Customer Reviews

18th Century Embroidery Techniques

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is my favorite book, bar none. I know, weird, but I'm a fiber artist. The contents of this book take the mystery out of the "how'd they do that?" It explains clearly what and how embroidery, especially of royalty and the royal court, was accomplished. IF it was still clear as mud after I read it, there were pictures and drawings. The pictures, BTW, are amazing. The content, superb. The writing, clear and personal.

This book gives very thorough descriptions of the embroidery processes of the 18th C. It answered many questions about the role of the professional embroiderer, and for the needleworker who loves a challenge, is very inspirational.
Some of the garments described are shown only as sketches by the author rather than photographs. This may be due to the fragility of the original articles, but I would have liked to get a feel for the actual garment rather than the artists concept of how it looked and was worn.
In addition, it would help if the detailed descriptions of what stitches were used had indicators as to where on the motif the particular stitch was used.
Still, it was well worth the money and I am very pleased to have it in my 18th Century library! I know I will go back to it again and again for inspiration.

This book is well researched and presents clear detailed descriptions of a fascinating subject. I love the inserted quotes especially those from the ever chatty Mrs Delany. (I highly recommend the wonderful book by Ruth Hayden "Mrs Delany Her Life and her Flowers") The only reason I chose to give this book 4 stars rather than 5 is the lack of color photos of the garments. Too many of the items are represented by simple line sketches making them difficult to visualize.

As a student of "costume" and a creator of historical dress in miniature, I found this book fascinating. The review of tools and the process to complete the techniques are invaluable and would love see have more books just like it. I consider this book an invaluable tool for embroiderers, contemporary or historical.

For what it is, a breakdown of 18th century embroidery techniques, this is a very comprehensive book. Lots of detailed research on stitching and techiques and 18th workshop practice and tools. Not a how-to book, as such. But fascinating for anyone who loves embroidery, particularly the beautiful embroidery of the 18th century.
My only real beef with this book is that there isn't a large number of photographs of original stitching and garments. A few, but the majority of the illustrations are the authors own artwork, which is fairly simple in style. I would have perferred more images and breakdowns of actual garments as this period is such a sumptuous one for beautiful fabrics and embroidery, whereas the focus of this book is mainly research orientated. Not suprising since the author states in the introduction that this is a breakdown of 10 volumes full of research that she did for a masters.

For the embroiderer interested in historical needlework, this book belongs in your library. It's a wonderful treatment of embroidery techniques from the 18th century.

The book has a good bit of "how to" information in it - and a lot of "how they did it" information - as well as beautiful photos of 18th century needlework (especially on clothing), and many diagrams of typical designs.

It's also a very readable book. The author includes historical anecdotes, excerpts of personal letters from the era, and some interesting nitty-gritty details about costs and labor. Very interesting stuff!

This book has an abundance of photos of actual gaments to illustrate the various stitches. Anyone who loves this period of dress, and the details of fabric decoration that made the 18th C.costume unique, should have this book. Whether they are into making their own pirate coats, or just admiring the amount of work that our ancestors put into the highest fashions of the day, this is a valuable reference.

Extraordinary book! A must have for all living history interpeters who delight in embroidery and stitchery.

Gail's love for the 18th century embroidery/fashions are shown throughout her book. Like most books, she first takes us to introductions. But, this has a different twist. After Gail teaches us tools and equipment that was used in the 1700's, she gives us a short history of the working life of "highest-paid trade for women" and the common wives, sisters and daughters of the times." On page 32, Mrs. Marsh states, "Embroiderers always rolled the rollers on top of the stretched fabric, so that the already worked embroidery was rolled inside and protected." This is a great hint for all stitchers past and present.

Throughout the book, we learn about metal, silk and novelty threads along with different techniques such as quilting, whitework, tambour, crewel and Hollie Point. Each section explains various types of clothing such as stomachers, men's coats, aprons, baby's caps, petticoats and vest. Gail doesn't just talk about these but explains how they were worked and the types of threads, techniques and little known facts. You can see her love for textiles and embroidery as you read through the pages.

Gail states, Hollie Point "is no longer practiced today." Her instructions are so exact that I, for one, will be adding Hollie Point to my next embroidery project.

I especially enjoyed Gail's quote, "I hope that when you have read this book you will be inspired to take up a needle to stitch your own version of an 18th-century embroidered piece..." Although embroidering an entire piece of clothing is a little daunting, learning the history and techniques along with lovely pictures and illustrations, this book is a great read for anyone who enjoys textiles, embroidery or clothing construction.

This book was extremely useful to me, it really provides me a clear picture of the colors,textures and designs of that time.