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Monday 28 July 2014

SOLD Rouyer's Most Beautiful Old Motifs and Alphabets * £40 €60 $130 Shipping Included (Australia & New Zealand $140)

Maison Rouyer was very much like Sajou. Famous for its embroidery leporelli - those delightful little concertina pattern books. This book brings together the charts of Rouyer's best designs for you to use.
In new condition, this French-language hardback has 158 pages, which are full of decorative alphabets of all types and sizes for you to use on your special projects
many of these can be stitched just as they are, like samplers, and perhaps made into a stitched pattern book.
Thee are some polychrome designs, so not all monochrome
and many little ditsy motifs
embellishments
borders and friezes.

Sunday 27 July 2014

A Smile on the Face of The Creator - Siva Swaminathan and his Sampler Collection

I first learned of Siva Swaminathan's illness in 2008, just before the Ackworth2008 event. We had scheduled a group to visit his well known sampler collection and Siva phone me up, barely able to speak, saying regretfully the visit would have to be called off that time.
After his sounding so poorly, I was delighted to see him rally for the special dinner we had at Montacute House with Nancie Goodhart. It was hard to believe that any illness could touch this giant of a man with impeccable manners and a great sense of fun. One of the few men at the dinner, he endeared himself to all immediately by sporting a pullover with a large sampler design on the front!
I am glad the world enjoyed his presence for another six years and give thanks for his life - one aspect of which was his assembling of a fine sampler collection. Now the pieces he brought together are to go the way of the clouds; like all collections they form, they come and go, they build and then are dispersed by the winds of time in all directions. Whenever this happens there is a sense of melancholy. Once at home within their own companionship, the scattered pieces will be as the fragments of a mirrored smile on the face of the collector. But they will not be lost. Each will be gathered up once again into another's smile, as shall Siva.
The Siva Swaminathan Collection of Samplers will be auctioned at Dukes of Dorchester on 31 July 2014. To see the catalogue and the samplers, click here.

Saturday 26 July 2014

SOLD European Textiles in the Keir Collection * £28 €42 $105 Including Shipping (Australia & New Zealand $115)

Originally priced at £75 this hardbacked, jacketed, slip-cased book of 312 pages is in mint condition.
This is a book for serious textile-lovers. Donald King was former Keeper of Textiles at the V&A Museum in London  and was an expert of the old school. His opinion on all matters relating to textiles was always widely sought.
The Keir Collection itself is one of the most widely ranging and comprehensive textile collections gathered together in any country.
There is a chapter relating to embroidered items, but not all items are embroidered and not all images are in colour. Some are in black and white.
These small pattern velvets remind me of the patterns for cross-stitch embroidery in Rosina Furst's embroidery book of 16th century Nuremberg and demonstrates the cross-over of influences as well as the democratization of design and decoration at that time.
The date range of the items in the collection is from the early days of textiles in 4000BCE up to 1800CE.

Going, Going, Almost Gone - The Goodhart Samplers * £47 €66 $95 Shipping Included

It feels as though my children are growing up quickly and leaving home! Not quite 6 years old and the Goodhart Samplers are down to the last 3 or 4 boxes - they will be out of print before the end of the year if not before.
It was a delight making this book and I am so pleased you loved it.
And of course there are all the wonderful memories associated with its launch at Ackworth School in 2008 when many kind-hearted and good friends came along to see its beginning in the sampler world.
Like all Needleprint jacketed books there is a fully charted pattern in the jacket interior for a lovely sampler - we don't believe in wasting paper.
If you haven't already seen this book, here are just a few of the fabulous pages for you to enjoy.
There are over 260 full colour pages of the samplers
all with detail images so you can see examples of the stitching close-up
Thank you to everyone who joined me in this journey and who have already purchased the book - you helped to make all this happen and I am so grateful. If you would like to browse or buy a copy of this book, just click here.

Friday 25 July 2014

SOLD Repertoire des Frises * £20 €30 $70 Shipping Included (Australia & New Zealand $75)

A softback book of over 200 pages in pristine condition full to the brim of borders and more.
There is a border for every sampler under the moon in this book - plus - as you can see, other decorative motifs.
This book usefully orders the borders by size and they get progressively wider towards the end of the book.
There are just so many - it is hard to choose which to show you
These little cherubs popped up quite unexpectedly!
And there are great corner motifs also - just in case you feel the need not to have to be precise in setting out your borders so that they all turn perfect corners....

SOLD Embroidery Motifs From Dutch Samplers * £20 €30 $75 Shipping Included (New Zealand and Australia $80)

This is a classic English Language book of 1984, hardback with around 200 pages in very good condition and intact jacket. The book includes a charted pattern for the sampler you see on the cover.
All the motifs charted in this book are taken from historical samplers and references for each are helpfully given.
Interspersed amongst the motifs are images of samplers, some in colour and some in black and white.
Some of the sampler images spread across both pages so are quite clear to see.
The images are divided into easy to reference sections - below you can see the start of the section on houses. I love this typical gabled Dutch house.
I also think the Tree of Life motifs are nothing short of fabulous and can stitch them until the cows come home.
Not to forget the ships which are another all time favourite motif of mine!

SOLD Boutis Fantaisie * £18 €27 $60 Shipping Included (New Zealand and Australia $65)

Having spent many winters in the South of France now, I am accustomed to seeing examples of fine boutis everywhere - and not just in museums. It is as integral to Provencal life as Bouillebaisse.
Maybe the examples I saw, covers for beds, quilted skirts, were always too large for me to ever consider I could make anything myself. Then I went to see the Tristan Quilt at the V&A - certainly not in my skills bracket! - but there was an introductory workshop, which I decided to attend to discover the how one would go about making such a piece in practice. With a little guidance I made a rather nice small pin-cushion - and then I realised I was hooked. I had the confidence to try larger projects.
And this super book was a stepping stone in that journey. It is replete with easy to make yet interesting pieces such as lamp-shades, napkin rings, tea-pot cosies and so on. The Book is in French, but the diagrams are clear.
Here you can see some of those small projects - lovely for elegant needle-case covers - très raffinées!
The technique is simply defining pattern areas using back stitch or running stitch and then the pattern areas or channels are puffed by drawing thick cotton thread through with a bodkin - the type of cotton you might knit into a dishcloth. It really is that simple!
Below you can see one of the clear pattern templates with arrows showing the direction of drawing the cotton through. This book is in mint condition. It is hardback and has 96 pages with 19 easy to achieve projects.