Bargello: Florentine Canvas Work
Williams, Elsa S.
Van Nostrand Reinhold Co., New York, 1967
Good basic book for florentine work includes several early patterns which are not identified as such unfortunately. SB
Beginner
Posts categoriezed as Canvas Work
Bargello: An Explosion in Color
Bargello: An Explosion in Color
Boyles, Margaret
MacMillan Publishing Co., New York, 1974
Excellent book. Clear instructions. Many traditional designs dating from 17th C, although they are not identified. SB
Beginner
A Practical Guide to Canvas Work From the Victoria and Albert Museum
A Practical Guide to Canvas Work From the Victoria and Albert Museum
Parry, Linda, ed.
Main Street Press, Pittstown NJ, 1987
ISBN# 1-55562-033-7
Linda is a curator at the V&A. Great little booked packed with information about canvas work history and patterns. Most are post 1600. SB
Intermediate
A Pageant of Pattern for Needlepoint Canvas with diagrams by Maggie Lane
A Pageant of Pattern for Needlepoint Canvas with diagrams by Maggie Lane
Lantz, Sherlee
Andre Deutch, London, 1973
A book that discusses geometric patterns through the ages. Many black and white plates of geometric period patterns. Some pictures of needlework including a picture of English pulled work from the 1500’s. Book has some period stitches for both needlepoint and pulled work. CL
Beginner
Tent, Tenters & Tenterhooks
Tent, tenters & tenterhooks: some historical canvas work
by Christian de Holacombe
I had one of those “revelation moments” a while back — where you suddenly put two pieces of information, both of which you already knew, together for the first time, and it dawns on you, “Oh, so THAT’s why…”
This particular one was about tent stitch, that simple little diagonal stitch that looks like half of a cross stitch and is so often used for the modern embroidery on canvas that we (inaccurately) call “needlepoint” or “tapestry work.”Continue reading Tent, Tenters & Tenterhooks
Sweet Canvaswork
Sweet Canvaswork
by Baroness Eowyn Amberdrake, Caid
Canvaswork in Elizabethan England was more than simply using Tent stitch to create an overall design, though that was certainly used. In particular, many of the surviving Elizabethan and Jacobean sweet bags were worked on fine linen canvas in a variety of stitches, some counted and others surface, all used together on the same piece.Continue reading Sweet Canvaswork
Prose, Poems, Points & Purls
Prose, poems, points & purls:
Embroidered book covers
by Christian de Holacombe
Artisans have probably been decorating book covers for as long as there have been books — and before the invention of the “codex,” the book with pages that has been the mainstay of literature in the West for a thousand years or so, the long Judaic tradition of rich covers for the Torah scroll tells us that there were fancy covers for scrolls, too.Continue reading Prose, Poems, Points & Purls
Canvaswork Techniques
Canvaswork Techniques
by Isela de Bari
Canvaswork is the term referring to 16th century needlework done on canvas Today, we refer to canvaswork as “needlepoint”, but this is an American description. If you used the term needlepoint during the Middle Ages, you would be referring to lacemaking with a needle. Like the word embroidery, canvaswork is often confused with the word tapestry, which refers to a woven design. Perhaps that confusion stems from the fact that Elizabethan needleworkers were copying European pictorial tapestry designs onto canvas. Flemish woven tapestries, especially those depicting human figures and those skillfully woven with silk and metal threads, were expensive, admired, and coveted.Continue reading Canvaswork Techniques
Canvaswork
Period Stitches (#2 in a series)
One of the most frequently asked questions in the Guild is, “What stitches are period?” This article, the second in a series of six, will look at the second category of the Apprenticeship Program, Canvaswork.This article first appeared in the Guild newsletter, the Filum Aureum, Spring 2000
Canvaswork
by Isela de Bari
Canvaswork refers to needlework that covers the whole surface of canvas with stitching. Today, we refer to canvaswork as “needlepoint”, but this is an American term. If you used the term needlepoint in the Middle Ages, you’d be referring to a type of needle-made lace.Continue reading Canvaswork