art, whether to adorn a casket (now that’s a labor of love!) or to wear on the hem of a sleeve. It’s the detail I love. I have no doubt this will be a sumptuous journey of embroidery in pictures and print. Thanks, Mary, for turning us on to another beautiful tome.
This is hands down the best book you’ve ever given away. I’ve studied box making/bookbinding for the last 7 years and needlework for the last 35+ years. I’ve checked out this book at the library, considered keeping it, returned it, rued returning it – you get the idea. Whoever is lucky enough to get it – make sure you enjoy it as much as I would!!!
I wanted this book so badly when it first came out and couldn’t afford it – now I definitely can’t afford it!! I’m fascinated by the process of encapsulating life into an heirloom embroidery (it wasn’t history at the time!)and the use of stumpwork to bring subjects to 3D life. Also, if I’m going to research and create an embroidery taking months or even years it will have to be an heirloom at the very least!
Keeping all my fingers and toes crossed….
I would love to read about 17th century embroidery. I love anything that has to do with history, so this would be perfect history (which I love) and embroidery (which I love). What could be better. Plus the beautiful pictures.
If I could explain what draw me to embroidery, old lace, textiles and textures of old, it would not be a mystery anymore. From the age of four when I discovered fabric, I had no self control. To touch it, turn it over, feel the texture. Sliding my fingers over a skein of silk, ribbon and linen embroidered with flowers. The world opened up when I started to read, discovering a new world unfolding before my eyes. I read all the encyclopedia’s I could lay my hands on, then how things was put together, trying various experiments to see what I could do with everything in my world. I am self taught in all the needle arts that I do today. My love for books grows stronger as the years go by. As for the pictures, they can tell a whole story, in a blink. When others devour novels, I am reading non fiction. The local library is a haven. Before buying a book, I get to read it, try it out, then I know if I want to add it to my other treasures. The fun part is I can then try out the techniques in my own time. Discovering the antique pattern library a couple of years ago, was the opening of Pandora’s Box. 1066 is how far I have read back as far as embroidery history go. I would love to have this amazing book, to read from cover to cover. Studying the photograhps in detail, discovering little gems along the way.
Thank you for this amazing give-away, to dream about and to live in the hope of winning a copy…
Hi Mary,
I enjoy learning about the historical aspects of different types of needlework. This book excites me with both the photos and the text, providing lots of information about the types of embroidery that were popular in the 17th century, both the styles and the stitch types. By studying historical needlework and trying my hand at it, and then sharing what I learn (I’m a member of my local EGA chapter), I feel that I am part of a continuum of generations of needleworkers, each learning from the past and then exploring new directions of embroidery. I enjoy feeling that I am doing my bit to carry along the skills and knowlege of historical techniques and styles to future generations of stitchers.
I will soon be taking a stumpwork class with Jane Nicholas, and I’d love to combine the skills I learn from her with the inspiration I would receive from this book. Thank you for letting all of us, your readers, know about it!
I have always loved pictures of every piece of embroidery. But as I learn and experiment more and more, I feel the need to read more and more. This book looks beautiful and would give me a lot of pleasure for a very long time!
Marjolein van Vessem, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
WOW!!!! What a wonderful book. I’ve visited the museum once + marveled at the textiles on display.
Personally, I’ve been stitching a sampler on/off for many years with 17th c motifs. I had taken a course thru EGA and learned a great deal about the variety of skills needed for samplermakers in that era.
Some photos are on my blog (tho, have not been real active on blog lately) http://leliaevelyn.blogspot.com/search/label/Indiv%20Corr%20Course
I was particularly interested in the queen stitch strawberry motifs and also the variety of whitework mixed with gold spangles and needle made florals.
Such an impressive era for needlework. Any person who enjoys history or appreciates textile art would enjoy this book (in my opinion). Thank you for the opportunity to put this lovely book into a new home.
Mary,
I’m still kicking myself that I missed the exhibit when it was on. Can’t understand why they don’t reprint this book.
For years I’ve been an embroidery enthusiast, which led to being an embroidery and textile history buff. Only in the last few years has 17th century English embroidery been an interest for me. I love the fantastic and imaginative silk and goldwork.
While I always go for the pictures first, I also love reading about the symbolism, who the needleworkers were, what materials they used, how they produced the needlework, and how the objects were used.
Thanks for offering this great giveaway.
I am an avid embroiderer and over the years, have taught many children how to stitch as well. I teach the Ohlone Art Camp (see my website for lots of photos) which I am finding to be more and more an embroidery and silk painting camp! I’ve had many children return, year after year, often leaving projects “until the next time I come”! I have been building a collection of books about embroidery that I have them all peruse…I think this book would be a magnificent addition to the collection. It could open their eyes to the possibilities of using their finished pieces in more than just framed pieces or little pillows. I always offer empty cigar boxes for them to decorate with fabrics and tiles but the beauty in the book would offer soooooo many more possibilities! Long term projects are always welcome and having them have something hands on is a plus. I always give mini histories about embroidery and silk. This book would be fabulous to share! I would TRULY LOVE TO WIN IT for myself and the children! It is inspirational as well as beautiful!! Thank you for a wonderful website, wonderful emails, and truly fabulous stitching!! 🙂
I’ve been stitching since the age of three…which, if you’re counting, is now a grand total of 52 years 🙂
I love all type of embroidery and I also am a history buff.
I so totally fell in love with that box on the cover of the book since the first time I saw it.
I would LOVE to have that book in my library. I guarantee it would be much loved 😉
Thanks so much.
Marlon in Ohio
I am so excited about this give away! I am a huge textile history buff and embroidery enthusiast! 17th century embroidery fascinates me and I love heirloom embroidery. The photos in this book are extraordinary, but I would love to read the book. Some of the most precious items I own are pillowcases embroidered by my great grandmother in the 1800s. Such great heirlooms to pass on to my children and grand children.
I just am fascinated with embroidery in general – I love to see how it was used historically, and look for techniques I can use now. I want to study the pictures AND read the text.
What an amazing, incredibly fabulous book! I need to do some research on stumpwork for my City and Guilds Embroidery diploma, so this would be a perfect start, and I can share it with the 3 others also studying.
The history of thread, fabric, and design is interwoven with and defines the history of women. All of these things are of the greatest interest to me, and I can never learn enough. This book looks amazing; text and photos!
Stumpwork is the reason I took up embroidery 15 years ago. I saw Jane Nicholas’ book and was hooked from that moment on, and since then have tried all sorts of embroidery. I continue to be absolutely fascinated by the embroidery from the stumpwork and goldwork to the lace, as well as the clothing and the history of this period , and have tried to find out all I can over the last 15 years. I would love to see real life examples to study in depth but there are none on display in New Zealand and books like this are not in our libraries either so it is very hard to widen my knowledge of embroidery of the period and in context. I would absolutely love to win this book 🙂
This is a wonderful book on the history of needlework. It would make a wonderful addition to my library. I have done some conservation work in the past, and hope to do it in the future. Many years ago, I had a shop that I dealt with call me to repair an heirloom piece for a young bride-to-be, who wanted to use it as her “something old”, without reference materials it would have been impossible.
rusti
I just love to read about all kinds of needlework. One of my obsessions is old, public domain needlework books, which I help prepare for Project Gutenberg.
