Stitch Safari
Roadmap Resources
Book Review: The Pocket
Who would think a simple, commonplace pocket could be the holder of such a scope of fascinating research? Obviously, the authors, Barbara Burman - an independent scholar, and Ariane Fennetaux - associate professor of eighteenth-century history at Université de Paris,...
Book Review: Maison Lesage Haute Couture Embroidery
Maison Lesage is a dynastic house of haute couture embroidery that worked with the who's who of the fashion industry - Vionnet, Schiaparelli, Balenciaga, Dior, Yves Saint Laurent, Givenchy, and Chanel. This book draws the link from the very inception of Maison Lesage...
Book Review: The Hunt of the Unicorn
Though not embroidery, the magnificently woven medieval tapestries making up the set known as The Unicorn Tapestries, provide a wonderful vehicle for this richly imaginative work of fiction. No one knows for whom the Tapestries were made or what they mean or...
Book Review: The Girl Who Wrote In Silk
Imagine finding an intricately embroidered sleeve while exploring a relative's deceased estate. Inara Erickson unearths this long-forgotten treasure, knowing that she has found something quite special and unique. With no knowledge of embroidery, Inara looks for help...
Book Review: The Quick and the Thread
A cozy mystery full of red herrings, misdirection, and intrigue set in a newly opened embroidery store aptly named The Seven-Year Stitch, where the heroine teaches embroidery and solves the mystery of the body in the storeroom.
Book Review: Trace: The Embroidered Art of Michele Carragher
What this book shows is an acute awareness and perception for storytelling in stitch. This is concept embroidery at its very best.
Book Review: A Single Thread
This gentle, yet powerful story is so easily relatable – who of us hasn’t felt gut-wrenching loss, and been nervous about making unprecedented life changes?
Book Review: The Tenth Gift
Jane Johnson is a prolific writer of books for both adults and children as well as being a fiction book editor. A trip to North Africa in 2005 investigating a long-buried family legend about the abduction of a family from a Cornish church by Barbary pirates in 1625,...
Book Review: The Gown
Cleverly entitled The Gown, this historical novel will almost certainly appeal to anyone interested in the making of one of the most famous wedding gowns of the 20th century – that of Queen Elizabeth II.
Medieval Craftsmen Embroiderers
Kay Staniland is an English author and embroiderer, with five other titles to her name. This small book, published by British Museum Press, London, in 1991 is a well-researched introduction into the somewhat hazy and indefinite world of medieval embroiderers - the...
Book Review: Threads of Life
Author Clare Hunter was a finalist for the Aesthetica Creative Writing Award, with a story published in its 2017 Annual, a recipient of a Creative Scotland Award in 2016 and winner of the Saltire First Book Award for Threads of Life. Clare is also a sewer, banner...
Book Review: English Medieval Embroidery Opus Anglicanum
English Medieval Embroidery, Opus Anglicanum was published in association with the Victoria and Albert Museum, to accompany a major exhibition held in 2017. Edited by Clare Browne, Curator of European Textiles, pre-1800, V&A London, Glynn Davies, Curator of...
Book Review: The Bayeux Tapestry – The Life Story of a Masterpiece
Thrilling and compelling, this book is romantically entertaining and readable. Each new chapter opens vignettes into one of the worlds greatest treasures and is a worthy tribute to its history.
Book Review: A Needle in the Right Hand of God
The Bayeux Tapestry is a visual record of the Conquest of England, but more importantly, it’s a powerful visual representation of cultural memory from a time when literacy wasn’t markedly evident.
Book Review: The Subversive Stitch
Waxing lyrical about books is sort of my thing. I love books, so when a book actually takes me on a journey or makes me think - that's special. And that's what Subversive Stitch by Rozsika Parker did for me. To date, my interest in Feminism has been minimal. ...
Book Review: Women’s Work – The First 20,000 Years – Women, Cloth, and Society in Early Times
This book provides a fascinating world-view glimpse into patterns, clothing, spinning, weaving, trade and even language through the ways cloth-making shaped the lives of women.
Book Review: Guo Pei – Couture Beyond
Guo Pei, the first Chinese designer invited to join the prestigious Chambre Syndicale de la Haute Couture combines tradition, history and mythology producing unconventional and otherworldly designs – a reflection of her oeuvre. With a reverence for China’s imperial past and beauty, her aspiration is to bring that heritage into a reflection of today’s modern fashion currency.
Book Review: The Golden Thread
The Golden Thread, How Fabric Changed History, written by Kassia St Clair, Published by John Murray Publishers, 2018. This is the sort of book I would read again and again. It’s an easy read, and extremely informative. Filled with craftily woven stories that bring...