Description

Letts 1st 1992
small 4to, glazed pictorial boards, name + date to front free endpaper verso o/w F 430 gms
(Order reference 7948).

Most keen embroiderers, cross-stitchers and sampler-makers attempt to keep a record of the thread they buy, the designs they like — motifs they often use over and over again — or of patterns seen in a museum or at a friend's house. It is also useful to keep track of pieces of embroidery made and given as special presents to friends and relatives. But lists, loose notes and sketches are easily lost.

At last, there is a practical and attractive way to store all this information, and much else besides. The Sampler Workbook is a personal needlecraft book, enabling embroiderers to prepare their own charts on graph paper and build up a repertoire of old, new and personal designs. It also contains a wealth of invaluable tips, many charted original designs by Jane Greenoff, a thread exchange list, information on the different types of embroidery cloth and canvas available, and several specially designed sections in which the owner of the book can keep systematic personal needlecraft records. The workbook is charmingly illustrated with pictures of antique samplers and of modern ones, specially made by the author. This workbook has been devised for practical use, in the truest sense of the word.

Samplers have been taken as the theme for this book because for centuries they were the way to practise and keep patterns of embroidered motifs and alphabets. The sampler has an almost universal tradition and these personalized needlecraft records of yesteryear are much admired and collected today for their decorative value. Embroiderers everywhere are keen to copy the old designs, or to create their own, producing samplers for their own sake, as pictures.