Since there’s not enough time to go see all the interesting textile exhibitions around (won’t make it to Hampton Court this year, for example), living vicariously through books is the next best thing.
What a wonderful give-away! I already have a copy of this book, so I am simply going to wish good luck to everyone who does not have a copy and thank Mary and Joady for their generousity.
That is a most gracious sentiment, coral-seas! God Bless! 😉
What a treasure to be able to read and reread this book. I am a history buff and so interested in the women who spent so much time embroidering and sewing. I’d love to own this book and get inspiration for my embroidery projects. Thanks for the opportunity, Sue
I am a history buff and I do embroidery, needlepoint and quilting. For me, they are all beautiful forms of art and should be appreciated.
I would love to see/read this book. I am amazed at how fabrics can make works of art. I love fabrics since I was a little girl. I get the shakes around too much fabric! They are my ‘drugs’! I am fairly new to embroidery & know & use just a few stitches..but I’ve surprised myself at some of the items I’ve done! I think I would enjoy this book. Thanks for the opportunity.
I took an interest in embroidery after making a pair of embroidered socks for my goddaughter this year and your website has been invaluable in learning stitches and discovering needlework in general — keep up the great work! I majored in Renaissance literature in college and have had a fascination with English arts and crafts since I was a kid. I’d like to learn more and this book looks fantastic. Thank you.
I have recently become a 17th-Century-Embroidery Enthusiast when I enrolled in Tricia Wilson Nguyen’s Curiosity box course. This is a wonderful course where we are designing our own embroidered Curiosity boxes. The 16th and 17th century designs are so wonderful and fanciful. I have only recently found out how satisfying embroidery is and have jumped in to the deep end. Started with Crazy Quilting but then found out about the 17th century embroideries and fell in love with them. So I’ve been trying to study them as much as I can. I am designing my own box and would like to do one in the 16th-17th century style but I need to see more of the designs that they actually used. I have been lusting after a copy of ‘Twixt Art and Nature’ for a while because it is such a definitive resource. The reviews of it have been so good and the pictures I have seen from it are excellent.
Relearning and reviving old historical crafts has been a longtime love of mine. To revive an old skill that the world has almost forgotten is a special pleasure in life. Not only does the revival of an old art sooth the soul but the connection to the past is a profound satisfying feeling. Learning and researching into the era makes learning an old craft and art so much richer. That is why I would love to see the photos and read the information in ‘Twixt Art and Nature’. – Pam PW –
Hello Mary, what a wonderful offer. I am an embroidery history enthusiast and collect books similar to this. It would be fantastic to add this one to my collection. I love 17th century embroidery, it fascinates me that some of the techniques used were done by young women and are today almost forgotten. Kind Regards Mandy Currie (mandycurrie@googlemail.com)
I’d love this book as I am a history and embroidery enthusiast and I am another entrant who is doing the Thistle Threads class. I know I would read it again and again. However I wouldn’t keep it forever, such a treasure would be donated to my local embroidery guild library for sharing. I live in a remote rural area and good embroidery resources are hard to come by.
Thanks for such a generous giveaway.
Twixt Art and Nature is right up my alley! I have been crafting-sewing-quilting since I was 8yo and my skills have evolved tremendously over the years. I currently sew and quilt for those in need and would love to own the beauty in this book for self. Throughout the past 54yrs, I’ve learned that the only way I can truly bless is to nurture myself and the gift God has given me in order to keep from becoming stagnant in my craft. Thank you for your consideration, and God Bless!
Would love to have this book in my library of fascinating embroidery so that I could start a reference section. I love reading about the history of embroidery and am amazed at how detailed the embroiderers of yesteryear worked and obviously without the beautiful tools, threads, fabric and light that we have today.
wow what a fantastic give away, thanks Joady. My 2 passions are needlwork and history and put the 2 together and I am twice as happy.17th century English needlework is of a particular interest to me, done at a time of prosperity and and innovation when images and dying techniques and new threads were emerging.The industrial revolution was beginning to mass produce needles allowing for finer and more work to be produced. We now look at this work in amazement at the quality of work done. This book is a fabulous account of the work produced at the time. and I would love this book and eyed it off enviously when you first mentioned it Mary but the price is out of my budget at the moment, to win it would be a sheer joy.
I would love to get my hands on this book! I’ve recently found your website and follow religiously; you’ve opened my eyes to a world of needlework that I hadn’t even considered! I’ve never been brave enough to try anything more daunting than cross stitch, but that’s about to change. I’ve invested in my floor frame and my son is making me a slate frame. I’ve always had a deep fascination for the 17th and 18th century and this would go a long way to provide me with information and inspiration. Thanks Mary for the beautiful work you do, both stitching and teaching.
-Diana Andrews in Rock Island IL
Are you a specifically-17th-Century-Embroidery Enthusiast? Or just an Embroidery Enthusiast in general? or a Textile History Buff? What makes you desire the book? Is your desire more along the lines of Pictures, or Print? (Or Both?) What interests you most about this book – are you eager to see photos of the 17th century embroidered items within, or are you eager to read about the era and the items? Or both? Tell us something about your interests in a book on 17th century embroidery!
I would love to have this book in my small collection of historical embroidered work. As you know these books are difficult to find – having this in my library would be close to Nirvana.
I am interested in the techniques, development of this work and the content of the finished pieces. In my personal embroidered work, I create pieces with contemporary content using historic techniques. Right now I am working on a set of 21st Century Samplers.
I am particularly interested in 3 dimensional embroidery work and especially interested in the “reliquary” nature of this period’s embroidery. (Reliquary pieces have been something of an on-going theme in my current work).
I am a sculptor using organic fibers and stitch (bead-work, weaving, lacework etc) in my work. More specifically, I have been doing research in the area of 15th-17th Century embroidery to develop a body of work using these techniques, but with contemporary imagery. The development of raised work eventually evolving into caskets and book covers is of particular interest to me. This book would help me understand the place of this embroidery and it’s place in the life of the embroiderer and in society. This will inform my creation of contemporary work. I am equally interested in the art history, the techniques, the influences, as well as the pictorial content.
I would like to thank you for your blog and newsletter – keeping these techniques alive is very important to me.
-please consider me for the book give-away.
-janet lasher
Charlotte NC
Oh. My. Goodness!! I am a member of a medieval recreation society and my most favorite embroidery techniques are stumpwork and crewel. This book has the best of two worlds – pictures of pieces from a time period I adore and factual text on the history of the same pieces and time period. What’s not to like? If this were to come to my book shelf it would have a place of honor. After I spend many hours pouring over the contents of course. 🙂
Oh wow, what a lovely giveaway! I have a profound love of historical textiles, but shallow pockets for museum books like this. Which is a shame, because the photos look amazing. Beyond the aesthetics, I’m fascinated by the cultural details — a fairly significant portion of my ancestors would have made or used pieces like this. I’d love to glean a better cultural understanding from the art.
