This book is a pioneering study of Japanese ornamental textiles made for the foreign market during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. These exquisite embroideries, resist-dyed silks and velvets, tapestries and appliqud works were an impo

A comprehensive guide to collectible Chinese textiles shown in over 500 color photos, with an understandable grading system to aid in establishing value. This beautifully illustrated book is designed for all historians, Asian study scholars, and textile collectors, from beginning to advanced. It is a real-world representation of court robes, badges and decorative textiles and a must for appraisers and connoisseurs alike.

The ultimate reference guides for needleworkers with amazing projects, detailed step-by-step instructions and stunning photographs. This best-selling series covering mainly embroidery but also sewing, knitting and crochet was originally published by Country Bumpkin in Australia and has now been revamped for the modern needleworker by Search Press, with a fresh new design.This book is full of practical expertise on how to create beautiful goldwork embroideries, enhanced with silk embroidery, while conveying the history and tradition of goldwork down the years. There is detailed information about the threads and equipment needed, with clearly illustrated instructions and many hints and tips to help you achieve the best results.

This popular book by Ruth Chamberlin now returns as a Search Press Classic, with an updated design and preface on the author by the illustrious embroiderer Mary Corbet. A needle art that dates back over a thousand years, goldwork embroidery involves sewing with lavish metal threads. It has been prized and often used by religious orders and royal households for its opulence and the way the light glimmers and plays on the beautiful metallic designs. Those in love with this brilliant style of embroidery can now create their own with easy-to-follow, step-by-step guide. Through calm and deliberate instruction, Chamberlin's book aims to teach the reader how to create a personal sampler - a piece of embroidery containing a mixture of designs and stitches, which shall provide a basis for future projects and enable readers to continue on their goldwork journey. With multiple stitch techniques - from simple laid stitch to the more complex basket stitch, several design motifs with corresponding templates that can be used, and a luminous gallery of finished work interspersed throughout, Chamberlin's work gently introduces beginners to the exquisite needle art of goldwork embroidery.

This sweeping historical fiction novel takes you behind the scenes of the Forbidden City during the fall of China's last empire. When I was a child, I thought my destiny was to live and die on the banks of the Xiangjiang River as my family had done for generations. I never imagined that my life would lead me to the Forbidden City and the court of China’s last Empress. Born in the middle of nowhere, Yaqian, a little embroidery girl from Hunan Province, finds her way to the imperial court, a place of intrigue, desire, and treachery. From the bed of an Emperor, the heart of a Prince, and the right side of an Empress, Yaqian weaves her way through the most turbulent decades of China’s history and witnesses the fall of the Qing Dynasty. Fans of Amy Tan, Lisa See, Anchee Min, and Pearl S. Buck are sure to love this debut novel by Amanda Roberts. This richly descriptive and painstakingly researched novel brings the opulence of the Qing Court to life as Yaqian and Empress Cixi's lives intertwine over six decades. Keywords: historical fiction, historical romance, Chinese historical fiction, historical fiction book, historical fiction novel, historical romance novels, historical novel, books set in China, historical fiction set in China, ancient china historical fiction, historical novels about China

A new, larger format edition of the Royal School of Needlework's essential guide to goldwork, giving you all you need to create beautiful stitched work with metal thread. The Royal School of Needlework teaches hand embroidery to the highest standard and is well respected all over the world. It not only upholds the traditions of English embroidery that go back many hundreds of years but is constantly taking embroidery forward in new and innovative ways. Written by Helen McCook, RSN Graduate Apprentice, Tutor and renowned embroiderer, this book begins with: A historical account of goldwork, then moves on to the materials and equipment required Framing up, how to transfer a design on to fabric, and how to start and finish a thread. The main section of the book then covers all the essential stitches and techniques through clear, step-by-step diagrams and photographs, coupled with beautiful, close-up photographs showing how then can be used in a finished piece. All the key traditional techniques are included: couching, bricking, basketweave, cutwork, spangles, s-ing, pearl purl, plate, and kid. The book ends with beautiful and exquisitely worked examples of how the techniques can be combined in finished pieces. Part of the RSN Essential Guides series.

One look at these pages and you know that this isn't your grandmother's crewel, but a hip, contemporary update that will have everyone reaching for a needle and thread. And these projects are easy, too, because crewel has no counting, no grids, and no cross-stitch--just beautiful free-form embroidery. Dive right in, guided by a basics chapter that explains how to do the different stitches, ranging from French knots to laid filling. Novices will swiftly move on to the 30 practice designs, all accompanied by easy-to-follow instructions and diagrams, and a dozen lovely projects. Make a card or keepsake scrapbook embellished with stitched motifs, colorful totes, table runners, and an elegant tryptich.