Collection Folios

The Embroiderers’ Guild holds a number of folios as part of the Embroiderers’ Guild Collection, all of which are available to members and affiliated Stitch groups to borrow for a period of a month.  They can be used in a variety of ways – as part of research on a topic, as the starting point for an exhibition, a workshop or day school, to look at a new stitch, study of the work of one particular artist or simply for historical or contemporary interest.

Hire is free for Guild members and for affiliated stitch groups.  if you are interested in borrowing a folio please contact us for more information.  We will ask you for a (returnable) deposit and to pay the cost of delivery both ways.

Contact: folios@embroiderersguild.com


Please note: the Guild’s folio service is currently ‘on-hold’ while the service is being reviewed. Please see Guild News for further details.


AFRICAN TEXTILES

Includes beadwork neck purses, fragments from animal trapping made by Tuareg nomadic women, embroidered trouser leg

APPLIQUE

Includes fragment of Carrickmacross lace, padded applique, reverse applique, hand and machine embroidery over appliqued fabrics

ARTISTS 4 STITCH

Cezanne in satin stitch; Picasso in cretan stitch; Gauguin in cross stitch; Marc Chagall in stem stitch

BEADWORK

Includes beads on printed fabric; bead braids; part of a bag; angels

BIRDS, BEASTS AND INSECTS B

BLACKWORK A

Includes beads on printed fabric; bead braids; part of a bag; angels

BLACKWORK B

Includes Wessex stitchery sampler 1920s, pattern development board, sampler with blackwork stitches and some goldwork

BOBBIN LACE A

Carrimackcross lace sample 19th century, Irish style crochet late 19th century, Ayrshire lace sampler, bobbin lace borders, French 18-19th century

BOBBIN LACE B

Bobbin lace Flanders 17th century, collar – tatting late 19th century, Bruges lace with pattern

CANVASWORK B

Includes Jacquard stitch sample, history of canvas work sheet, mixed media canvas work, sampler with knitted ribbon

CASALGUIDI

Italian technique

CHAIN STITCH

Examples in feather, crested, whipped and zigzag stitch

CHINESE A

Includes Peking knot design edged with traditional hand twisted silk thread, panel containing interesting symbols in geometric forms, Pekinese stitched sleeve band, cross stitch on very fine linen

CHINESE B

Includes 3 hand embroidered mats using silk threads, Mandarin collar fragment, satin stitched fragment of butterflies, sleeve band of couched metal threads

COLOUR STUDIES A

Harmonious and complimentary colours, tonal movement with machine stitches, colour shading and hand stitched samples

COLOUR STUDIES B

(as above)

COUNTED THREAD A&B

Thai purse made by Indochinese refugees, counted thread border late 18th century from Morocco, metal thread mat from Turkey 19th century

CREWELWORK A

Flower motif, modern Cretan tile pattern, 3 unfinished samples, fragment from a curtain

CREWELWORK B

(as above)

CROCHET, LACE & TATTING

Irish crochet border, filet lace, tatting samples, insertion sampler

CROSS STITCH

Sample by Jamie Chalmers (aka Mr X Stitch), fragments from Persia, Norwegian tray cloth, various cross stitch variation samples

DEVELOPING STITCHES

Stem stitch, bullion stitch, wheatear stitch, woven picots

EASTERN EUROPE

Examples from Bulgaria, Hungary, Latvia, Czechoslovakia and Poland, hand stitched borders, bonnet and collar fragments

EDGES

Fringes, needlelace and buttonhole bar edgings, Turkish oyas, free machine embroidery edgings

EMBROIDERY ON KNITTING

Samples of knitting and woven fabrics, slashed knitting sample, bag, sample using double bed needles

EMBROIDERY ON NET

Irish Carrickmacross net mat, collar.

