Store
your jewelry (or anything else that requires a very special
home) in these stunning embroidered boxes. Learn the skills
to design your own and the stitches to make them beautiful
in this impressive Royal School of Needlework book.
I’ve had fun making boxes since I learned to make nets
at school when I was about seven. If you like making functional
items that make great gifts this book contains three such
projects, as well as all you need to know to make your own
designs up. Most of what you need consists of basic stationary
items, fabric and thread plus a few embellishments. There
are a few extras such as mountboard and a special cutter for
it, a good sized floor standing slate frame for larger projects
and some smaller items but nothing too expensive or unusual.
The middle section explains all the basics common to any box
making project such as designing, working out construction,
working with different frames, transferring designs and choosing
fabric. Learn the embroidery stitches used in the projects;
these bring together several different styles of embroidery
including freestyle, goldwork, ribbonwork and needlelace.
As with everything in this book there are plenty of staged
photographs with captions that take you through the processes
for a smooth learning experience. There are only three projects
in here but each one will teach you a lot of useful things
about box making and they are all beautiful. Choose from a
treasure chest box with a simple dragonfly motif in crystal,
an elegant square box with an afternoon tea picture on the
lid and my favorite the stunning 17th century stumpwork casket.
Each project has quite a few pages detailing it all including
a list of what you need, all measurements given in imperial
and metric, patterns to trace and transfer and lots of helpful
photographs. I can’t wait to get started! One of my
favorite books this year to date as it makes a subject often
considered complicated and obscure seem doable, fresh and
exciting.
If
you cannot find a good range of embroidery and needlecraft
materials locally try www.searchpress.com
for a list of suppliers.
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