There are various books you might find useful in your projects. A selection of embroidery books shown below is a good place to start.
Please note that some of these books are the same book in a different cover! These have been included to make it easier to identify the books, which are available on Amazon, at booksellers and may be available to purchase second-hand.
Please also note that some of the stitches will appear in more than one of the books (for example, chain stitch and stem stitch)
Crewel Embroidery
The examples of chain stitch, French knots and stem stitch came from this book.
Freestyle embroidery does not rely on the individual threads of the fabric being counted. Designs can be freehand or copied on to the fabric with a transfer. Delicate effects of light and shade can be created with long and short stitch, outlines can be worked with running stitch, back stitch or stem stitch. French knots can be used to create texture, such as flowers or an animal's furry coat.
Blackwork Embroidery
We discussed this in class: Hans Holbein, the court painter to Henry VIII, painted portraits of nobility with such attention to detail it is possible to see the Blackwork embroidery on the collars and cuffs of the subjects. Blackwork embroidery is sometimes called "Spanish work" as it is thought it was brought to England by Katherine of Aragon, Henry VIII's first wife.
Pulled Thread Embroidery
Pulled thread embroidery does not involve cutting the fabric, but the embroidery is deliberately pulled tight to distort the fabric. Sometimes pulled thread embroidery is called "drawn threadwork", but this should not be confused with "withdrawn threadwork", where the threads are cut and "withdrawn" from the fabric.
We discussed this in class: it involves cutting and removing some fabric threads and weaving patterns with the remaining threads. It requires special even weave fabric. Hardanger fabric is made from pairs of fabric strands woven alternately. For this form of embroidery it is important that the fabric has the same number of threads vertically and horizontally so that there is no distortion. This means that the patterns can be woven and embroidered in squares rather than rectangles.
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