EMBROIDERY ON TRANSPARENT

Historical samples, motif darned on net, log cabin patchwork with sheer fabric, stitch on sheer over dyed fabric

EXPERIMENTING WITH STITCHES

Spiders web, owl picture displaying a variety of stitches, applique, bead stitch, damask stitch, border in felts and braids, using a variety of both fabrics and stitches

EXPERIMENTING WITH STITCHES

Spiders web, owl picture displaying a variety of stitches, applique, bead stitch, damask stitch, border in felts and braids, using a variety of both fabrics and stitches

EUROPEAN COUNTRIES

Samples from Slovakia, Bulgaria, Hungary, Romania etc

FABRIC SPRAY & PAINT

Various methods of spraying paint, fabric paint sprayed onto quilted fabric, samples using transfer crayons, transfer paints on a variety of fabrics

FABRIC DYED WITH STITCH

Machine embroidery on sun dyed fabric, procion dye with hand stitch, trees motif using fabric dyes, sponged brusho

FASHION 2

FELT A

Willow cane and handmade felt, handmade felt with inlaid canvas work, felting/punched needle, machine embroidery on felt

FELT B

Felt on knitting, blackwork on felt, wool tops and scrim

FINEST STITCHES

Waistcoat front 1790, Persian trouser leg fragment, Ecclesiastical linen pall, 17th century coif (copy)

FINISHING TOUCHES A

FINISHING TOUCHES B

Buttons, cords, braids, tassels

FLORENTINE A or B*

Early 20th century British sample in wool, 3 samples in silk, silk thread worked on linen in bargello and florentine

FRANCE

Bead embroidered plant 1970, sampler on fine linen from 1807, whitework mats on fine muslin, silk shading early 19th century

GERMANY & AUSTRIA

Black cross stitch on linen, fine canvas work from Austria 19th century, fine sample in drawn thread work 1930s, collar on muslin Austrian 1920s

GILDA BARON

Samples of her work, book, methods and articles

GREECE B

Fragment from Greek islands, crochet strip from Cyprus, collar from Crete 19th century, chemise borders 19th century worked in double running and darning stitches, chain and insertion stitches

HAND EMBROIDERY BY HERTA PULS

Book of early samples by Herta Puls

HARDANGER A

HARDANGER B

HISTORICAL CHAIN STITCH

Indian fragment 19th century, tambour work sample, varied chain stitches using crewel wools, collar and front British 1925

HISTORICAL BRITISH 18TH CENTURY

Curtain fragment with wool crewel work, fragment of silk waistcoat front, silk apron fragment with metal thread couched over silk embroidery

HISTORICAL BRITISH 19TH CENTURY

Whitework bodice from infant’s robe, beadwork bag, Berlin work sampler, Carrickmacross mat

HISTORICAL 17-19TH CENTURY

Fragments illustrating the difference between 17t and 18th century crewel work, bodice from baby’s robe using eyelet stitches, pulled thread and cutwork, stool top in canvas work and beads, Florentine embroidery late 19th century using stranded cotton and gold

HISTORICAL 20TH CENTURY

Water lily worked on organdie, net and fabric shapes cut and applied, linen sampler embroidered with cotton threads, white linen collar embroidered with stranded cotton 1930s, fine linen embroidered collar 1910-20

HISTORICAL ENGLISH 1900-1950

Handkerchief 1912 whitework, sample of Florentine/bargello work, sampler English early 20th century, pulled work on evenweave

HISTORICAL ENGLISH 1950-1960

Sampler of drawn thread, borders and units on heavy evenweave, sampler by Moira McNeill, samples by Susan Riley

HISTORICAL 1960s A

Padded frog motif with beads, abstract pattern with design work, belt using abstract design, embroidered letters

HISTORICAL 1960s B

Motif with a variety of stitches, fish motifs using different fabrics/stitch techniques, abstract panel using machine embroidery, applique motif using beads and a variety of stitches

HISTORICAL 1970s A

Leather and beads, couched thread and bead picture, design sheet and picture in free machine embroidery

HISTORICAL 1970s B

Textured stitches including needleweaving, texture with canvas work and knitting, heavily encrusted beadwork, couching and applique of silver lame thread

HISTORICAL 1980s

Picots and prairie points, quilted wall picture with beads, introduction to water dissolvable fabrics

HISTORICAL FASHION

Samples of broderie Anglaise, bodice fronts, Victorian costume pattern and designs, whitework collar

HUNGARY

Borders, towel with braid rosettes, mat on fie gauze, fragment of wool on cotton

INDIA

Shisha work, wedding sash – Sind, tassels from Rajasthan, early 20th century floss embroidery

INNOVATIONS IN CANVASWORK

ITALIAN WHITEWORK

Pincushion cover with reticella square, mat sampled Catherine de Medici embroidery, sachet with characteristics of Punto Antico, purse flap with example of casalguidi technique

