SOLD 1930/1932 2 Volumes Stitching and Costume from Amager * £55 €80 $150 Shipping Included (Australia Newzealand $160)

This is the complete work by Elna Mygdal in 2 volumes - often you only see the first volume of costumes and not the second treasure packed volume of stitching from Danish Amager. Volume 1 is from 1930 and volume 2 from 1932. These are softbacks - the folios are beautifully and soundly saddle-stitched, but the covers are now loose, Internally the volumes are in good clean condition.

The treasure of the second volume is 100 pages of well-photographed Amager panels such as you can see here in cross-stitch and whitework. 

With permission one of the panels was used for the Needleprint Amager Panel 1797 and I expect permission would be forthcoming upon request to use other panels for reproduction.

This is stunning design with a whole wealth of interesting cultural history to be explored. The stitchers of Amager came from the Netherlands in the 16th century and were still Dutch speaking in their church in Amager in the mid 1800s.

The book has Danish text.

And I have been privileged to have been its custodian for the last 10 years.

Here you can see some images from the first volume on costume which include photographs

and historic drawings.

This is a very rare treasure....

SOLD De Handwerken Op Het Eiland Marken (Marken Embroidery) * £15 €22 $45 Shipping Included

This softback book of 1960 is in Dutch. It has 76 pages and is in good used condition.

This is a comprehensive history of the distinctive needlework on what was once the Isle of Marken situated in the once undefended Ijsselmeer open to the rages of the North Sea. Now Marken is connected via a causeway to the mainland, just a bus ride away from central Amsterdam, and there is a barrage across the Ijsselmeer to prevent devastation by floods and storms.

This very traditional fishing community had its own customs and ways of life. Marker men never wore coats - even in the depth of winter - so anyone not from Marken was called a Coat.

The women wore and continue to wear embroidered headbands - the patterns of which were passed down from mother to daughter. The headbands are usually covered by a fine linen cap as you can see in the picture above.

Frequently these bands incorporated the three Christian virtues - Faith, Hope and Charity. Because Marker houses were very small, the women could finish their housework quickly - especially with their husbands away at sea, fishing, so they had much time for embroidery and knitting.

Marken women also wear very decorative embroidered bodices - as young girls the bodices are worn with the fastenings down the back. There is a rite of passage when a young girl reaches a certain age, the bodice is turned round so that the fastenings are  in front.

SOLD Bygdemonster * £22 €33 $55 Including Shipping

Published in 1930 this extremely rare and very difficult to obtain Swedish softback pattern book in very good condition has 8 A4 pages of charted Dalarna patterns for Bridegrooms' shirts including 4 hearts and an alphabet. The shirts were traditionally embroidered by the bride or her mother. Few of these shirts survive as it was also the custom that a married man would be buried in his bridegroom's shirt...

SOLD St Gallen Museum 4 Stitch Techniques Booklets * £22 €33 $75 Including Shipping

This is a set of 4 full-size softback booklets of 16 pages each in excellent condition created by Anne Wanner-JeanRichard of the St Gallen Museum in Switzerland.

Each booklet is in 4 languages : English, French, Italian and German and considers in depth a variety of stitch to be found on antique textile items.

This first one illustrates and names all varieties of looped stitches.

This second book in the series focusses on running and back stitches in all their varieties....

Examples are shown from antique embroideries

with a parallel of examples and illustrated stitch dictionary

This third booklet examines satin stitch and self couching techniques

and again you can see the examples which are boldly given for clarity

The final booklet in the series considers cross stitch

and includes such varieties as reversible cross-stitch, four-sided stitch

as well as long armed cross stitch and Montenegrin cross. This book is ideal for any student of museum embroidery who wants to be able to identify the stitches used.