I would love to win this book. I have stitched the Gay Ann Rogers portrait of Elizabeth I and am in the Cabinet of Curiosities Encore class so this book would fit right in. I enjoy reading history to place the embroidery in the context of the times. Keeping my fingers crossed.
I definitely have to throw my name in the hat for this one! I have an interest in all forms of embroidery, both old and new and also collect books on the subject. I also can say that I actually have read all my books in my collection – to me, they’re not just for looking at the pictures! Thanks, once again, for a lovely giveaway Mary.
I would love to win this book as a gift for a friend and fellow stitcher. She loves to read about the history of needlework and has been my embroidery “mentor” for a long time. She is an accomplished embroiderer and has a sincere love of learning. She was my math teacher in high school a long time ago and we re-connected when I joined a local chapter of The Embroiderers’ Guild of America. I know sh’e treasure it.
oops-correct that last line: I know she’d treasure it.
oh i wish
OMG! I love books on the history of handwork, both quilting and embroidery, anything that our foremothers did. What these women did with what they had is amazing. I love the pictures too!! The work is awesome. Thanks to Joady at Hedgehog Handworks for the book.
I want to drool over the pictures withing this gorgeous looking book and revel in reading about the period. I love the history of textiles in general and embroidery specifically. This volume would certainly add to my vicarious pleasure of living in the time! I of course enjoy stitching as well and have recently taken my first formal class in Elizabethan embroidery – such fun!
Hi Mary
I love books in general but when it comes to embroidery books I consider them a treasure! This book would be interesting to read and obviously very informative and inspiring? A very generous offer by both you and Hedgehog Handworks. Thank you for this opportunity.
Although I am an avid embroiderer myself, I would love to win this book for my daughter who is obsessed with historical embroidery, particularly from 15th to 19th centuries. She is currently on an historical tour of England with author Alison Weir who is taking them on tours of historical castles and palaces to admire and observe beautiful works of art, both of needlework and art. My daughter is an extremely proficient stitcher, excelling in goldwork, stumpwork, cross-stitch. Together we attend the Koala Textile & Embroidery Convention in Brisbane every year to learn new techniques; I know she would be ecstatic to own such a treasure to add to her bookshelf.
Hi Mary
I love books in general but when it comes to embroidery books I consider them a treasure.
This one would indeed be very interesting, informative and inspiring to read.
A very generous offer. Thank you.
ooops. duplication. sorry. how do I cancel?
I am an avid seeker of knowledge on the history of textiles and of needlework,
And my stitching often uses patterns and techniques from the past.
I am in awe of how people produced such treasures with all the constraints
Of the times they lived in and to win this book would be a dream come
True. many thanks to Hedgehog Handworks for giving someone the
Opportunity to win this treasure, and to you Mary for all the historical
Needlework and information you share with us all.
This is way beyond interest, after a tutor brought this book to a workshop I have been lusting after it! The photos are exquisite but the detailed information and stories are what really captured me. It makes you want to delve into the lives of these amazing people and the time they lived in.
Fingers crossed!
GGC
Oh my, what a lovely thing! I love 17th & 18th century embroidery – and the textiles they worked on.
I am an embroidery enthusiast in general. I love all kind of all Textile History. That’s why I’d love to have that book.
I’d be delighted to ‘win’ this book. I’ve been intrigued with the middle ages/early Renaissance since I was a “tween”. That’s been longer back than I care to admit. My interest in the book is both for the history printed and the photos. I lean a little more to the photo side ( a picture’s worth a 1000 words). It would be a wonderful reference for Elizabethan projects and an aide to creating my own sewing casket (one day . . .).
Best luck to all who enter the drawing.
Cynthia
This is a beautiful book full of pictures and I would love to have my personal copy for my library. I want to be able to read it at leisure, to drool over the photos. The workmanship makes the pictured items similar to works of art. Why would I like to win this book? to include beauty in my life. Thank you to Joady at Hedgehog Handworks and Mary Corbet for this wonderful chance to win this book.
Thank you to Hedgehog, and to you, Mary, for introducing me to this gift of a source. I will visit often.
Ter este livro seria realizar um sonho!
Para quem como eu, que mora no Brasil, gosta de bordar, ter acesso a um tesouro como este seria fantástico.
Hi, Mary:
I am so happy that you have offered this beautiful book. What a generous offer! I am probably what you would call a compulsive collector of books relating to both needle arts and various forms of fine arts. I love being able to survey the titles and pull one out to savor. I am fortunate in that my husband shares my love of books and doesn’t complain about my addiction. I also have a particular love of textiles and even majored in textiles in college before I had to turn practical in the interest of getting a job. I would be thrilled to own this lovely book. Whoever gets this book will be one lucky person.
Dear Marymentor:
I remember having seen this box awhile back in one of your offerings and thinking “..now THAT is something I want to make…” having no idea of course what I’d be getting into, much less the expertise required to make this beautiful keepsake. But I love the general style of the period. I did buy a couple of books you had presented from the RSN and was drooling over the pictures. And all I thought was “Thank God” that Mary takes the time to walk us through complicated steps. I truly find your “dis-sembling” things like the rose, ecclesiasticals, and others, helpful. So much critical work is hidden when the product is finished and you, wisely, take the time to show that to us. I find that a REAL treasure. I’d surely love to get this book since this whole time period continues to inspire me.
Thanks again…. Judy in Pittsburgh
Needlework and history go so naturally hand in hand. My favorite historical era is early medieval Europe, but my current embroidery project is redwork so this book doesn’t have my name on it. I am posting just to say it is h a wonderful thing that Hedgehog Handiworks and Mary will give this book to someone who will be jumping-up-and-down-thrilled to get it. I’ll be cheering everyone on from the sidelines.
This book looks fantastic!! I am just in the last year getting into hand embroidery other than cross stitch. The more I stitch, the more I love it! I would love to be inspired by the pictures of the beautiful embroidery. But more than that, I would love to learn the history and progression of the craft. Thanks for the chance to win!
‘Twixt Art and Nature would be a significant addition to my Embriodery Guild Library because its subjects fascinate us on so many different levels: the embroidery stitches and techniques, the use of color, the designs, the materials, and especially the embroidered commentary on life in the 17th century including the humor and irony which is depicted along with the serious subjects.
Thank you, Mary, for calling this book to our attention.
Thank you, Joady, for your generous donation to the Needle’n’Thread readership.
Hello, I would definatly like to read all about the history and I would really like to see the photos. Thanks for the giveaway Mary!!
smjohns63 at yahoo dot com
so special and beutiful id love to have this book I know the creativity inspiration would be endless from it.
I am mostly just enthusiastic about any handwork but especially embroidery. I am mostly interested in the eye candy. Love it! Thanks for giving us a chance!