ITALY

Cutwork border (17/18th century), sampler of reticella patterns (20th century), border fragment (17/18th century), fragment of bobbin lace (17th century)

LINDISFARNE

Patterns, Celtic bird, Celtic curves, Lindisfarne gospels, letter inspiration and design

MACHINE EMBROIDERY

METAL THREADS A

Or nue sample, North Indian slipper sampler early 20th century, couched thread samples, garment fragment china 19th century

METAL THREADS B

Persian sash end, goldwork sampler, Turkish towel fragment, collar from Yemen

MIXED LACE C

Samples of Reticella style lace from Cyprus, fragment of Carrickmacross lace, collar tatting late 19th century, knotted lace edgings, knitted lace

MIXED MEDIA

Paris wall textures by Jean Littlejohn, wrapped wires

MOYRA MCNEILL

Pattern building with stitch and sprayed areas, wool canvas work, butterflies folder, vanishing muslin with machine embroidery

NAMED ARTISTS

Samples from Constance Howard, Jan Beaney, Maggie Grey, Muriel Best, Vicky Lugg, Eirian Short

NEEDLEWEAVING

PATCHWORK

Seminole sample, cathedral window, patchwork of transparent fabrics, swimmers using padded patchwork

PATTERN DARNING

Pattern darning on ribbon, part of sleeve, sampler, City and Guilds samples 1987

PLANT FORMS

Flower head 1967, French 18th century fragment, machine embroidery on acetate, experimental piece using Casalguidi

PLASTICS

Hand and machine embroidery on plastics, clingfilm bonds, Ayrshire work interpreted using plastic packaging, plastic meshes and canvas sampler

PULLED WORK MODERN

QUILTING (in two parts both sent together)

Traditional Techniques B: Variation and Innovation Queen Anne quilting, machine cord quilting, trapunto quilting, Italian quilting on linen

RIBBON WORK

Ribbon embroidered floral motif, folder of experimental samples, woven fabric using ribbon, ribbonwork on canvas, machine embroidered ribbon

RUNNING STITCH 1 & 2

Sampler, pattern darning, patchwork, sashiko, kantha, basic applique, Italian smocking, history of pattern, variations

SAMPLERS

1880s English sampler on fine linen, English sampler of drawn thread and hardanger

SCANDANAVIA X 2

Linen banner with wool stitching from Denmark, modern Danish purse, pair of linen cuffs with hardanger embroidery, Norwegian mat with cross stitch

SHADING

English wool 17th and 18th century samples, Chinese embroidery, split stitch example, description of techniques

SICILY 17TH CENTURY

Panel of Christ child in silks and metal thread, mat cutwork on linen, border fragment in drawn threadwork, fragment of red silk backstitch on burrato, plaited loops

SMOCKING

Smocked samples, fragment from Balkan states, Italian smocking, smocked fans and Dorset wheel buttons

SPAIN

Linen and silk costume fragment from Andalusia 18-19th century, 19th century bonnet, ecclesiastical silk panel with gold purls and spangles, dagger sheath 17-18th century

STITCHED GRIDS

Stitched patterns to modify cotton ticking, rug canvas woven with ribbons, black on white pattern darning, colour studies on evenweave fabric

STUMPWORK

Methods of slips, stitched by Kay Dennis, methods of wires and moulds, figurative stumpwork, The Vegetable Patch

TEXT

3d samples, blackwork letters, machine stitched samples, cross stitch samples, monograms

THE VARIETY OF HAND STITCHES

Samples of edging stitches, samples of linear and filling stitches, handmade cords, bullion knots

TURKEY A

Trouser girdle with typical needle weaving, sampler of Turkish stitches, ‘Pesend’ double darning fragment, 19th century professional tambour work

TURKEY B

Refugee mat 1890s, typical Turkish stitches, purse with Oya needlelace, 19th century motif using silk and metal thread

TURKEY C

Towel with border of needle weaving, sash embroidered with silk and metal thread, 19th century fragment, samples of fine embroidery

WHITEWORK

Baby’s bonnet crowns 919th century), mat, 1860 Broderie Anglaise, Italian 20th century

YOUNG EMBROIDERERS/JETS

29 colourful boards showing a variety of stitches and techniques suitable for junior embroiderers and textile students