I'm still spending my free time mostly reading (or working on projects I can't show yet). Here's what I'm reading right now.
The Art of Embroidery by Llanto Synge
When I was in London, a friend showed me this book. I made copious notes, but then discovered it here in our library, so I've been reading it cover to cover. Mr. Synge is quite knowledgeable and the book is well written and lavishly illustrated. It has a lot of great information on crewel. Now that I think of it, it is not much of a how-to-stitch book but a wonderful history/survey that includes modern embroidery.
Embroidery by Mrs. Grace Christie and others
This is also from the library, a fragile gem, kept in a box because it's falling apart. It's a rarer book by Mrs. Christie (Her Samplers and Stitches and Embroidery and Tapestry Weaving books are better known). It has articles by several people on stitching, designing, color, history and includes some lovely designs, with instructions plus ideas on how to vary the design/stitches/colors to suit your needs. Mr. Christie wrote some of the articles on design and color. And scattered throughout are how-tos for various stitches and techniques.
One of the articles in this book mentioned a book I just found online. The Art of Needlework by The Countess of Wilton. It's from 1840. I was hoping for a section on crewel or pictures; it has neither. But it does have chapters on embroidery by royalty, the famous field of cloth of gold, and embroidered book covers, so I've saved it to read. You can find it several places online. I downloaded it from here.
