Celtic, Viking and Anglo Saxon Embroidery Book

We are very excited to have copies of this book on our shelves. This is not a how-to book, full of patterns, instructions and diagrams.

It is a book of inspiration. It lets you dream. It is full of beautiful photographs that show in great detail a body of work inspired by Celtic, Viking and Anglo Saxon Embroidery.

This book is Jan Messent’s imagination let loose within a framework of her vast knowledge of embroidery and textile art of this period. She uses techniques that are completely modern and materials that were not available until very recently. However, she references the past in terms of her designs and the story of each piece. Each of her embroidered, painted, textile pieces takes the reader right back in time.

She uses Bayeux stitch in ways that I hadn’t considered and creates some gorgeous effects simply by using a thread I’d never considered. One of her pieces is a sampler of Bayeux stitch and I am now really interested in trying some of the techniques she has used. Although she doesn’t always give detailed instruction, she does write enough that an embroiderer with some knowledge and skill could easily reproduce what she’s done in their own fashion.

This is a book for inspiration. It is a book to linger over and let your imagination take flight, to get lost in, to dream over. If you want a “how – to”  book this isn’t the one for you. If, however, you want to feed your creative spirit then this book is exactly what you should put on that wish list…
$54 at Crafty Frog