Crewelwork by Jacqui McDonald
Have you ever read a craft book and thought "Wow that describes the sole of the craft?" That's kind of my reaction to Jacqui McDonald's book Crewelwork. Commissioned by the Royal School of Needlework to write their treatise on crewel embroidery for the series Essential Stitches Guide, Ms McDonald created a little volume that stands as an example of what good craft instruction should be. In this small 96-page volume, Jacqui McDonald managed to concisely describe each essential element of embroidery while staying useful. From framing to colors, stitches to work order, this book offers new and experienced embroiderers useful information.
The foreparts of the book cover the history of the Royal School of Needlework and crewelwork. The chapters quickly move to materials, tools, color theory, framing and even how to thread your needle. (Remember new and experienced alike.) Most of this book is given to describing individual stitches, so in many ways this book is a stitch dictionary. Stitches are categorized into essential, filling, outline and surface stitches. The essential stitches cover how to start a thread and split stitch. Filling stitches describe the multiple ways you can embroider a large area. Outline stitches describe stitches that create lines, while surface stitches describe accents that are often added last. The order of these categories subtly enforces a general order in which stitches should be embroidered. The volume ends with an informative discussion on the order of work for an embroidery piece.
This book is in full color with many examples of modern and historic of crewel embroidery. Pictures of the RSN practice pieces are a treat as they demonstrate what RSN apprentices learn in their classes. The examples are mostly traditional crewelwork though, so don't expect to see many modern styles of design.
One of the things I love about this book is the inset pictures that show intermediate parts of a step. Like little sign posts that indicate you're on the right track, these inset pictures let you know you're doing something right as a step in a stitch is being done. It's kinda like someone pulled the most essential frames of a video out for show.
If there is a flaw in this book, it's that Crewelwork concentrates too much on its style of embroidery. All of the stitches in this book and most of the rest of the information can be applied to embroidery in general. While not every stitch described is appropriate to every embroidery style, this book covers so much information that it serves as an excellent introduction to the general topic of embroidery.
So if you are looking for an embroidery book to give a budding embroiderer or even just a good reference book to give an old hand, pick up Crewelwork by Jacqui McDonald. You'll make someone's day.
I have no affiliation with Ms. McDonald or the Royal School of Needlework. They just make cool stuff.
The foreparts of the book cover the history of the Royal School of Needlework and crewelwork. The chapters quickly move to materials, tools, color theory, framing and even how to thread your needle. (Remember new and experienced alike.) Most of this book is given to describing individual stitches, so in many ways this book is a stitch dictionary. Stitches are categorized into essential, filling, outline and surface stitches. The essential stitches cover how to start a thread and split stitch. Filling stitches describe the multiple ways you can embroider a large area. Outline stitches describe stitches that create lines, while surface stitches describe accents that are often added last. The order of these categories subtly enforces a general order in which stitches should be embroidered. The volume ends with an informative discussion on the order of work for an embroidery piece.
This book is in full color with many examples of modern and historic of crewel embroidery. Pictures of the RSN practice pieces are a treat as they demonstrate what RSN apprentices learn in their classes. The examples are mostly traditional crewelwork though, so don't expect to see many modern styles of design.
One of the things I love about this book is the inset pictures that show intermediate parts of a step. Like little sign posts that indicate you're on the right track, these inset pictures let you know you're doing something right as a step in a stitch is being done. It's kinda like someone pulled the most essential frames of a video out for show.
If there is a flaw in this book, it's that Crewelwork concentrates too much on its style of embroidery. All of the stitches in this book and most of the rest of the information can be applied to embroidery in general. While not every stitch described is appropriate to every embroidery style, this book covers so much information that it serves as an excellent introduction to the general topic of embroidery.
So if you are looking for an embroidery book to give a budding embroiderer or even just a good reference book to give an old hand, pick up Crewelwork by Jacqui McDonald. You'll make someone's day.
I have no affiliation with Ms. McDonald or the Royal School of Needlework. They just make cool stuff.