Wow Mary,
I saw this book sometime ago, it is beautiful and full of interesting information.
I really do wish to own this book but have nothing clever to say other than that I am a keen reader, embroiderer, Crewel is my passion, and I also love Quilting, paricularly applique. I would dearly love to have this book.
Cheers
Flora (Australia)
I am enrolled in Tricia Nyguen’s Casket Class and my wish is to make both a mirror surround and a casket. I saw the exhibit in NY but couldn’t afford the book at the time. I’d love to get a copy. Thanks for offering this give away.
I’m enrolled in Tricia Nguyen’s Cabinet of Curiosities (designing and making a 17th century casket such as that one on the cover of this most excellent book. I love learning all I can about 17th century stitchery and would love to have this book to look through and absorb hoping to find design ideas to add to my casket.
What a beautiful and tempting book! I took Stumpwork classes with Jane Nicholas and ever since then I have had a keen interest in historical textiles and the immense amount of work that went in to producing those incredible garments we see in paintings. My daughter is currently studying fashion design and we were looking at paintings of Elizabeth I and her incredible gowns and marvelling at the intricate embroidery and lace incorporated in them and wondering about the people who produced and laboured over them. Living in Papua New Guinea is a long way from art galleries and museums so I satisfy myself with gazing at pictures. To own this book would be such a source of visual delight and inspiration. Thanks for the chance!
I love the 17th century in part because I often teach its political texts to students (think Hobbes and Locke). I have big chunks of the texts memorized because the language is so beautiful and surprising (it impresses the students too!) This has made me interested in every aspect of the period, especially in England. It was such a turbulent time, and so full of change. The thought of such beautiful embroidery being done in little quiet corners is very satisfying to me. It’s a glimmer of hope from a moment when life was “nasty, brutish and short”!
Mary,
What I have seen of this book is just wonderful. Played the video 7 times. The covered box really caught my eye and heart, I must say. I used to do decoupage to anything and everything wooden or very hard card. REAL decoupage not two coats of clear lacquer. Some could take 12 months.
I saw this book sometime ago and did do a search for it. Yes very scarce.
When I regained consciousness, I just knew it would definitely be out of my reach for awhile. From $100 to near $300 is really a stretch for what was originally sold for $49.95 I think.
So seeing a box that was purposely embroidered really made me smile.
I do love that period. I think they were very inventive in creating ideas for the use of needle work and weaving. The large to the small all beautifully executed.
At least their arts and crafts survived for future generations.
My passion has always been “how do they do that?” books. To learn the techniques, and to put them to good use.
Reading this book looks as if one could delve into a fantasy. What’s good about fantasy? We can visit but come home to reality…because. I would not have liked to live in the time. One did not live mostly, very long, given the hygiene of the time.
So I can sit and dream a little, in a group of happy women and stitching away, the kids are fed and somewhere else, hubby is out slaying whatever !!! …but hey, it is only fantasy.
Happy days everyone.
Now a big thanks to Joady at Hedgehog Handworks for her donation, and her array of lovely threads and goods. Her donation allows an opportunity to live a moment back in time.
Mary I think this is your best giveaway yet.I would be thrilled to win this as I am just starting the Cabinet of Curiosities by thistle Threads which I have waited so long for. I have been blown away by 17th century embroidery,the detail and skill the embroiders had.Housework and meals have gone by the waside whilst I study this era of embroidery.I cannot wait to try all these techniques out to produce wonderful embroidery.I believe the best needlework was produced during the seventeenth century,and owning this book would be the prize in my collection.
I am interested in English Embroidery of the 17th and 18th century. While I enjoy understanding some of the history involved, I really enjoy having pictures to look at for inspiration for my own work. All the books that I have seen, show pieces from English museums. It would be interesting to see pieces in US museums, ones that I have not seen before. Thanks for the giveaway.
This is a very generous giveaway, and I am grateful for the chance to win. I do historical reproductions and will sometimes enter my work in competitions. One of the requirements to enter those competitions is to have documentation of your work – proof that what you made would have/could have been made in that time period. Photographs of actual embroidered pieces is the absolute best documentation to be found! Fiber arts, as we all know, don’t hold up well to the test of time, so good documentation can be hard to come by. Plus, from what you have described, there is a lot to be learned by reading the book and studying the history (which is what creating reproductions is all about, teaching and learning). And not to be discounted, I love to embroider anything!
Thanks for the chance,
Tracy from Middleburg
I love your book reviews and have purchased many embroidery books based on your reviews and have loved everyone of them. This particular book looks to be fascinating and I would love the opportunity to go through the book and savour the photos, inspect the details, drool over the beauty of this work … Oh and to know that I might actually OWN the book … I am at a loss for words.
And I so want to discover the stories behind the work.
Submitting this with all my fingers and toes crossed that I might be the lucky one …
Heather in Surrey, BC, Canada
Hi Mary!
I am an embroidery enthusiast in general. I love reading about the history of needlework, and seeing old works of art. They are fascinating, and each piece has a special story to tell. I would love looking a the pictures – I have lots of embroidery and needlework books,and love to browse through them for inspiration.
Thanks for the opportunity and for sharing the review of the book!
I don’t feel my day is complete if I have not done something to do with embroidery, wether it is with needle in hand or just curled up with a great needlework book. I really love to research the beginnings of our most fabulous past time and I am very sure this book will give hours of pure pleasure.
Sue M.W. Victoria
Receiving this fine work of art would be the icing on my birthday cake which happens to be the 20th! I want to make a casket one day and I know it would be a long term project. What heirlooms these would be (book and casket). I have a friend that does woodworking and tried to explain a casket and the compartments to him but I need more detailed pictures to show him. I’m hoping that’s what this book would offer along with some great inspiration and historical reading. I just bought a book on stumpwork as I hope to start practicing that soon. I love embroidery of all kinds but love the 3D of stumpwork and embroideries that look like tapestries (like what’s on the outside of the caskets pictured). I would love to know the story behind the man being hung! Thank you and Joady of Hedgehog Handworks for all your inspiration, generosity and tips.
Hi, I love historical embroidery books and been meaning to by this book for a while now, but haven’t gotten around to it yet. I enjoy reading and looking at the photos in these types of books. The text is almost as ways interest and the photos, well they are just great eye candy. I like the information of specific pieces, how they were made, why they were made and by whom( rich or poor) and that type of thing. And of course every time you flip through the photos you can see new and different aspects that you may have missed the time before. These types of books are a wonderful addition to any enthusiasts library.
Having been a been a re-enactor of the Great Civil War of 1640’s and an embroideress, I am greatly fascinated by the embroideries of this period. I love the whimsy and detail that is put into pieces of this period. I find that I don’t indulge in buying many books, but this is one that I was sorry to miss the first time around as all reports say that the information and the photos are equally stunning.
I would treasure the gift of this book. The seventeenth century is a period that I have studied. The book would be shared with my family and friends, and then passed on to our children for future generations to treasure and learn from. Thank you.
