Layers of Meaning

Encyclopedia of Machine Embroidery

Encyclopedia of Machine Embroidery has just been released by Chrysalis Books. The publisher's website has some great excerpts of the book - 7 pdfs that give a look at 14 pages of the book. The writing is insightful, with a level of detail on each subject that gives the beginnings for many experiments. Here is an excerpt from the entry on velvet:
"It is necessary to take certain precautions when stitching velvet. If the stitching is worked directly into the velvet surface, it will be lost in the pile, so to ensure that this does not happen, a topping fabric can be used. A fine cold water vanishing fabric placed on top of the velvet will ensure that the stitching does not bed into the surface. The topping can be washed away afterwards. This method of keeping the stitching from being lost into the surface of a fabric can also be used for towelling and corded fabrics."

The book appears to be arranged, as the title would suggest, as an encyclopedic work, with the entries being ordered alphabetically rather than as a series of tutorials. The would seem to make it of immense advantage both for garnering inspiration and as a reference to be kept on the work table. The images are detailed and varied - lots of work is shown from a variety of artists. This book is going at the top of my book wishlist!
image: Encyclopedia of Machine Embroidery by Val Holmes