Embroidery and Tapestry Weaving: A Practical Text-Book of Design and Workmanship Paperback – Illustrated, November 10, 2006

Actually, this book was so groundbreaking that it had several editions a century ago. The reason to be careful is that while right now the 3 offerings look genuine, the Look Inside feature is that of a modern reprint.Anna Grace Ida Christie always published under the names "Mrs. A.H. Christie" or " Mrs. Archibald H. Christie" or, as here, "Archibald Christie." the latter I think mistakenly attributes authorship to her husband in pure laziness. (Weirdly, it's hard to look up a bio of Mrs. Christie because Archibald Christie was Agatha Christie's first husband!) This book was a ground-breaking one published in 1906 with a constant string of later editions and reprints like this one from 2008. Mrs. Christie is one of the giants for early embroidery tutorial books, joining the likes of Mary Thomas, Caulfield and Saward, and Therese de Dillmont. Almost all stitch guides owe a debt of gratitude to one or more of these compendium authors. As evidence that this is an important book, it is free to read online as part of the Gutenberg Project.The discussion of tools and materials is fresh and still applies today. For embroidery, including goldwork, you must use a frame, the correct needles and three types of scissors: a large one for cutting the fabric, a small strong one for cutting metallic thread and a small fine sharp one for doing cutwork and drawn thread. She discusses the appropriate ground fabric for each type of embroidery: plain white linen being the most popular. Twilled and damask linen are for fine work and loosely woven is good for drawn thread. Wool yarn, silk and flax (linen) thread are good but, interestingly, she doesn't touch upon our favorite cotton floss. For goldwork, silk and velvet fabric are the best.The third chapter is about designing patterns and, happily, Mrs. Christie admits how hard it is for the amateur, domestic embroiderer to do. She give 15 suggested patterns in lieu of originals by stitchers. Chapter IV is all about chain stitch for which she is famous: Wikipedia cites this book for it. Then Chapters VI through XI display and explain every-day and fancy stitches including satin, stem, overcast, back, buttonholes, knots, herringbone, feather, blanket, fishbone, cretin, Roumanian, insertion stitches and picots; canvas stitches including needlepoint, cross and blackwork stitches; quilting, darning, drawn thread and cutwork; and gold- and silverwork. Chapter XII involves alphabets, heraldry and emblems and XIII is "Garniture" or adding edges, finishing off, cord, knots, fringes and tassels. Chapter XIV is Practical Directions including transferring patterns, preserving and washing finished embroideries. These chapters take up 113 pages. Part II on Tapestry Weaving involves only 20 pages but I think they're very well-conceived. Looms with "woof" and warp threads are shown embellished with weft (horizontal) threads via shuttle and bobbin weaving as well as needleweaving. Even though these are all illustrated in b&w drawings, the directions are very clear showing how to change colors and make patterns.The final pages are 16 "Collotype" plates of antique embroideries, mostly, I believe, from the Victoria & Albert Museum. (I had to google what this is: it's a form of "dichromate-based photography invented by Alphonse Poitevin in 1856--it predated lithography.) These pictures are just clear enough for me to recognize the pieces from other books. And I've been to the V&A and they make me somewhat nostalgic!So while this reprint is of a book that's over a century old, it still packs a punch for practical embroidery. I find it really valuable.