Hi Mary
I read “Needle n Thread” every day, but it seems a strange coincidence that your review of this book was one of the things I read the very first time I discovered you a few years ago!
I really drooled over it then, but forced myself to resist. I try to only buy used books to stretch my limited budget as far as I can. But I SO wish I HAD bought it then, as now, even used, it’s completely out of my reach – especially with US shipping added on!
I’d truly treasure it, all of it, photos and text. I’d read it from cover to cover, pore over the photos and it would be just wonderful if I’m picked.
I’m totally fascinated by historic textiles and their social history. The people are long gone, but their needlework survives to form a link across time. They are works of art, just like paintings and sculpture, but are rarely given the same status and importance. We need more exhibitions like “Twixt Art and Nature” on both sides of the Atlantic!
Thanks
Jane H, UK
PS. I just had to share this link with you, found via the Needleprint website today. Hope it’s new to you too, and that you enjoy it. Maybe, just maybe, I might get to London to see this exhibition, but in the meantime the zoom facility is amazing…
http://www.royalcollection.org.uk/collection/39240/stumpwork-casket
Hello Mary,
Many thanks for your generosity giveaways throughout. I joined your site just a few months and enjoy learning tips, technics, and practice everyday. I’d love to have an opportunity to win this book, but that’ll be a waste because I’m a novice to embroidery.
My best wishes to whomever deserves this incredible book.
its to good book.i m so happy if i m get it .
At first sight only , this book fascinates me.Last year, when i was trying to learn , one of the form of indian embroidery, it led me learn more about 17th century embroidery. It really inspires & motivates me,although i can’t go back centuries, to get knowlegde on how they work with coloures, texitles , their method of embroidery. This book satisfies my thirst to know more about 17th centuries embroidery. Hope i be the lucky one.
My interest in embroidery was sparked by some beautiful historical pieces shown in places like the V and A, Hampton Court and other historical houses throughout London and Kent. I have started designing a large wall hanging (2m x 2m) using influences from all throughout English history as a guide and am loving it. This book would provide a wonderful reference for me to make this project even more special than it already is.
Best wishes
Ella from Cambridge, UK
I love books with clear photos of old needlework as I love studying early 17th century embroidery techniques and stitches. I am sure I would learn a great deal from this book. I’m really glad to be given a chance to win a copy. Thank you.
I began my embroidery journey many years ago in the early 70s when I was able to choose a book as a reward for school achievement – an embroidery book I still have and treasure. A renewed interest in embroidery saw me buying books, books and more books – for techniques, for information and for the close ups of old embroideries. Living in country Australia, I have limited access to the real thing (though I pestered my husband to take many close-ups of ecclesiastical embroideries when we visited England and later Rome) and this book would allow me to study the beautiful and intricate work of women in the past. I like to look closely at techniques – and it is also reassuring to see the quirks of stitching and sometimes the little ‘inaccuracies’ that are there. So there it is – I am a bibliophile, an embroiderer and I have to admit, absolutely greedy for this book!
Cheers
Patti WD
I love all embroidery, no matter the origin or period. I have always enjoyed reading about the 17th century. This book would be a true treasure.
I am a general Embroidery Enthusiast and enjoy many types of embroidery. This book would be a real treasure to me and bring many hours of inspiration. I would be interested in both the pictures and the text.
I have an interest in all embroidery but the casket on the cover is very intriguing. I would love to be able to pour over the information and the pictures at my leisure.
Ah, As a member of the Embroiderer’s Guild of Queensland I am very intrigued by this book & should I be the amazingly fortunate person to receive it would donate it to our extensive library. A number of us hold a real interest in this period. One of our number having travelled to America to do a course in this era of work. The interest is historical and enthusiasm for all forms of embroidery. There is something that warms the heart to be able to reach back in history and being able to recreate it, treasure it and salute it whilst paying honour to those who pointed the way into the future. What a gem this book is. Bless those who give.
Hello Mary, I’m not sure if you want to post the book to the UK, but if you don’t mind that, I would love to be included in the draw. Stumpwork has always been my first love in embroidery, although I have now widened my interests to include other types of embroidery as well. I enjoy reading about stumpwork, particularly books which describe the historical items and from which you can learn a little of the lives of the women who stitched them, they lived through turbulent times. I have stitched some myself and have visited the V&A to see “the real thing”, although disappointingly not many were on display. I would treasure this book.
One of my favorite museums in New York is the Cloisters. There are many examples of period embroidery, which I now appreciate even more because I am learning stitches and techniques. My latest area of enthusiasm is goldwork.
Thank you!
I have read most of the applicants comments and am so honored to be among a group that feels so strongly about preserving the history of this art as well as teaching the next generation. My words would only be a repetition of what has already been stated about this precious book. This book is alive and who ever receives it will use it in that vein.
I would love to touch each page and study and imagine daily life during that time period. Thank so much Mary for the exposure to such well researched pieces. The cost of this book takes it out of my realm, but having been exposed to it saturates my thoughts and broadens my world to keep exploring and learning and applying the “threads” that bring it all together.
I love the history of needlework and everything that revolves around it. I have quite a few books on historical needlework but unfortunately do not have this one – yet! I design samplers and period pieces and would love to have this for my research. Hours would be spent studying the history of these fabulous works if I had this book! Thank you for bringing it to our attention and offering us a chance to own it.
I like history, I also like book with eyes candy. Thank you very much for your generosity.
Nicole
I would love to own this book! I teach English literature at a university and my area of speciality is the 16th and 17th centuries, so knowing something about the needwork of the time would enrich my students’ understanding of life during that era. My personal love of needlework (these days more reading and looking at than doing)also drives my desire for the book. I would find a way to enjoy it for myself and my students! Thanks for the opportunity to comment!
I really, really WANT this book…lol. i’m a big history buff,especially the Elizabethan era and this book flows after that era. I really want to read about this additional time span as far as needlework and embroidery. The Elizabethan needle arts are impressive but i don’t know much about what went after that and would love to know more.
sharyn in cinci
I have always done embroidery and many years ago our local library ordered some books for me on girlhood embroideries. The talent and the stories behind some of these pieces were amazing to me.Embroidery was and always will be truly a means of expression!
Would love to win the book!
Thank you,
Stephanie
The pictures are gorgeous and I imagine the text has to be very informative. Would love to have a copy!
As a fashion designer I love to seek out historic examples of design for inspiration. This book looks like a great resource!
I just love the embroideries of the 17’th century. I am a costume history geek and I love BLING.
This Book would be a nice addition to my collection of “History of Costume and Craft” books.
I would love looking at the pictures and reading the text.
And who doesn’t like to look at the BLING
Tania
G’day Mary, and thank you too Joady.
Umm…well I really just want this book because it’s worth lots of $ : )
Ha ha! Gotta make your own fun in the bush!
