An all-in-one volume covering crewelwork, canvaswork, and six other types of hand embroidery, from the renowned school established in nineteenth-century England. This beautiful book is a rich source of embroidery techniques, stitches, and projects, covering eight key subjects in detail: crewelwork, bead embroidery, stumpwork, canvaswork, goldwork, whitework, blackwork, and silk shading. Collecting all the books in the trusted, bestselling Royal School of Needlework Essential Stitch Guide series, plus a new section on mounting your finished work, this fantastic book—heavily illustrated with photos—is a must-have for all embroiderers.

The distinguished reputation and specialist knowledge of the Royal School of Needlework are combined in this colourful and inspirational introduction to the most popular hand embroidery techniques. A detailed introductory section provides all the practical information needed for setting up and finishing pieces of embroidery, selecting your design, fabric and treads and preparing and framing up for working. The next four chapters examine the popular techniques of silk shading, gold work, crewelwork and black work, all introduced with a historical overview and a comprehensive stitch glossary. Each stitch technique features four exquisitely worked embroidery projects with step-by-step instructions and photographs explaining their development and stitching. The 16 projects include a Jacobean leaf sampler in crewel work, an Iris in blackwork, a tree bark design in silk shading and a sampler in goldwork. 'Royal School of Needlework: Embroidery Techniques' is an essential guide to stitching for embroiderers – it is a valuable source of reference and a beautiful book for the needlecrafter's library.

Reproduction of the original: Handbook of Embroidery by L. Higgin

Figures can bring an embroidery to life, but they are tricky to do well. This book guides you through the materials, stitches, body parts and clothes to give you the confidence and skills to embroider a figure and experiment, using your creative inspiration. With over 400 colour photographs it gives key information for getting started, creating designs and preparing embroideries; techniques for making three-dimensional forms using stitching and padding techniques; clear instruction for mastering stitches and then ideas for using them creatively. Specific advice is given for embroidering the face, hair, hands and feet as well as ideas for using stitching embellishments, such as beads, sequins, buttons, ribbons, feathers and jewellery charms. Step-by-step projects demonstrate a range of beautiful styles and techniques.

Blackwork has a rich history that has developed over the years into an iconic and sophisticated style of embroidery. This practical book presents a number of ways to approach blackwork embroidery, from forming basic stitches and patterns to developing complex shaded pieces with confidence. Through an assortment of exercises, it introduces the principles of shading along with several projects to further explore the potential of blackwork. Detailed instructions on designing and developing shaded pieces of blackwork embroidery are given along with guidance on how to choose suitable images for translating into stitch. Step-by-step instructions on how to form basic stitches and how to form patterns are included as well as almost 250 shaded patterns, indicating how differing patterns appear when worked in different thicknesses of thread. Finally, patterns are grouped by family for easy identification and pattern blending.

This practical, contemporary guide to the exciting and varied world of raised embroidery is written by Kelley Aldridge, an expert teacher with the Royal School of Needlework. Part of a new series showcasing the RSNs traditional techniques, technical excellence and contemporary flair, it contains a complete grounding in raised embroidery stitches and techniques, three beautiful projects and galleries of inspiring work. The book features an introduction to the RSN and its prestigious heritage. It reveals the history and context of raised embroidery and showcases galleries of inspiring raised embroidery work. This is primarily a practical, instructional guide that offers a complete grounding in the techniques you need for raised embroidery: it contains a comprehensive stitch guide and leads the reader through each technique using clear step-by-step photography and easy-to-follow expert guidance. The book contains three beautiful projects that put these techniques into practice and showcase additional advanced techniques.

If you think you know what cross stitch is, look again! Jamie Chalmers, aka Mr X Stitch, shows you how to cross stitch using simple step-by-step instructions and also takes you to the frontiers of cross stitch design. The book is aimed at stitchers of all abilities, from absolute beginners looking to learn a new craft to embroiderers and cross stitchers who want to do something different in cross stitching. For many, cross stitch conjures up images of cute kittens and country cottages, but this book shows people that theres a different side to cross stitching that its an art in its own right, and will encourage them to be a little braver with their art. Jamies writing style is fun, entertaining and highly inspirational. The book aims to appeal to men as well as women, encouraging one and all to take up the ancient craft. It teaches the basics of cross stitching, including information on materials, tools, techniques and colour blending, but also puts Jamies own individual spin on it, with urban flavours and the introduction of different materials such as glow-in-the-dark threads and stitching on metal. As well as providing exciting designs to stitch, there is guidance on how to create cross stitch designs of your own, for example by using photographs and other images for reference. Jamie also showcases the work of other contemporary cross stitchers who are pushing the boundaries of their craft, and introduces more than 20 stunning cutting-edge projects to make, showing that beauty, innovation and 'craftivism' are alive and kicking in this inspirational book.