My first recollection of books as a kid was a set of Arthur Mee’s Encyclopaedia. Dad purchased them new in 1947 as a gift to himself for his 21st. I still have them. Although they had kids sections, my main love was the pictures of artworks. Mostly small, black & white and old, old masters. Also the embroidery appealed to me. I did my first embroidery from the stitches in those books when I was very young.
So, a love of historical art, embroidery and days of yore was well established in my bosom in my days of tender years. Good grief, what prattling. Blame the 3 a.m. time slot. Anyway, I think you’ll get my drift.
Either that or go back to the first sentence!
Cheers, Kath from Oz.
I have been an avid admirer of 17th Century Samplers ever since I stitched my first one. I have a deep love for Band samplers! I currently finished the Loara Standish sampler and it was a joy to do. I belong to the Sampler Guild of the Rockies and we study these on several occasions. This would be a fantastic book to own and share with our group.
I would love to own this book to learn even more than I am learning from Tricia Nguyen in her casket class. I have a few historical embroidery books given to me from my friend in New York who use to haunt the Strand book store, but I alway want more. I do hope to stitch a casket if I ever end the planning stage. Thank you for the opportunity.
cheers
I love stumpwork and those old caskets. Although I don’t do very traditional work, they inspire me. What a great and generous giveaway!
I was so excited to see this book as your giveaway this week. What a treasure! My intrest in the textile arts began as a child watching my Grandmother and Great Grandmother embroider. As an adult I worked as a costume Designer. Many hours of historical research was required for my work. I enjoyed every minute of it, most especially, 15th and 16th century research. This would be the most prized book in my collections. Beautiful illustrations and text, both equally valuable.
I am particularly interested in thread painting. This book would be a tremendous asset. Recentently, I was in D.C. where I was fortunate to attend the Pre Raphaelite exhibit. One room was filled with textile art. I stood before the full length needle paintings in star struck awe, renewing my desire to practice and study more.
Thank You for this oppertunity. Someone will be fortunate indeed.
Lee Anne Rose
Being a rabid Anglophile, especially 15-17 c, this book would certainly feed my addiction! Thank you for another great giveaway, Mary!
I am fascinated about ancient embroidery and history, amazing book. hugs Alessandra
I am a historical costumer and embroiderer, and I am interested in historical embroidery in general. We recently finished a bunch of 17th century commissions and I would have loved more information on the embroidery of the time! I would love to try and reinterpret some of the designs in this, but also I love to just look at the pictures in embroidery books, and let them stimulate my creativity. In general an idea for a big project will percolate away in my mind for an idea, inspired by a number of images in books until it crystallizes. But any information on historical textiles is also very valuable to us.
Hi Mary – huge fan of your blog.
As a visual artist working in embroidery, 17th Century Work – especially stump work and needle lace are huge inspirations for my work. While the techniques are a challenge that I enjoy, I also owe these forms a lot as they were my window into women’s studies. After a particularly difficult critique by a faculty panel at my university where they called my white-on-white lace pieces “privileged” and “what rich ladies did because they had the luxury of doing so,” I knew those comments didn’t sit right with me and embarked on research. Through various texts and sources I started learning about the role that embroidery played as essentially a means of social control over women. To me these forms symbolize the passage of time, labour and an entire history of suppression of the so-called “weaker sex.” This book would be extremely useful to me in furthering my craft and historical knowledge.
Thanks!
Having completed an Intermediate course of stumpwork and now working on Crewel embroidery, I would love to have such a great historical reference to the use of these forms of needlework.
I would love to make a stumpwork box in the historical style such as that on the cover.
I would love to win this book ! I am a Textile History fan. It has always amazed me how creative people were. I would like this book for both the print as well as the pictures. I usually look at the pictures first and then go back and read. I haven’t read too much on 17 th century embroidery and this would be a great place to start! Thank you to you and to Hedgehog Handworks for the give-away!
Ren Mondragon
I have always been fascinated with embroidered clothing, and especially so by this era. I want to continue this tradition on special garments for people I love. The caskets are especially lovely. have tried it covering a ‘Goodwill’ little box with embroidered lovelies! Sarah
The book is already a jewel and with history, deserves to be cared for with a lot of love and appreciation.
I believe weshould allknow more about the history of the needlerts we enjoy doing. I love surface embroidery and dimensional embroidery from the time frame covered in this book. I teach embroidery classes and always try to inform my students a bit about where the embroidery technique came from, how it origninated and the purposes for which it was used. This book is bound to be a big help in doing that. I also have a deep envy of my daughter, who I was ableto send to Englad to visit the V&A . I was supposed to go along with her but life got in the way. She talks frequently of the crazy quilts, stumpwork caskets and other embroidery she saw there. How I wish I could see it all in person with her. This book might just be the impetus I need to get myself there after seeing the beautiful items pictured. Thanks for the chance to add it to my library of historical needlework references.
Dear Mary and Joady,
This book brings an AMAZING opportunity to enjoy all the outstanding embroideries of the 17th century from this equally amazing exhibit all over again. I was very fortunate to have seen this exhibit in person, and it was breath-taking. I adore the whimsical nature of the pieces, the dimensionality of the components, and the lightheartedness of the designs. The execution of these pieces are beyond anything else in embroidery in my opinion. To be able to enjoy this complex special work brings joy to my heart. I have attempted to make some similar components for my own pleasure and marvel at the skill level needed. These embroiderers were gifted and I will always treasure their works.
Thank you both!!
Peg F. in NJ
I’m actually not the best needleworker, but I love, love learning about the history of both embroidery and sewing. The differences between what was used and done before “modern conveniences”, where the symbolism of certain things came from. That they produced such amazing works of art with so little! For me it isn’t a specific century, but all needlecraft history. In this case, the photos and the knowledge both are appealing.
I was taught to embroidery in 4-H many years ago. Now as a senior citizen I have taken a silk embroidery class. I enjoy this site very much. This is the first time I have entered, and would very much like to received the book on English embroidery. The English must be the masters. I have been watching Downton Abby and the dresses and the work takes my breath way. Thank you for sharing your beautiful talent with the rest of us.
Well, I’m just an Embroidery Enthusiast in general. But I love to see the things people made back in the day, all the beautiful photographs just make me covet them and make me wish I were a better stitcher (and a better designer and better at time-management so I could finish things even half as detailed and beautiful as these).
First of all thanks Mary for this wonderful give-away.I always wanted to know the history of embroidery especially 17th and 18th century,the pictures of the beautiful stumpwork has attracted me a lot and made me do some re-search.I’m eager to know more about that era and also would like to look at the beautiful images in this book.I can’t afford to visit the museums in England so I’d be really happy If I win this book.
I have only ever seen these magnificent embroideries on my computer! I have scoured the world’s museums looking at it–the caskets are breathtaking. I am an embroiderer and love to work something on any surface! I am also a very keen quilter–French quilting being my passion. To be able to read such a book and lose myself in another world by just turning the pages (without the click of a mouse)would be beyond dreams!
Jill – Gundaroo Australia
I love to read history relating to all types of needlework. One of the reasons I subscribe to Piecework magazine. Very generous of Hedgehog! Thanks!
I just love looking at antique embroideries and have collected some books on the subject. I am presently making a band sampler from this time, and just love all the specialty stitches!
Lovely review, you do such a great job, thanks Mary
What a wonderful giveaway, Mary. Thanks to Hedgehog Handiworks for their generosity.
I don’t think there would be anyone interested in embroidery that would not covet this book. The magnificence of this art form looks to be celebrated within its pages. Personally, this book appeals on two levels – the sheer beauty of the art form and the connection with a way of life long past. As embroidered clothes and decorations often had immense social significance (and rules), the historical context is fascinating. I adore books, history and embroidery, so this book would be a treasure to me.
Karen (Vancouver)
As an enthusiastic anthropologist I am very much interested and love to learn about how things were done in the old days. I an also a very nostalgic and romantic and most of all I an very keen on patchwork,quilting, embroidery and all kind of needle crafts and art. I already have in my library books about 18th certury and 19th century American and English embroidery.
I don’t know much about 17th century embroidery except of what I have seen in Museums here and there in Europe, and I am very much hoping to learn and expand my knowledge on this subject.
I think the picturrs in this book would be great inspiration, both for technique and patterns.
My sister is passionate about old and ecclesiastical embroidery. This book looks so excitingly interesting both historically and the presentation of the beautiful illustrations. I would love to get it for her.
I am a general embroidery enthusiast. However I have a special interest in historical embroidery as I love the history that it shows, not only in the subject matter but it shows how techniques and very importantly how materials have evolved. I have English ancestry and have lived in the UK I am particularly keen on English embroidery. This looks like a wonderful resource on this.
I am fascinated by 18th century history and textiles and embroidery especially. I have recently enjoyed Heather Toomer’s excellent book ‘Embroidered in White’ which is a beautifully detailed study of whitework accessories of the period, and I am also currently reading Gail Marsh’s book ’18th Century Embroidery. The tantalising thing with history is always wanting to know what went before … and then I see this delicious book which promises to explain all! I would love to study detailed photographs of beautiful embroidered items from museum collections which otherwise I may never get to see, and I would particularly enjoy learning how these items relate to other decorative arts of the period; how they shed light on the way people thought and viewed the world around them and what was important to the 17th Century embroiderer.
Just want to learn 🙂
I visited Holyrood Palace a couple of months ago, the home of Mary Queen of Scots in Edinburgh, and the exhibit that fascinated me the most was an embroidered box (I think it was her needlework box). It was extremely worn but you could still see the detail of the stumpwork in places – it completely captured my imagination! I love history, particularly the history of real people and what they did, and I’d love to read the book and look at the pictures and learn more about the era the box came from.
All of the embroidery from that period is very interesting to me, the textiles, designs, how they used dyes, all of it. I also collect needleworks books and this one would be very nice to have.
Mary and Joady –
What a fabulous, generous, exciting giveaway! I would love to receive a copy of this book to add to my collection. I have a keen interest in embroidery, and who could not be fascinated by a gorgeously illustrated volume of this golden age of fine embroidery. I have a few other books on this time period, but certainly not this book. Of primary interest would be the photos, I would examine each photo repeatedly! And I would read the text – yes, I would! The history and explanations would add richly to the enjoyment and appreciation of the photos.
Thank you for this opportunity, I appreciate it!
Tomi Jane in MN
I would absoluttely love to have this book, I love embroidery in general, and specifically history as well. I purchased another book just recently on English embroidery and it’s history. I can never get enough on a subject once it’s grabbed my fancy I guess! I love both pictures and print, pictures for the “experience” of the pieces, print for the knowledge. The more one understands the background the more one can appreciate and possibly expand on the future of a subject. A person learns much from the past. Oh, I DO hope I win this one!!! 🙂
Carol
I am a nature lover and thus am drawn to the Jacobean style of embroidery. I would love the opportunity to dig deeper and learn more of this beautiful form. Thanks for the opportunity!
Oh my,oh my! I would dearly love to have this book Not only is the subject fascinating but the pictures can give me so many new ideas.
Hi there and I do sooo enjoy your blog. I am a history buff, I majored in art history in college. I am interested in all things textile, especially 18th-19th century samplers. I would love, love to go to the British Isles and go on a needle arts museum trip! Since I do not have the time or the funds for such a trip, studying this book would be an excellent substitute! I specifically would be interested to see all those tiny stitches and think about the person who stitched them so many years ago…what was their life like? Did they enjoy stitching? Was it just a daily chore?what did they do for fun? What was their home/family like???? Could this book give the reader just a glimpse into that life 400+ years ago? I think so! Not to mention its value for sheer eye candy! Thanks for doing this! Catherine
I love embroidery in general and am blown away by historical embroideries. It amazes me how such detailed and elegant work was done without many of the time saving tools we have today.
I would love to have this book. I have always admired 17th century embroidery. That is what has inspired me to learn embroidery. I hope to one day to make a wall hanging with various pieces of inspirations from items I have seen in books from the past.
Mary in Oregon
I would be interested in this book, love the art and textiles of this time period. Love goldwork and blackwork too. I plan to research and pursue some type of this work. Love history of textiles. W0uld like to have to refer to for my own designs. love this site for that reason.
What a glorious book – I would love to get my hands on this, even just for a day, long enough to read it! I do art embroidery and have quite a collection of textile art books and magazines – not just embroidery, vintage and new – but this would easily be the gem of the collection. Also, if a stumpwork box seen just for half an hour at an exhibition can inspire me to learn an entirely new technique and change my style dramatically, who knows what this would do!
After a long illness, I am able to make choices. One of those choices is embroidery. I am newly learning and was fascinated with your site. I also love beautiful textiles of any kind and vintage works are one of my loves. The Smithsonian is a favorite haven when I travel back east. Thank you for offering such a lovely treasure.
i love to see all the old embroideries. They were so skilled with their limited materials, lighting etc. So deteiled and so intricate, it inspires me to try harder
Wow… this book looks to be an absolute treasure! I am very interested in the embroideries of the 16th and 17th century, and am hoping to try to recreate some embroidered treasures of my own. 🙂
I live in Western Australia, and we just do not get the opportunity to see actual extant pieces of embroidery from this period. Having a book such as this would not only be inspiring, it would help immensely with researching and planning future projects.
Thank you, and Hedgehog Handworks, very much for this opportunity.
I love stump work – my dragon’s wings actually work! I first became interested in the embroidered caskets about 30 years ago, when seeing one at the Burrell Collection in Glasgow. I had known “Bee” (forgot last name!) who used to make the most accurate boxes with drawers and inserts, so had been on the lookout for convertible frame – no way could I reproduce her accuracy. The Knitting & Needlework show at Harrogate had the Barbara Hirst Millennium casket on show a few years ago. That pushed me towards stump work.(For those who can make it she is having a Retrospective this year and the casket should be on show.) Back to that book – it would so push me into getting down to actually making the casket. An heirloom for my grand-daughter perhaps?
I just love looking at embroidery, period! Or in this case I guess it would be period embroidery lol Any embroidery to me is fascinating, and makes me wish I could’ve been a fly on the wall watching all the women do their stitching back in the day. I’m sure the history and the pictures would be equally as interesting in this book.
How wonderful of Hedgehog Handworks to donate this treasure! I am in love with the history of textiles and embroidery (especially 16th and 17th century books covers and clothing). I am usually relegated to viewing these works on a computer screen and would be over the moon to add this to my small but essential library of inspirational art and history books. Thank you!
Alison M.
Los Angeles, CA.
I would love to explore the impact of the clothing styles on current day wear. Of course the technique and composition would be fascinating to gawk over….
cheers
I would say that I am a beginning embroidery enthusiast. I enjoy stitching and am just beginning to look into the history of it. I have some stitching books but nothing on this level. I think the pictures grab me first, but with this book, the words would pull me in even further. Teresa
I have tried to get this book from ILL through my library, and they’ve not been able to get me a copy within a reasonable amount of time before. I would love to see what is inside. My interest is in historical embroidery, mostly of the 16th century, but also early 17th century. I would love to learn more, and I understand this book is one of the best. Thank you and Thank you to Joady for providing a chance to win one of these books. You both are wonderful women for all you do.
Mary,
I think it is the historical aspect of the book that interests me. This handiwork was obviously so much more common at that time, and it was so integrated in everyday life, that it’s almost foreign. I’d just love a peek at that period! Pictures can only help flesh out what the words will elaborate on.
If you really pinned me down and put on the thumbscrews for a choice, I’d have to say crewel work, specifically Jacobean, is my favorite embroidery, so far, to do and to have around. (It does have a few close runners-up!) And the 17th century was, of course, THE period for Jacobean (obviously) crewel embroidery. I want to make my own repro of the Laton jacket, and wool Tree of Life bed hangings, and . . . is there an acronym for something along the lines of “project list beyond reasonable life expectancy”?
I actually was able to see this exhibit with some stitching friends and would love to be able to relive the excitement of seeing those pieces. The artistry that they demonstrated is so beautiful. One cannot help but imagine what they felt while they were stitching.
I am just an Embroidery Enthusiast in general. I will read the text so I can understand the pictures, both what they are about and how they were created. I am also fascinated by the embroideries of the life of common people. I was able to see one up close in a museum, and it looked like they had a colored print on cloth, then stitched all the details they could; the hands and faces were not stitched but printed on the fabric. I don’t know if that type of embroidery was done in the 17th Century, but I’d sure like to find out.
Thank you Mary and Joady for this wonderful give-away!
I love the detail of old embroidery pieces. It intrigues me to think of how difficult it must have been for the people that did not have our modern lighting, tools, etc. The perfection achieved is truly remarkable. I would love this book to be able to study in further detail how this was achieved.
I love all your website has to offer in my attempt to improve my skills.
Thank you so much 🙂
I chose to study 17th Century English Embroidery for my City and Guilds Historic Hierlooms Course and really enjoyed the colours,stitches and textures of this period.
Having recently lost my husband I feel this book would inspire me to move forward and create some new pieces of work.
I have long been fascinated with the Tudor/Jacobean eras and the prolific embroideries of the period. Although this particular volume contains absolutely gorgeous photos (I borrowed this volume from interlibrary loan), I am equally captivated by the history and context of these beautiful needle works. I would treasure this book as I delve into the essays — of particular interest is the role of highly embroidered items in Jacobean society and the significance of specific Biblical episodes portrayed in the embroideries within the context of the English Civil War. Woven throughout the photographs and essays are significant insights into the role of women during this period of English history. Paralleling my deep interest in the history of the embroideries is the effort to re-create selected works and create new works inspired — the photographs and the well-done glossary of stitches will be a tremendous resource for those efforts — which I would gladly share (in time) with you and your readers. Being selected to receive this book would certainly be the high point of 2013 for me!
I first became interested in this book when Susan O’Connor showed a copy at a class I was in. I studied Fashion and Textile Design as a student and have always had an interest in historical textile – living in New Zealand makes this challenging as there are few examples to study. My interest lies in all aspects of the book as I keen to increase my knowledge and have a go at replicating some of the pieces as I feel it is important to not lose traditional techniques.
I have been entranced with 17th century embroidery for many years. I am taking Thistle Threads Casket class which is full of great information, but you cannot never get enough. I’d love to be able to read and study this book.
I just recently joined an Elizabethan Stitching group on Yahoo. And have been learning some amazing stitches. I realize this book is a century or so off that era, but I would find any reading of past techniques of particular interest. Of course, the photos of the embroidered items would be the most delightful part of owning this book. I am sure I would go back to it time and again. And I would be happy to share with my little “Bess” stitching group!
I have been coss stiching for a couple of years but want to move to something else. Since the pictures you have shown seems like they are painted I would like to see how they have done it and perhaps copy the technique.
I love to embroider and received a class at the Royal School of Needlework as a Christmas present last year after going to an RSN student works show the previous spring. I became interested in stumpwork and particularly the embroidered caskets and am saving my pennies to go back to the RSN for another class. I would love love love to have this book!
I’ve been eyeing this book for awhile. Since I can’t see the pieces at the museum myself, I figure that this book is the next best thing. I’m a general embroidery enthusiast – always looking for inspiration – and this looks amazingly inspiring.
I enjoy doing embroidery and learning new techniques. My main area of interest is English embroidery, especially the learning about the history of different styles. I am part of a group with interest in the history of embroidery and textiles and this book would make a great resource for us.
I would love to win this book. I have always been fasinated by caskets and 17th century embroidery. I someday want to make a casket when I am retired and have more time.
Robin Marks
I was not aware of this book or the exhibit at the Met. What a treasure this book must be — and special thanks to Joady and Mary for such a grand giveaway to a lucky stitcher and treasurer of books.
Upon reading this, I ordered the book from our interloan library, but haven’t rec’d it yet. I talked to a woman in our Needleworkers Guild who is part of the Thistle Threads casket course group. (talented stitchers they are!)
Having read Thomasina Beck’s book recently about past embroidery eras, I read about a little girl, age 9, Hannah Smith, who embroidered for 2 years for her beautiful cabinet/casket. Then this giveaway came along. I look forward to the photos of such intricate stitchery and design in the Met book and be inspired to raise the bar on my embroidery. Would love such a book to glean and study and appreciate such talent and love of needle and thread of long ago.
I am intrested in history of embroidery. I like rading books, watching photos. They inspire me, make me thinking about many known and unknown stitchers. This book would expand my knowledge, give me more ideas, thoughts.
Thank you for this give away and all your posts!
Agne
I love the pictures most of all, they are such a source of inspiration, but knowledge is also very valuable. I love this period in history, and find it very beautiful in pictures, but I think we all know that Court was not unstinky, but the stitching on the clothes and art objects makes up for it somewhat, lol!